michaelinfinisol

Hi there, The plane is to move back to teh UK this year - over the years we have accumulated a nice nestegg. I know that the amount of Cash that we can bring in at any one time is $10,000 but how does one transfer substantial sums - legally? would appreciate any information on this.

Jerseygirl

We always do bank to bank transfers, but many on here use a third party company for cheaper rates. You are not limited to transfer $10K to the UK. I have transferred much more than that in both directions.

michaelinfinisol

Hi there, that is interesting. I was under the impression that I had to complete formal paperwork, or maybe that is ONLY if it is cash?

scot47

if you are bringing more than 10,000 in cash you MUST complete paperwork. I would do it bank to bank. Parsimonious folk use a remittance company and save some money.

Bank to bank there is no limit on what you can transfer.

michaelinfinisol

Scot, thanks for that! do you have to say where the money is coming from? when we moved to the US and soled a house in the UK we had to get an affidavit from our solicitor in the UK to say that it was from the sale of a house.

Jerseygirl

I have bought and sold houses in the UK and transferred the money in both direction without issue. Upon transferring money to my UK Nat West account, the money was held for 24 hours before I had access to it.

michaelinfinisol

Thankyou! this is good info.

durham_lad

I've transferred money from the US to the UK many times and I do it mostly using Transferwise. Quick and easy plus excellent value. When I transferred lots of money from the sale of our US house I used bank to bank. (HSBC USA to HSBC UK). I was asked where the money was coming from but didn't have to show proof. When buying a house in the UK I was asked to show proof to the lawyers of where it had come from and I simply had to show them a recent statement of our US Vanguard account and a transaction statement showing the money moving over. This is purely for possible money laundering checks, no additional taxes or fees.

michaelinfinisol

Hi there, thanks for taking the time to answer!!

michaelinfinisol

Hi there,
I am getting closer to moving and wanted to ask some more questions.
what does HSBC charge for each transaction and are you able to transfer back and forth between the accounts?
many thanks
Michael

vh3

we just opened an HSBC Premier Account in Canada last week. With their help we just got off the phone with their International branch who are helping us set up an account in Scotland. You can transfer 100,000 per day between accounts at no change. Hope this helps.

durham_lad

You can transfer between accounts extremely easily and almost in real time. However I find Wise to be the better deal. On several occasions I set up a transfer in my HSBC US account to my UK account and in another window set up the same transfer from Wise to my UK account and look at the £s that will arrive in my UK account. On a $10k transfer Wise is always at least £50 better so I am prepared to wait a few hours or overnight and do it with Wise.

MidAtlantic

Maybe no fee, but check the exchange rate they use and you will find that it is noticeably worse than Wise.
Any such comparisons should compare fees and the exchange rate. ie the actual £s you receive, as Durhamlad indicates in #12.

michaelinfinisol

That is good to know!

michaelinfinisol

Thanks - just set up a US HSBC and will now do a UK one. Thanks for the info.