auntieginzy

Hi, we are very near to emigrating now and I wondered if someone could help with money advice. We both have a US bank account as well as our UK accounts. We are both retired. At the moment our pensions are paid into our british accounts. I have three different pensions that are paid that way.
I am intending to keep my British bank account and then transfer money across as and when. Is that they best way? Should I have stuff paid directly to the US? Any advice gratefully received.

markwm

I've always used http://www.xe.com to transfer money - pretty straightforward and the exchange rate appears to be reasonable. Pity sterling has dropped so much this week!

auntieginzy

I was mainly thinking of my monthly pension, would you still you xe for that?

nun

I think this is a reasonable approach as you will only have to deal with setting up cross border transaction with your bank rather than with a number of pension providers.

How you are going to deal with the tax implications on your pensions by becoming US resident? I would talk to your pension providers and see if your US residency will be an issue for them. Are you familiar with FBAR, FATCA and the "US-Individual-2002" form?

civilservant

You cant have sterling paid into a dollars US bank account.

HarryTheSpider

Yup - xe.com or xoom.com

They take care of currency conversions.

auntieginzy

Have any of you used easyFX?
Also do I need to tell my UK bank I am emigrating or is it ok to give them a UK address if they need it?

nun

I'd give your UK bank your US address. Make sure you send HMRC a P85 before you leave. Just to check, have you worked out all the tax implications of your move to the US?.......and on a totally different subject, what are you doing about health insurance?

lansbury

My wife and I have our UK pensions paid into a UK bank, and then move the money over when we need it.

A thing to remember is most US banks charge for incoming wire transfers, and if you can also get hit for an intermediary fee depending on the arrangements made by the company sending the money, with the US bank handling the transaction. So it is better to make one transfer a month, or even less frequently if you can do so.

Bob

Yes you can. It gets exchanged by the bank, but usually at a shit rate.

Best thing to do if one is in a position to afford it, keep the money in a UK account and transfer it via xe.com or whatever when you get a rate you like.

Either that, or you set up a monthly transfer and negotiate a 12 month contract to get a fixed exchange rate. You may or may not end up better off doing this but at least you won't be at the whim of fluctuations and will not exactly what you'll be getting.

civilservant

That's news to me. I had been told previously that it wasn't possible. Live and learn!

penguinsix

Please research FBAR. You may be required to file one of these every year if you have > $10,000 in foreign bank accounts. The penalties are severe for failure to file.

nun

+1. I hope the OP has fully researched and understood the implications of US residency on her finances and taxes and has checked with her pension providers.

tonrob

Maybe the devil's in the detail here - you could argue that it is impossible, as as soon as the bank converts it (prior to paying it in) then it isn't sterling any more.

Keith S

We were in the same position. So we opened an account with Citibank in Australia then another in the US with the same bank when we got here. Citibank claim to be a full international facility. Now we can transfer Aus$ at a fair exchange rate with little or no bank charges.