International Bank Accounts

We're about to move back to the USA.

We have a bank account at an FCU (Federal Credit Union) in the USA
We have a bank account in Sterling in the UK

Has anyone considered a US Dollars "International Bank Account" with a UK bank?

We're considering this to (hopefully) make it easier to transfer our UK pounds to Dollars on a regular basis (Hubby will still be getting paid in the UK)

Hi Melanie,

I regularly transfer money from the UK to the US.  Two methods I use for maximum exchange rate benefits are:

1)  If I'm in the UK, I simply send endorsed American Express or Mastercard travellers checks (available from any Foreign Exchange place) - I just pre-endorse them and make them payable to me, then post it via next-day FedEx. The only problem with this is the FedEx cost - which is about £27, unless you have a free method of sending it by FedEx - i.e. company account!  Only really useful for large amounts!  A wire transfer is the alternative, but it can be slower and more costly, and if you had a dollar account you'd still have to transfer between banks.

2)  If I'm in the US, I simply use my Abbey National bank card!  Taking money out in the US with my UK Abbey card gives me a higher exchange rate than any other method, with no fees!  The only drawback is that you're subject to your maximum daily withdrawal amounts, which is usually around £500, but some banks will increase this to £1000 on request.

I had thought about using a dollar account, and my cousin who is currently studying in the US does exactly this, but the only real choice here is Citibank, and I dont like them (used to have an account with them).  They charge $20/month for the account if you let it slip below £2000 too, and they give you no interest at all on your money (although no doubt they are busily investing your money!).

Hope this helps!

Thanks

S.

Martin and I have just applied for an offshore account on the Isle of Man with Lloyds TSB. The fee per year is £50 and the minimum balance is £100, which is a lot better than competitors who require £5,000 minimum balance. The account has a sterling side and a dollars side. You can get debit cards for both sterling and US dollars and you can have a cheque book for sterling.

Its the easiest way we've found to reduce tax liability, maximize both our dollar and pound, and keep funds accessible to both the US and the UK without any costs of transfers and whatnot. You can also manage the account online.

Its called the Lloyds Overseas Club account and you can get the application here http://www.lloydstsb-offshore.com/

BTW, Island law requires certified copies of your passports (all holders) but you can walk into a lloyds tsb anywhere in the UK with the passports and they'll make a certified copy for free.

Good luck!

I bank with Nationwide and i asked them back a few months ago about moving to the States and keeping my UK account open as I'll have direct debits and such coming out of it each month. They told me that I'd be able to keep my account open here with no problem and that they'd issue me with a new debit card and new cheques. Not sure if that helps or not.

I use paypal. When anyone wants to give me/us a gift of money (my mum just gave me some b-day money and an uncle gave us some wedding money) then they deposit it in my American account and I paypal it to my English account. Depending on the amount it's free and it shaved about 2 weeks off of Halifax's estimate of a month to cash a check in dollars not to mention saved their £20 fee. It also worked for my student loan checks which were in dollars and mailed to my university - I endorsed them "for deposit only" and mailed them to my mum who put them in my account and I paypal'd it back here. Works like a charm and once your paypal accounts are set up (you'll need 2 email addresses) it's no hassle at all. Though if this was something I needed to do really regularly I might opt for the international account deal....

Just an update - we now have a sterling and dollar account with Lloyds offshore. So far its been really great - the customer service is excellent and shifting money between the accounts couldnt be easier. We sold our car and paid all of the cash (UK) into the Lloyds sterling account at our local branch and the next day it was in our sterling offshore account. That day we transfered the money to our dollar account and the next day we had access to our money in dollars! Taking cash out of the ATMs in the US using the dollar debit card its easy. We havent quite got the hang of using the US debit card in the US yet - it prefers to be treated as a credit card when using it to purchase items. But otherwise its been great. As we have lots of business to keep on top of in the UK still (paying off a loan and mortgage etc) so we can easily pay money into the accounts from the US and have it avalible in sterling in the UK in no time.

Just an update - we now have a sterling and dollar account with Lloyds offshore.

But the important thing is - did you get the free leather chequebook holder, free leather credit card wallet and statement holder promised with the a/c ?!

Seriously- thanks for this info, it's very useful to everyone and we are looking into this as well- thought it might be a good way to have access to credit in the U.S whilst we try to build up a credit history.

I looked at HSBC and the opening $5000 balance threw me- so long as it doesn't have to stay there!

Sheril.

The 5k min balance requirement is true for MOST other offshore banks (and its generally a minimum daily balance not just the opening balance). Its why we decided to go with Lloyds. And YES we did get the leather cheque book holder, the leather credit card holder, a pen and pencil set, and the leather ring binder/folder for statements. AND we're getting free newsletters for account holders called Shore Line Its all very swish - I was very impressed when the package arrived on my doorstop hehe.

An update on the service we have been getting from Lloyds. They are FANTASTIC. Their phone banking assistants are ALWAYS on the ball and very very polite and efficient. We have only ONCE been put into a call queue and even then it was only for about a minute. It was a very busy time of the day I think. We're really happy with the service that we're getting from Lloyds Offshore. We put money in our sterling ac in the UK by going into a Lloyds branch. The next day it was transfered into the USD account and since then we've been accessing it via the USD debit card both by direct payment and the ATM. The ATM Charges are very very reasonable too. We barely notice them.

For transferring money to the bank account Jen left open in the US we use the Halifax. It costs £5 per transaction (used to be £3) and is set up as a standing order so we can send money over each month, but easy to vary the amount with online banking.

It has been a very easy system to use and the money is usually there the following week.

I am not sure if this service is still offered, but worth asking.

Kel.

Edit to add that the £5 is a flat fee no matter how much you transfer and that you get banking currency rates.

I use paypal. When anyone wants to give me/us a gift of money (my mum just gave me some b-day money and an uncle gave us some wedding money) then they deposit it in my American account and I paypal it to my English account. Depending on the amount it's free and it shaved about 2 weeks off of Halifax's estimate of a month to cash a check in dollars not to mention saved their £20 fee. It also worked for my student loan checks which were in dollars and mailed to my university - I endorsed them "for deposit only" and mailed them to my mum who put them in my account and I paypal'd it back here. Works like a charm and once your paypal accounts are set up (you'll need 2 email addresses) it's no hassle at all. Though if this was something I needed to do really regularly I might opt for the international account deal....

I LOVE paypal!!!  Just don't transfer money with a credit card.  They charged us £40 for doing this!  Not worth it at all!

We use PayPal as well - from the UK current account to the US checking account.  Much easier and quicker and (for the amounts we do) cheaper.

i need to set one up methinks,.

so there is no charge for dollar/sterling conversions?

i need to set one up methinks,.

so there is no charge for dollar/sterling conversions?

For Paypal?  I don't think so.  It just takes a few days to transfer. 

I haven't noticed any charge for making the conversion, on either side.

OK, I'm gonna have to do this UK to US PayPal thing. Can someone tell me how to do it or point me to a link here if it's already been discussed? We'd want it to go from our UK current account to my mother's US checking account.

I told my mom I want to do this but she's heard bad things about PayPal (identity theft and such). Anyone heard any of this?