Alex3110

Does anyone know of good international bank accounts? Even when I am living in the USA (20th June onwards) I will still be needing to bring over monthly finance and my USc fiance is currently receiving pay in Sterling and needs to find a way not to be stung on transfer fees or losing out when the exchange rate isnt good!
Many Thanks!

cranston

I recommend XE.com for transferring money between currencies. Used by many on this forum.

Keep your current UK bank account open.

AddyLaddy

I use WorldFirst for moving money to the USA. Can be initiated online and money arrives on the same day as UK (Faster) transfer is initiated. Rate is ~1% below Forex.
The big US banks often charge ($15) for incoming wires though.

markwm

HSBC will open an account in the US for you, if required. I've always used xe.com to transfer money but they're all pretty similar: unless you are transferring huge amounts you'll gain or lose a few dollars.

Yorkieabroad

I've been with First Direct since they opened - they've followed me round a few different countries, and have always given excellent service. They won't open an account for you once you're overseas, but if you open one while you're still in the UK, its not a problem to then change to an overseas address. I've used them for all my foreign currency transactions as well, and they always beat the xe.com/fx.com sort of sites.

Alex3110

Thank you for you replies, I shall look into all of them!

texasjan

Try HSBC who can open accounts for you in sterling and dollars. But make sure you do it before you leave, as it's much more difficult afterwards.

lj2

Agree HSBC are the best I've come across by some margin. If you can qualify for Premier then it's superb.

Sarah Davie

Hi

In our experience the charges will depend on the bank. Some banks do change and some don’t, I would recommend you check their terms and conditions.

Small banks in smaller states will use a larger intermediately bank often in New York to deal with international payments as they do not have the capacity to facilitate these type of trades. This is often when clients can experience a charge.

When we transfer US dollars to a bank in the United States the transfer is sent as charges ‘OURS’; so theoretically, our clients should not be charged for receiving the transfer.

Some US banks will charge, usually about $15.00 for receiving transfers from outside of the US. Say for example, we send $5,000.00 to Bank of America, the US bank statement would show a credit of $5,000.00; however, Bank of America may then subsequently debit the clients account for a ‘wire transfer fee’ of $15.00. In this case we would not be able refund the client; because the clients account has been credited with the full amount that we sent.

If however, we sent $5,000.00 to Bank of America and only $4985.00 was credited to the clients account, then in this case we will refund the client $15.00. The reason being is that the full amount that we sent of $5,000.00 was not credited to the clients account.

I hope this helps

Orangepants

I just did a transfer with MoneyCorp this morning - great service and really helpful staff.

Alex3110

This is all great info!

Bink

I use xe.com and find the rates to be pretty good. Never had any problems with it and I've made 30 or so transfers with them.

There's no charges, you just get the rate quoted and that's that.

Bob

xe, hifx, or any of the other currency exchangers will be better than a bank.

As for a bank, depends which you use in the UK, some if not most will have a link to a US bank to get free transfers between them.

BoA, they're shit, but they are every where, if having a local branch is important to you.