Paying US Student Loans From the UK

Hi,

So to put it quickly.

We are now living in the UK but owe money for US Student loans.

Any input on doing this in the cheapest way possible would be greatly helpful.

Our current thoughts are the following:

1. Route all payments directly out of our UK Current Account (Santander).

2. Use Transferwise Borderless Account to act as our US account - transferring money into this account in USD from the UK Current Account.

3. Use Transferwise to transfer funds directly between my UK Current Account and My Wife's US Current Account.

This will obviously be monthly payments so paying fees on individual transactions will be costly.

I would use option 3. If you already have a UK current account and a US current account I see no reason for a TransferWise borderless account, but have never explored one. I do the TransferWise method of regularly moving money between my UK and US bank accounts.

I vote for 3 too. It'll be cheap and easy and it gives you the most control.

Okay I've since done more research. TransferWise borderless account posed as the cheapest option. In the attempt to move $1000; TransferWise from a UK account to a different US account incurred a ~£4 fee from TransferWise. Whereas from my UK account to the TransferWise Borderless account (which is a free account and allows you to have bank accounts in other countries with their respective currencies) cost ~£2 in TW fees. I think that's the new way to go folks. If anyone's got any better ways of doing this, I'd love to hear it!

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I use a TW borderless account to receive money in EUR that I know I will need to pay out in EUR later. Costs nothing to receive and 0.60 EUR to send, so avoids any currency exchange costs.

I transfer larger sums via TransferWise of £1,000 - 2,000 at a time and then have the payments automatically with drawn from my US account. The lender would not allow me to directly pay them from my UK account. I haven’t figured out a better way, other than traveling with the max cash limit when flying, but I figured that would be a massive risk.

I transfer larger sums via TransferWise of £1,000 - 2,000 at a time and then have the payments automatically with drawn from my US account. The lender would not allow me to directly pay them from my UK account. I haven’t figured out a better way, other than traveling with the max cash limit when flying, but I figured that would be a massive risk.

There is no max limit on carrying currency with you. You just have to declare anything over $10,000 USD.

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I transfer larger sums via TransferWise of £1,000 - 2,000 at a time and then have the payments automatically with drawn from my US account. The lender would not allow me to directly pay them from my UK account. I haven’t figured out a better way, other than traveling with the max cash limit when flying, but I figured that would be a massive risk.

This is what I initially thought I would have to do, but the TW borderless account seems cheaper and easier. Worth a look!

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