Gloriajean

Hi. I am moving back to Wales from Canada in a few months and I was wondering if anyone knows how I go about getting a bank account in UK. What is the cost for transferring funds and when my house sells can the money be sent straight to a bank in UK. My husband passed away and this is a big move for me feeling very overwhelmed . Thank You

durham_lad

My son opened an account with HSBC in the USA a few months before he moved back and then opened an account in the UK from the USA. I believe you can also do that from Canada but like in the USA you will have to make at least one visit to a branch to show actual id and sign documents.

A friend in the USA also did the same thing with HSBC, opening an account in France prior to his move back there.

Folks have also suggested a Transferwise Borderless account which can be used in both countries. I use Transferwise to move money from the USA to my UK account but have no experience with their Borderless Account.

You can transfer house money to the UK easily enough, both ourselves and son did this but it first went into our US bank account.

Gloriajean

Thank You so much. I’m assuming they have HSBC in Uk

durham_lad

I live in the UK and I have been with HSBC for decades. Lots of branches, and in fact their international office is in Wales.

https://www.hsbc.co.uk/help/hsbc-in-wales/

Gloriajean

Thats good to know. Do they charge a fee. And can I open a account from Canada in UK.

Pulaski

Something to watch out for, sometimes, some banks in some countries make moving money overseas very difficult if you are not physically present in the bank to send the money. I know this is counter intuitive in 2020, but there are a number of reasons for this, and is even more true if your bank knows you are of retirement age. Take a look here (sub heading "Financial Abuse") if you're interested in knowing why banks are cautious.

For a low stress, low risk method of transferring a very substantial some of money, such the proceeds of the sale of a house, which might not be quite the cheapest, but won't cost you a fortune either, when you have the money in your bank, and an account in the UK to send it to, tell your bank that you need to wire funds to your account at a bank in the UK, and that you need "a dealing desk rate" (use those exact words, and if the assistant you are speaking to doesn't understand, ask to speak to the manager) for the exchange, which should get you a commercial exchange rate, similar to what businesses get for transferring $00,000's. The deal desk rate is going to be comparable to the on-line FX remitter-brokers that other people are going to recommend/ have recommended, and perhaps better than them.

Please don't be tempted to use an HSBC "premier account" to transfer the money as you will, to be blunt, get utterly s¢rewed on the exchange rate - several percent worse than the rate you should be able to get - i.e. every $100,000 you transfer may cost you $3,000-$5,000 in FX spread (a fee by another name)!

DaveLovesDee

Personally, I'd open an account with HSBC where you are, then when you get to the UK, open one there with them.

durham_lad

They prefer you to open one before you arrive back, and if you don’t it can means weeks back in the UK without a bank account. So much easier if you already have a UK bank account with £s sitting in the account waiting for you.

durham_lad

I have HSBC accounts in the US and UK and moving money between them using their global transfer is extremely easy and very fast but much more expensive than other methods. Many times now I have had 2 windows open on my browser and cued up a transfer of, say, $10k on both HSBC and TransferWise to compare how much the difference is and it is always in the region of £50-£100 less if I choose HSBC. I always end up canceling the HSBC transfer and submitting the Transferwise one.

Thanks to Pulaski, when it came time to transfer our house money I knew to ask for the “dealing desk” rate. That is the only time I have used HSBC as I didn’t feel comfortable enough at the time to transfer that large of a sum using Transferwise.

Siouxie

https://transferwise.com/gb/blog/how...-account-in-uk
Barclays, Lloyds, HSBC and NatWest all offer international bank accounts.
https://transferwise.com/gb/blog/cat...bank-accounts/

Do be aware that HSBC may require you to deposit a substantial amount of money to open the account and retain it

Natwest require £5000 deposit
https://www.natwestinternational.com...t-account.html

Gloriajean

another question what is the best to invest my riff from Canada to uk. Thanks

Siouxie

I think you should get some advice from a financial advisor for that...

between two worlds

Just to clarify, DurhamLad, you end up using Transferwise but you say it's "£5--100 less if I choose HSBC" ??? I assume this is a typo, and you mean it's usually less with Transferwise?

We too have HSBC accounts in both countries and use global transfer (when exchange is right) to switch money over... very fast and easy.
Not happy about HSBC's stance in Hong Kong (have supported Chinese govt) but there doesn't seem to be any other bank tailored for expats like us where you can have accounts in both countries, easy transfers, etc etc.....or is there?

christmasoompa

I think he means he gets less if he chooses the bank versus Transferwise. Transferwise will usually get you way more than a bank would.

between two worlds

That's what I thought, especially from his posts in other threads on the same topic....