dunroving

I have seen a few posts here about keeping US dollars in a UK-based bank account. I am thinking about setting up one of these (I currently bank with Barclays and see they have US dollar accounts for non-UK resident customers), to help offset the possibility that the dollar/UK exchange rate is pants when I eventually head back to the UK.

My idea would be to hold my money in dollars until such time that exchange rates are favorable. The drastic changes in exchange rates over the past 12 months have made me realize that this may well be a sensible strategy. It's not like I have untold riches but minor fluctuations can make a difference even over a few thousand.

Can anyone tell me from experience (a) how exchange rates compare when you convert your dollars into GBP from one of these accounts, and (b) is it best to set this up as an offshore account if possible?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

proo

I know of HSBC one which is one of their offshore (Jersey) accounts. when you want to add money in, they do the conversion using 'their' rates which is a percentage less than the exchange rate and send it over to your Jersey account. It's the same everywhere but if it's a good rate then it shouldn't be too much compared to what you could save later. Don't bet on the branch staff knowing anything. In fact avoid them altogether as they'll either 1) confuse you and themselves, or 2) give you the wrong/unsuitable info (there were a couple of $ accounts, one of which was a rip off). We just picked up a brochure from the branch (that took almost 1hr as I made the mistake of asking for info!) and called up the offshore banking number. You could probably as for info online too. Not sure if you have to have a regular HSBC account first though.