Pulaski

I was making the point that if you cherry pick a few data points you can validate almost any best fit line, not picking on you personally. .... So contrasting your observation with Winston's.

Benson55

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niksimpson

I had to open an account when I got here, then initiate the transfer from the UK. The main delay is in getting proof of address in the UK, because you can't open an account until you have it. Speak to your US bank about how you can initiate a large wire transfer from abroad, Wells Fargo really screwed me by giving my bad advice so I had to the slower route of writing a check and waiting for it to clear. Also, if it's a significant amount of money look at using a specialist foreign exchange company rather than letting your bank stick you with the tourist rate.

Pulaski

This is good advice, but for significant amounts, over say $100k you should be asking the bank for a "dealing desk rate", which will likely be competitive with the rates offered by the specialist on-line FX broker-remitters, so there is no need to be "stuck with the tourist rate.

austin_d_powers

This is the kind of post I don't like. Talks about bad advice, but does not tell us what that bad advice is. Says speak to your bank (the one that gives you bad advice). Then says look at using a specialist foreign exchange company instead of your bank, but again no specifics about which one(s) are good/bad/ok. Then tells us he did the dumbest thing ever by writing a check and waiting for it to clear, with bank exchange rate & hidden fees of SURPRISE.
3 weeks until my house sale closes. Then during the week after closing: I will pay all final bills, cancel anything that needs to be canceled, book first class ticket to UK on BA (using my AA miles), book hotel at heathrow (using my American Express points), get 2,000 GBP in cash, get rest of money in cashiers check (USD), close bank account. When I get to UK I will set up a HSBC/Barclays account with both USD & GBP. Still have to make a list of all the things I need to do and what order when in the UK (drivers license, bank, doctor, NI, etc). I got my American Express card because of a post I saw on britishexpats many years ago that said you can transfer the credit history to the UK. Hopefully I can get an American Express card in the UK with a similar spending limit as my current card.

Pulaski

Amex will use their proprietary data to issue a card in another country, but that is not the same as "transferring the credit history".

Also, unless your cashiers check is for $100k or more then by carrying a USD check to the UK you are locking in a poor exchange rate, because you have significantly reduced your options for exchanging the funds for sterling. You will likely do better with a smaller amount by using an FX broker-remitter such as Transferwise or WorldFirst. If you take a USD cashiers check back to the UK you may also have to wait a week or longer, potentially much longer before your account in the UK is credited.

niksimpson

Wow, sorry I wasn't specific enough for uou.

1. Make sure you understand what requirements you're US bank has to authorize a large wire transfer without you being able to present yourself in person at the bank. Wells Fargo requires you set this up an advance and gives you an RSA authorization device to use. The problem is that my branch didn't know this.


2. I'm using InternationalFX.com who are based in London


2. Don't assume I'm stupid. The check I wrote was a dollar check cashed by IFX to a dollar account, they then do the exchange, so no additional charges or bad exchange rates.