How do I pay my US credit cards and student loans

How do I pay my US credit cards and student loans?  Should I keep a US bank account for this type of stuff? How do I transfer money in between the two? 

We've kept our bank accounts and US credit cards to maintain our credit rating in America.   

It's been easy to pay our credit cards online with our bank account in America still open.  I'm not sure about transferring funds between banks internationally.   

I Paypal (am in the process of switching to XEtrade) money from my UK account to my US account each month and my mom sends a cheque from my US account to the student loan people. 

Citibank offers transfers between your accounts in several countries, but the costs are not cheap.  Using an currency exchange company and bargaining a low rate is the cheapest way, but it isn't quick.  You'll have to pick based on the speed you need and the sums involved.

Rates are a blend of three charges:  fees, commissions, and “spread”.  The spread is the difference between the buying price and the selling price for that currency.  So-called “no-fee no-commission” services often charge unscrupulous spreads to make up the difference.  We recommend you seek a firm that has the lowest spread, no fees, and no commissions. Most currency exchange firms charge between 100 and 200 basis point spreads. For comparison purposes, the UK post office charges a 2000 basis point spread, and Citibank charges roughly a 400 basis point spread.

We have found a company that charges 30 basis points, provided the sums involved are large enough.

   Complete Currency
   Tower Bridge Business Centre
   46 East Smithfield
   London E1W 1AW
   www.completecurrency.co.uk

If a currency exchange firm will not be appropriate for your needs, then your bank will arrange currency transfers.  Most high street banks charge high fees, spreads, and/or commissions to exchange money.

We pay our US credit cards and student loans through our US checking account and transfer money using XE Trade.

I cannot stress enough - even if you don't intend to go back, keep a US account open if you have US bills to pay. I've been going through absolute hell trying to pay an AES student loan. Sallie Mae I just pay with my UK debit card - I pay £5 a month for the "priviledge" but at least it's painless. But AES won't take card payment so I had to open a bank account by phone/post and now am finally nearing the end of opening an XE Trade account. Meanwhile that loan is months overdue because of all the hassle and they do not care one bit. I'm so beyond irritated by the whole thing I can barely put it into words. I'm not going back, I don't WANT all of these stupid accounts and yet I've been forced into it to pay a loan that I took out for the sole purpose of studying ABROAD. International student loans should be able to be paid from international locations. Period.

OK, sorry, rant over. Just be sure to keep your bank account. 

I'm probably doing this the expensive way, but I just transfer money back every month. I kept my US bank account and each month I transfer what I need from my UK HSBC account to my US account. Then I pay my credit card online online, which is debited from my US account. HSBC charges a fee of 9 pounds each time I transfer, but I usually get a good exchange rate, so I'm fine with that.

There are soooooo many threads on this ...

heres just one which is going at the moment as well..

http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=24183.0

If you do a search you should be able to find everything you need and more.

Yeah, I read many of the threads about the money transfer, I was just trying to see if people kept open US bank accounts and transferred money into them or if they transferred money to say like their parent's and paid that way, or if people were able to pay directly.  I will continue reading all the threads!
Thanks all for your help.
Laura

I guess maybe because I'm in the financial world in the US I might be trying to oversimplify this...but...

If you use a UK debit card to pay for anything online (whether in US funds or otherwise) your bank should convert the exchange rate automatically.  I know that when I used my US debit card for purchases in the UK the conversion was automatically done.  My boyfriend used his card here quite often also and had no problems.

It may be that bills that require a routing/transit number and account number may be the difficulty - but it seems a little too complicated for me to have to open brokerage accounts to mitigate costs.

But again, I deal with US banking and I may be completely off base. 

--Julie

I can't pay my AES bill by card, only through a bank account, so I don't think that would work for me.  You can't use an international account to pay for my credit card or student loan account in the U.S.

I kept my US account open to pay for credit cards and my student loans. I had to switch to my mom's US address though because of problems I had with an international address (some Patriot Act something or other - I suspect) All my credit cards are paid online and I have a standing order (direct debit) with my student loans - which I love - no need to think about it and I get a discount on my interest rate by having it set up this way.  I got a book of deposit slips from my bank and anytime a friend/relative has visited from the States/goes to the States, I bought dollars here and sent them back to the US with the cash and a deposit slip. In two years I've only ever had to wire money once. I usually buy dollars at American Express and I feel I usually get a good deal as long as I can do a fairly big chunk of money at once.

I had to switch to my mom's US address though because of problems I had with an international address (some Patriot Act something or other - I suspect)

I learned that lesson the hard way.  I switched all of my U.S. accounts to our U.K. address and had nothing but problems, so I've now changed them again to my Mom's U.S. address. 

AnneR, thanks so much for the info re Sallie Mae! I didn't realise I could pay off my loans with a UK debit card. I guess the only outstanding question would be whether the rate of exchange charged by your UK bank to pay the US loan is a good rate? I was going to look into one of those XE companies and pay off my loan in one go, since I think it's cheaper than using UK-to-US bank a/c transfers. I figured to pay $11,500 I'd need about GB6,000, depending on the rate...

Did you have to set up something special with Sallie Mae to pay with your UK debit card, or did you just do it through your online account? So sorry to hear about all the other hassle you've had to deal with...

Cheers!

The rate is fine. I've never paid that much attention to what it is exactly but it always comes out as just slightly less than half of the dollar amount that I pay.

You don't need to do anything special, just ring up and say you want to make a credit card payment. You have to pay a $10 surcharge (£5) to use a credit card. Make sure you say credit card rather than debit card 'cause they're not very sharp and they get really confused if you accidentally say debit card as they think it'll be from a US account. Just say it's a credit card and give them your debit card number. Honestly I'm not sure I've ever spoken to so many dumb people in my life as when I ring there. 

AnneR, thanks so much for the info re Sallie Mae! I didn't realise I could pay off my loans with a UK debit card. I guess the only outstanding question would be whether the rate of exchange charged by your UK bank to pay the US loan is a good rate? I was going to look into one of those XE companies and pay off my loan in one go, since I think it's cheaper than using UK-to-US bank a/c transfers. I figured to pay $11,500 I'd need about GB6,000, depending on the rate...

Did you have to set up something special with Sallie Mae to pay with your UK debit card, or did you just do it through your online account? So sorry to hear about all the other hassle you've had to deal with...

Cheers!