Winston_the_Great_Dane

Hi,

Does anyone have UK pension paid direct into US bank account?

How does the exchange rate compare with the market exchange rate? I'm just trying to weigh up whether to move to monthly payment or stick with infrequent transfer using Wise.

Thanks

excpomea

I have two, paid directly into my US bank account from the UK.
I do not even look at the exchange rate, you have no control over it.
I did check some years ago and it was a very favorable rate. Better than I could have gotten transferring the cash myself.

miketsp

Between my wife and I we have 4 small pensions being paid in the UK. I found the cheapest and simplest way was to keep having them paid into a UK bank account. Then in my country of residence I purchased a bluetooth credit card machine for 10USD and I simply insert my UK bank card into the machine and pay myself each month. Total apparent cost is 2.5% for in GBP and 3% in BRL. However this is compensated by the excellent exchange rate that my UK bank gives me on this operation and avoidance of all other fees, charges and taxes. I haven't found a cheaper way to regularly transfer small sums.

SanDiegogirl

Have UK State pension paid directly into US bank account. Exchange rate is whatever it is at the time.

SanDiegogirl

I have no fees at all when paid directly into my US bank account; and the UK Government buys dollars at commercial bulk rates which is always better than an individual bank rate.

MMcD

Same here.
It's worked perfectly for me, payments always received on time, precisely 4 weeks apart (what I opted for when setting it up). And when that falls on a weekend or a holiday, payment is received in my bank account the preceding business day.

Unfortunately I've been unable to find anything as spectacular for my 3 Private Pensions.
Have hesitated to use Wise (aka Transferwise) without having my own UK bank account. Don't want to park funds with them for prolonged periods of time while waiting for decent exchange rates.

Nutmegger

Plus one. Though, as I only have a small UK pension, I opted to receive it quarterly.

Winston_the_Great_Dane

Thanks for that. I'm trying to decide if the rate is sufficiently close to the commercial rate rather than retail rate. I'm thinking that setting up monthly payment direct into my US bank account would be better than trying to time the transfer wise rate periodically.

MMcD

Would it even be possible to do that? And if so, how?

Winston_the_Great_Dane

By that I mean being selective about when I transfer money. As an example, I brought some over recently at 1.41, but now it's down at 1.39 ish, so I'm going to wait a while for my next one until it nudges over 1.40 again.

The other chain of thought is getting a rate closer to the market rate by having UK Treasury do the payment into US bank account and accept I will get a 12 month average rate over the course of a year.