US bank account?

HSBC accounts in the US have no bearing on whether you can get an account in the US with them.  I opened a normal account with HSBC when I moved here and had proof of residency (i.e. utility bill) and a letter of intro from my uni.

Actually if you have an account with HSBC in the US they can help you open an account in the UK. I asked mine for a bank reference like BUNAC told me to, and they said they couldn't do that, but could help me open an account in the UK. I had to fill in a form or two and that was it. My BUNAC friends had a hell of a time opening their accounts with NatWest once they got to the UK, so I was quite happy HSBC opted not to give me a bank reference

That's funny. My sister was told by HSBC in New York that their US banks had no connection at all with their banks overseas.

 I know you can't transfer money between accounts as though they were the same bank, but the US branch (in upstate NY) was able to help me open an account at an HSBC in the UK. maybe i just got lucky   

Same here. Our HSBC branch in Philly helped us set up the account here. The forms come from their international branch in Buffalo, NY who act as the intermediary.  However, when we got here we had to establish residency. Our flatmate gave them a letter confirming that we lived at our address here (since we had no bills in our own name.)

do you have to have the us account for a certain amount of time before they will do that?

We are going to have to keep our Bank of America account open to pay our school loans and US credit card.  For those who have US accounts open, was it any problem changing your address with them to a UK address?  Will they send statements overseas?

Both of our school loans are already set up as automatic debits, so we don't need to do anything for them.  We will, however, need to transfer money from the UK to the US accounts periodically to cover the payments.  What's the best way of doing that?

We are going to have to keep our Bank of America account open to pay our school loans and US credit card.  For those who have US accounts open, was it any problem changing your address with them to a UK address?  Will they send statements overseas?

 

I still have my account with Bank of America -- you can change your address online with no problem AND they'll send your statements to your UK address.  I was surprised at the simplicity of the process!   

I think you have to have your US account for at least 6 months? I can't remember the exact length of time they said. I wanted to change my address on the US account, but they said I should wait til after the UK account was taken care of because I'd need to wait X amount of time after changing the address before i could open the UK account(presumably the same rules apply to establishing new accounts). After I moved to the UK they sent me a form to indicate whether or not I was ordinarily resident in the UK so they could start taxing my interest.

I kept my account open in the US too, but it's with a very local bank, so I doubt that's any use to you.  Monthly fee is on $1 for my visa check card, and no minimum balance. 

And like Peedal, I signed my mom up with my account too which has been invaluable!

We transfer money over every month with paypal.  It's great for paying my student loan bills, sending birthday checks for my nieces and nephews, and is a bit of a savings account for us for when we go visit.  We don't have to risk traveling with a bunch of money because it's all there already when we arrive. 

I still have my account with Bank of America -- you can change your address online with no problem AND they'll send your statements to your UK address.  I was surprised at the simplicity of the process!   

Excellent!  I actually just stumbled across the address change page today and saw the international address option.

Do you guys recomand that I keep my US credit cards and use them just as I would here? Or do they get upset after a while when all the charges begin to show up as Pounds?

Do you guys recomand that I keep my US credit cards and use them just as I would here? Or do they get upset after a while when all the charges begin to show up as Pounds?

Honestly - I wouldn't.  The exchange rate is not good.

Not to mention that a lot, if not all, US-issued credit cards are now assessing an extra 3% "fee" on all international transactions.  Which is exactly why I'm cancelling mine. 

I've kept my U.S. bank account and my U.S. credit cards. There are a lot of things we buy on the internet that from state-side based companies. Some of those places will not allow you to use a foreign credit card but I can use my U.S. credit cards as long as I have a stateside address on it....I just use my sister's address. Also, for us, it makes it easier to have a bank account there when we go to visit. I can use my ATM card with no fees at lots of the ATM machines, or use it as a debit/visa card at any store in the city. Before we go we just transfer money from his bank account to my bank account using PayPal.