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OT: US$ to UK Pound payments...

OT: US$ to UK Pound payments...

Old Sep 9th 2001, 8:32 pm
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Now that we have our K-1 interview date, I have some more detailed planing to do. Some of these subjects are not so hard to deal with, but one subject (money) really is an issue. My experience so far of US banks is that they just don't know about moving money outside the country!!!!!

My problem is that once I have moved over to the USA, I am going to have to make payments (alimony) for a couple of years to my first wife, back in the UK. It's only for a couple of years, so it won't be for too long, but I was wondering if anyone else has to do this, and has found a way of getting regular payments over to the UK and not be charged huge amounts for this?

Thanks in advance.

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Old Sep 9th 2001, 9:03 pm
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We send money every month to the UK. We set up all the bank details for our UK bank with our personal banker in the US. When we want to send money to the UK, we simply email her the amount and she takes care of it the same day, and the money is in our Barclays account either the same day or the next day, depending on when we gave the instruction. It costs around $10 at both ends. The transfer type is called Swiftwire.

We have internet access to our UK account which I check every day.

Hope this helps.

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Old Sep 9th 2001, 9:16 pm
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Originally posted by Ameriscot
We send money every month to the UK. We set up all the bank details for our UK bank with our personal banker in the US. When we want to send money to the UK, we simply email her the amount and she takes care of it the same day, and the money is in our Barclays account either the same day or the next day, depending on when we gave the instruction. It costs around $10 at both ends. The transfer type is called Swiftwire.

We have internet access to our UK account which I check every day.

Hope this helps.
I use the Nationwide here in the UK, and so far they have tried to sell me an offshore (Isle of Man based) account, which looks really good if what I wanted to do was have a high interest savings account, but I am not after that. I am just trying to find a cost effective way of getting a dollar sum over to the UK into a Sterling (pounds) account once a month.

Swiftwire seems like an option worth looking into... A cost of $20 a month isn't zero, but not too bad either...
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Old Sep 9th 2001, 9:53 pm
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What about money orders? I know that you can get money orders from the US Postal Service in Canadian Dollars. Perhaps they or Western Union or someone like that does the same for the UK. I'm assuming you will be paying the alimony out of your US earnings. Or perhaps you can set up a checking account with both you and your parents as signatories and you can send them the money for deposit monthly and have them write her the check and mail it from England. If you have any monies coming to you from retirement funds or tax refunds when you move, you can deposit them into that account as your safety cushion until you are employed in the States.

Just a few thoughts

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Old Sep 9th 2001, 10:10 pm
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If you want to reduce the transfer costs, you can double up the amount and do it only every other month. The fees are independent of the amount. You can send it into your UK current account and have a standing order to move the money out once a month.

If you want to get interest on your UK money, you won't get a much better deal than Barclays E-savings account - 4%ish interest rates and you can move money in and out to your current account as much as you like. Off-shore accounts aren't really that beneficial to US taxpayers as you are taxed on your worldwide income. They are only good if you are saving lots from being an expat with an intent to return to the UK.

We are very pleased with the system we have - hassle value is virtually nil, the fees low, no penalty on the exchange rate, and the money doesn't disappear into limbo for several days/weeks.
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Old Sep 9th 2001, 11:29 pm
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I have been using this to deposit our "retirement fund" into a bank in Morocco.

https://www.c2it.com/bannerJJ/index....ral=Z0GBG0GE7W

It is citibank, and it's only 10$ to send a cheque, 15$ for a direct deposit into
an account..

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Old Sep 10th 2001, 8:08 pm
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Originally posted by Rete
What about money orders? I know that you can get money orders from the US Postal Service in Canadian Dollars. Perhaps they or Western Union or someone like that does the same for the UK. I'm assuming you will be paying the alimony out of your US earnings. Or perhaps you can set up a checking account with both you and your parents as signatories and you can send them the money for deposit monthly and have them write her the check and mail it from England. If you have any monies coming to you from retirement funds or tax refunds when you move, you can deposit them into that account as your safety cushion until you are employed in the States.
Right about paying out of my US earnings.

No parents left in the UK able to do the transfer for me (mother dies over 10 years ago and my father is an invalid).

I might just keep my UK bank account for a while (if allowed)... we will see what options occur...
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Old Sep 10th 2001, 8:16 pm
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Originally posted by Lisa \
It is citibank, and it's only 10$ to send a cheque, 15$ for a direct deposit into
an account..
Lisa (B)
Well, as my US credit card is a citi card, as was one of my UK credit cards too, it's a useful service to know about.

Thanks.

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