cyborg

Need some helpful advice. I moved to the US back in 2000 and long story short looking to move back to the UK in 2020

I do not have any family left in England so how do I move money across from the US to England, I was looking at something like the HSBC Bank online but than had the idea of asking how those of you who are moving or have moved back to England did it. Financially will not have a house or any assets as I rent right now but looking at approximately $2.5 million so what would be the best way of moving that money so that when I arrive back in England I have access to it to purchase a flat etc

Much appreciated advice needed. I am with the UMB Bank right now do I simply find an international bank then once back in the UK have it change to a regular bank such as TSB or where ever.

spouse of scouse

You're posting in the right place. Lots of threads on moving money to the UK, here's the most recent http://britishexpats.com/forum/movin...ack-uk-906921/ Please do come back if you can't find the specific information you're looking for.

durham_lad

Our son moved back to England in 2017 and well before that he opened an account in the USA with HSBC and that definitely made it much easier to open a UK HSBC account although he did move back to live with us while he looked to buy a house so had a UK address from the start. With an HSBC account in both countries it is very easy to move large sums of money over and he moved ~$250k over to buy a house. For smaller sums then like us he uses Transferwise.

When we moved back in 2016 we did not have relatives to move in with but we managed to rent a place ahead of time and as soon as we arrived back we had a letter from the utility companies to the rented house address. We had retained our HSBC account from when we left back in 1987 but still needed that proof of address plus passports etc to update our bank details. We then opened a USA HSBC account to be able to easily move large sums of money as we also needed to buy a house, which we did about 7 months later.

Norm_uk

I would say check out some of the currency exchange companies first before using a bank just in case you can get a better rate for the sums you are looking at at the very least.

I am a qualified financial planner who worked in the industry for over a decade - I have good relations with two companies who I often recommended to my clients and used myself. One is US registered as well as UK listed - would be happy to make a referral if you want to PM me.

N.

cyborg

Just one concern about any advice given to me there are all these ways of transferring the money but on the other end back in the UK if i will not have an address until I buy a place to live I.E. living in a hotel how would transferring such a large amount work as I would not have a permanent address in the UK would the transfer be available online through some website address which I could write a check and access through a debit card once home in the UK.

durham_lad

We expected it would take months to buy a house which is why we took out a 6 month lease on an unfurnished rented house rather than stay in hotels and put our furniture in storage while we were house hunting. The lease on the 3 bed bungalow we found was £400/calendar month.

durham_lad

When we bought our house last year we actually proved we had the funds by providing US brokerage account statements. No reason why you couldn’t do the same and then when the time came you could transfer the funds directly to the solicitor handing the sale. In our case we had a UK bank so transferred the funds there first, and then to the solicitor but no reason not to go directly to the solicitor expect you are stuck with the exchange rate on the day of transfer. (With the collapse of the £ after the Brexit referendum we did move our money over then, a few months before we needed it for the house).

Norm_uk

As long as you have a bank account in sterling there shouldn't be a problem. I had an Isle of Man account in GBP which I opened as an expatriate in Dubai.

When I move back to the UK and get a new house I will simply transfer my money from there as needed. I have a GBP debit card anyway which I use when I am back home without fuss.

Do you have UK account or offshore account in the channel islands/Isle of Man in sterling?

N.

durham_lad

All indications from his posts above are that he does not have a UK or offshore account denominated in sterling otherwise this would be easy for him to move money to the UK to buy a house or flat.