JD1992

So i'm looking at opening a Bank account over here and am wondering if anybody else is in the same position as me.

I'm currently banking with Lloyds in the U.K and am paid in £ Sterling each month. However, as you can imagine, it is costing me a fortune in debit card charges using it overseas. The way I thought to resolve this was to open an account here and transfer my salary into that account each month, I am aware that lloyds charge £10 per international transaction, but I am unaware on what sort of exchange rates and charges the U.S banks add to these transactions.

I feel this may be a unique situation but if anybody else has advice then fire away

JD

nyclostin

Not too unique actually - most of my business is in the UK, but I'm here in the US.
Whenever I need large amounts of US$ (to pay taxes etc) I use TransferWise (www.transferwise.com) - there are good savings vs doing it with your bank.

Also, join me in hoping the exchange rate keeps improving

tom169

Websites such as TransferWise works well for moving money across from GBP to USD. It offers a good exchange rate with low fees. There will likely be no fees on the US receiving side, but that can be checked with your bank.

Pulaski

How are you paying US taxes, Social Security contributions and other mandatory deductions for unemployment insurance and disability?

JD1992

Haha, you know it. Not a bad day today.

Just had a look at transfer-wire and it looks okay, but from the looks of things, if Lloyds only charge £10 to transfer to a U.S account then surely that is the better option?

Nutmegger

When I bill clients around the world I request wire payment in dollars directly into my US account. My bank doesn't charge me a fee when they arrive.

JD1992

I now only pay National Insurance to the U.K, all other taxes are paid to the U.S, I couldn't say how, that's why we've got a finance and legal team.

tom169

Why is a £10 Lloyds charge better than a £2 TransferWise charge?

JD1992

Do you know what sort of exchange rate you tend to get?

JD1992

£6000 = $7540 on Transferwire
£6000 = $7578 (Depending on exchange rate, granted)

Think it ultimately comes down to what sort of exchange rate is applied when transferring between the accounts. Granted, it doesn't look too dis-similar either way at the moment.

Nutmegger

There is no exchange rate as I am billing them in dollars and requesting payment in dollars. That bypasses them doing a conversion that inevitably leaves me out of pocket.

JD1992

I see, as i'm billing myself it won't really work like that

tom169

Is this what Lloyds is offering or just the exchange rate found on Google?

Generally the banks will keep some of this for profit.

Pulaski

There's no "generally" about it!

JD1992

That is the current exchange rate, hence why i've said it depends on what exchange rate actually gets offered and why i'm asking the question. I guess googling how much the banks keep of the exchange rate is probably the best way forward.