Pound down almost 10 cents from the high

Well....after a good 2 weeks I have finally got clearance to move money with a limit of $100K. The scary thing is the final clearance requirement. I called for a "wallet verification" interview. Basically the lady asked me how much debt I had on our house+car......when I answered that we had no debts. She said that's fine and the OK email would come in the next day. She just took my word for it. That is kind of like asking a terrorist in the airport if they have a gun....their answer is no.....so they just let them on the plane. Now I just need to move some money tomorrow and see what the increase from the exchange rate is.....hopefully under the 1 cent they quoted me last week. But if it's anywhere near 1 cent.....it will beat the bank by a long way.

Thanks for the update, it looks like you are nearing the finish line.  FWIW I always transfer a small amount first to a new bank to be sure I have all the details correct. (More horror stories the other week on the BBC Moneybox podcast)

Actually not a bad idea Alan....
You ever figure out a good Wellesley substitute?

Actually not a bad idea Alan....
You ever figure out a good Wellesley substitute?

What I did was to set up 2 index stock etf's bought by selling my Wellesley and then converted my funds in my IRA and ROTH to Wellesley and Wellington so I still have plenty of Wellesley and Wellington, but inside the IRAs which HMRC don't care about.  All my mutual fund bonds are now in tax deferred (IRA) or tax free (ROTH).  It makes the re-balancing each year a little more complicated.  (I was trying to keep things nice and simple for the time when my wife has to take over)

The first good chunk of money has been sent using xe.com. I "think" they charged just under 1 cent above the internet rate on the $65K we sent over to my wife's bank account. If the stock market snaps back in the next few months we plan on selling funds/sending to the Uk another $70-80K in the new year. It's been a bit irritating using xe......but it seems to have worked.....slowly though. Now I just have to get off my butt and work out all the paperwork over the winter. My wife still hasn't told her parents we are planning on coming back.

The first good chunk of money has been sent using xe.com. I "think" they charged just under 1 cent above the internet rate on the $65K we sent over to my wife's bank account. If the stock market snaps back in the next few months we plan on selling funds/sending to the Uk another $70-80K in the new year. It's been a bit irritating using xe......but it seems to have worked.....slowly though. Now I just have to get off my butt and work out all the paperwork over the winter. My wife still hasn't told her parents we are planning on coming back.

Last week my sister had a bit of a financial/car crisis so it was great to be able to use xe.com to send some money over, even though we are here in Tasmania on holiday.  It took about 7 days for the transfer to complete and is just so convenient compared to 26 years ago when we first moved to the USA.

I expect your wife's parents will be pleasantly surprised to hear about your plans to move back.

They are going to be really happy.....until we tell them we can't afford to live in Harrogate. Still looking at the Huddersfield/Slaithwaite/Meltham area. I think I am still the evil American who stole their daughter and forced her to move to the US (at least I think that is what is in their heads).

I think I am still the evil American who stole their daughter and forced her to move to the US (at least I think that is what is in their heads).