florida12

I just had a thought. I get regular money, on a monthly basis, which is a debt from my estrange BF for my now, adult child. However, the debt he owes me is huge and I don't want to lose that regular payment as it will help me in my initial (out of work) situation once I move over to the USA.
How do I transfer that payment onto my US account?
Can CSA do that or should I get my daughter to this for me from the UK and have her transfer it to myself?
This will be my only regular income for now until I get a job.

Thank everyone.

Pulaski

If you ask for it to be paid overseas IMO there is a good chance that payments will become erratic and unreliable. You should (continue) to have the payment made directly into your British bank account, then use xe.com, or similar web remitter, to transfer the money to the US.

Even if you could get it paid directly to you in the US it is likely that one way or another you'd lose out to fees or a crappy exchange rate. The last thing you want is a GBP check in the US, because the fees you'll face to have it cleared into your account will be insane!

florida12

Thank you for confirming my suspicions on the exchange rate scenario etc. I shall therefore stick to my initial thought to keep it in my UK bank account and use a transfer facility. Which is the best website for this? Is it xe.com? I haven't had to use a service like this before so would like to make sure that I use a very good reliable one that doesn't cost much to use.

Thank you again for the info. I appreciate that a lot.

Pulaski

You're welcome.

I've used xe.com myself for more than 12 years, including the net sales proceeds of the sale of my house, which was a hefty sum and about half of my net worth at the time. I have never had a problem, and they have been totally reliable, but when transferring funds be sure to select the alternative to "wire" because if you choose to receive funds by wire, or send the funds to xe.com by wire, the receiving/ sending bank will clobber you with a wire fee. Xe.com's "fee" is in the buy-sell spread on the exchange of pounds for dollars, but that spread is very small compared to most high street banks.

Also xe.com belongs to Western Union, a long established and reputable business. When you register with xe.com they will ask fir a certain amount of documentation to comply with US "know your customer" regulations.

There are many other competitors to xe.com, including xoom.com and WorldFirst, but a number of them have had technical issues with their licence/ registration to serve customers in the US.

florida12

Thank you again. To be honest, all sounds so slightly complicated but I when the time comes, I am sure I can manage this transaction and many more each month, just fine. I was so concerned about this so I am very happy that I can do this. Also, this would also keep my UK bank account 'active' as I need to keep doing that while out in the USA. Many thanks.