Mosaic86

Hi all, any advice on moving money back to uk? I have $15k in a 401k plan, $30k in home equity (need to sell) and $15k in checking account...should I just liquidate it all and transfer it over? Because of exchange rate it only works out to be about £35k, seems depressing

MrMuffin

Hiya,

It's kind of an open-ended question really. Not knowing your personal circumstances and needs, I wouldn't know how to answer completely. If you're moving back permanently I would suggest selling the house and adding the proceeds to your liquid cash and transferring that. As for the 401K you'll take a hit via prepayment penalties plus they'll pay another 20% to Uncle Sam for your regular taxes. It might be best to leave it for now? Good luck!

Pulaski

Trying to time foreign exchange to get the best rate is a mugs game. Even the big banks with their economists and currency traders can't get it right often enough to make a profit on it, and many now just take a commission to exchange other people's money for them. So, if you need the money take it now (use xe.com, Worldfirst, or a similar on-line remitter for the best rate and no wire fees), don't waste your time and stress yourself waiting for a better rate, because you could be waiting 2-5 years.

Personally I would leave the 401k, the more pension savings you have, the better.

dunroving

Consider leaving at least some money in a US checking account, in order to keep it open. You never know when you might need to use a US bank account and opening one from the UK is not easy.

Pulaski

Good advice, so long as your bank doesn't charge fees that will rapidly deplete the balance.

dunroving

Yes, OP may want to see if he/she can open a credit union account (though they often struggle with international banking).

I still have an account with a CU and the advantages are a) no big fees and b) personal, friendly customer service. Disadvantages are a) ATM fees (not many North Carolina CU ATM machines in the rest of the country!) and b) as above, international banking is a challenge for them.

They even give me a call or send me an email if my credit card is not paid - because they realise I visit the US every now and then, live outside of the country, and sometimes lose track of the fact I have a charge on my CC account. That is what I call personal service!

Sally Redux

Our bank says the account will be free if we leave $1,500 in it. They usually get things wrong though.

It sounded from your other post, Mosaic, that you are getting divorced, are you taking that into account when figuring what you have available?

lansbury

If you join a credit union that belongs to the CO-OP network you can use any other member CU ATMs as if they were your own CU ones. That's almost 30,000 ATMs across the US.