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-   -   Money confusion (https://britishexpats.com/forum/usa-57/money-confusion-923548/)

Annieq Mar 25th 2019 10:20 am

Money confusion
 
Hi everyone,

well ill my son and I got my k1 fiancé visa and we are moving out the Seattle area next week ( By the way, are the jitters normal at this point ?)

I'm not the sharpest tool
in the box, so please forgive but I one question.,

I have a Halifax bank account with a fair bit of dosh in it, plus two military pensions going in each month. The bank say I can keep my account open, change the address to my daughter for ease. Use online banking etc and I can transfer sums to and from for a payment of £8.95 per. Transfer. If this is the case, I'm wondering why people use Tranfserwise etc?

Sorry to be dim
a

tom169 Mar 25th 2019 10:37 am

Re: Money confusion
 
Because Transferwise is often cheaper than bank charges.

Do you know what sort of transfer that is? Is it an international wire?

You'll want to check to see if there are going to be any fees on the receiving side if that is the case.

Transferwise actually performs a domestic ACH (think regular bank transfer) on the US side and the UK side so either bank shouldn't tack more fees on

MidAtlantic Mar 25th 2019 11:27 am

Re: Money confusion
 
Look at the exchange rate AND the fee to give a fair comparison and you will normally find that Transferwise is the best deal.

tom169 Mar 25th 2019 11:39 am

Re: Money confusion
 

Originally Posted by MidAtlantic (Post 12659971)
Look at the exchange rate AND the fee to give a fair comparison and you will normally find that Transferwise is the best deal.

That is true and a good point I failed to mention.

dj6372 Mar 25th 2019 12:01 pm

Re: Money confusion
 
I have kept my Halifax account opened, I just used my brothers address, I put money in there for my trips back to Blighty, had no problems.

I use the Halifax to USBank or vice versa transfer, never bothered with Transferwise, never had any issues, but then i'm not moving millions!

Annieq Mar 25th 2019 6:34 pm

Re: Money confusion
 
​​​​Thanks Guys...
I changed my address on my bank account to my daughters in England.. but my bank said I should close it ??
Do I have too ?

MidAtlantic Mar 25th 2019 6:47 pm

Re: Money confusion
 

Originally Posted by Annieq (Post 12660284)
​​​​Thanks Guys...
I changed my address on my bank account to my daughters in England.. but my bank said I should close it ??
Do I have too ?

It is a matter of the bank's policy whether they allow US residents to hold accounts. In your opening post you say that "the bank say that I can keep my account open".

I bank with Bank of Scotland, which is part of Lloyds, and have kept my UK account using my US address, with no problems.

lansbury Mar 25th 2019 7:00 pm

Re: Money confusion
 
I wouldn’t close it unless Halifax force you to.

Once you leave the UK it is impossible to open a UK bank account, but if you get stuck Transferwise have a borderless bank account which has a UK sort code and account number. The only downside to that is it isn’t insured the way bank accounts normally are.

Pulaski Mar 25th 2019 7:07 pm

Re: Money confusion
 

Originally Posted by MidAtlantic (Post 12659971)
Look at the exchange rate AND the fee to give a fair comparison and you will normally find that Transferwise is the best deal.

On small transfers the amount that transferwise creits to your US account is likely to b 2% to 5% more than a transfer through a bank, and with no fixed fee.

So your £500 sent from a bank in the UK charging a £9 fee and say a 3% conversion fee, and assuming a headline rate of $1.25/£1, would send you £491 x 0.97 x 1.25= $595.33, and then your bank in the US would likely charge you another $15-$20 to credit the wire to your account, leaving a net credit of $575 to $580. Whereas Transferwise, which I believe charges 0.5% would send you £500 x 0.995 x 1.25 = $621.87, with no charge for the credit in the US.

So under the assumptions I used, using Transferwise would net you around 7% more dollars than using a bank charging a £9 fixed fee and a 3% conversion fee. :thumbsup:

durham_lad Mar 25th 2019 7:50 pm

Re: Money confusion
 

Originally Posted by Annieq (Post 12659936)
Hi everyone,

well ill my son and I got my k1 fiancé visa and we are moving out the Seattle area next week ( By the way, are the jitters normal at this point ?)

I'm not the sharpest tool
in the box, so please forgive but I one question.,

I have a Halifax bank account with a fair bit of dosh in it, plus two military pensions going in each month. The bank say I can keep my account open, change the address to my daughter for ease. Use online banking etc and I can transfer sums to and from for a payment of £8.95 per. Transfer. If this is the case, I'm wondering why people use Tranfserwise etc?

Sorry to be dim
a

Given the regularity of the UK to US transfers you will be making to get your pension money I would definitely look into Transferwise. I have my US pensions going into HSBC US and while they brag about no fees transferring money to my UK HSBC account I always find Transferwise a much better deal, although it does take 1 business day instead of minutes with HSBC-HSBC.

When doing a transfer I can have 2 tabs of my browser open, one with TWise and one with HSBC, then I can start the transfer in both places and see which one is going to give more £s, and TWise is always much better so I hit submit and then hit cancel on the HSBC transfer. No additional bank fees on either side unless I want the money same day with Twise and then I could wire the money to Twise, but it is never that urgent for me.


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