brokenhearted.

What are the best banks to deal with if you are a UK resident with US monthly deposits to be made? I have been informed that I can receive my monthly annuity if i return to the UK permanently but it will have to be deposited into a US institute. So I am thinking they would be looking for a international bank. Anyone have any recommendations or experiences to share regarding which banks to work with and which banks are best avoided? Thank you

mrken30

If they are able to send you a USD check, then I would look at Citibank. The dollar account option was much cheaper than other banks. However I was not able to receive ACH transfers at the time. This may have changed.

penguinsix

I have accounts with HSBC USA and HSBC UK. They are linked together and I can transfer money between the two in seconds. I have a Premier account so there is no fee for these transfers, but other accounts may have a charge involved.

brokenhearted.

Thank you both for your input...appreciate it. I will have to check into HSBC and do more research.

durham_lad

Same here for both us and our son. We already had an HSBC UK when we opened our HSBC US account but he had never had a bank in the UK so in the months before he moved back in 2017 he opened an HSBC US account and like us pointed his income sources to it before he moved to England (wages and brokerage account). In our case we still have our pensions and income from US retirement savings going into our HSBC US account.

durham_lad

The OP will, I think, soon be a non-USC living in the UK. Will Citibank allow such customers to continue to bank with them?

brokenhearted.

Do you have to have keep the balance over a certain amount?... I am reading an expat HSBC account has to hold 60k ?

durham_lad

For a Premier HSBC account you have to hold £50k in the UK account or $100k in the USA account. I am a Premier account customer and have that "low fee" global transfer between accounts but have only ever used it once, to transfer my house money which was well in excess of $200k. Most of my transfers are between $5k and $15k and TransferWise is much better value. I can line up the transfer on both my HSBC and TransferWise account and the amount in £'s from the TransferWise transfer is always 10's of £'s more so I cancel the HSBC transfer and click submit on the TransferWise transfer and accept that it may take a whole business day to move instead of within the hour.

mrken30

This is the Citibank info.

Included in your Citigold personal banking service is a Sterling current account that gives you the opportunity to also hold US Dollar and Euro current accounts, with no additional fees. What's more, all your current accounts can be accessed using just one Citi Debit Card.
https://www.citibank.co.uk/personal/current-accounts.do

brokenhearted.

Thank you both for your information - it gives me places to start for sure! OPM insist that they will only deposit into US Institutions. I am sure they have a reason but it is a little annoying. I know there has to be a solution.

durham_lad

Thanks.

It doesn't say if a non resident in the UK can hold a US account with US routing information that the OP can use for her pension payments but that will be for her to discover.

For sure as an HSBC customer I have both a UK sort code and account number plus a US routing number and account number. My 2 UK pensions go into my UK account and my 2 US pensions go into my US account.

brokenhearted.

Thanks for the info...I am certainly going to pose a lot of questions as I am really weighing up my best way froward. In immediate terms, I am going forward as a dual resident and am looking how this all comes together - there has to be a solution! After that I need to look at the double taxation treaty - I know i can shield any income I earn in UK but once I stop working I am concerned about how the double taxation treaty works for UK pensions. The option to remain US resident for tax purposes doesnt appeal to me but if the pension in the UK is shielded it might be something to consider - even though it bring paperwork burden but that is all for a different day!
Thank you everyone for your suggestions and pointers

mrken30

Your UK based dollar account cannot accept electronic payments as yet. However if you put $1500 in a US based Citibank account fee free, you can transfer the money to the UK based account in seconds for free. I used to be able to write checks from my UK based dollar account and pay in USD checks. That was 10 years ago. The other great thing was that I was once in Italy having problems with my UK account and the local Citi branch in Italy helped resolve it.

brokenhearted.

So, I popped into HSBC to see if i could start a conversation about getting a US account. Explained situation - need a place to have OP deposit annuity. Apparently she thinks it is possible but first I would need a domestic account with HSBC, this would mean having a 500 pound amount going in every month, then they would open a US account. So armed with that info I am going to investigate what Barclays have to say.

mrken30

This is the web address for info on the USD account in the UK

https://www.hsbc.co.uk/international/currency-account/