Wh431

Hi,

i am a British national living in the US now (on green card). I sold my house in the UK and ve to transfer the money from my UK bank account to my US bank account.

Since the amount isn’t that small, i am wondering what’s the best (and most economical) way to go about it?

Can i just do a bank to bank transfer between my 2 accounts? Is there a restriction on the amount of money i can transfer?

Will be thankful for any advise.

Thanks

vespucci

I recommend using Wise.com (formerly Transferwise). It will cost you less than 0.4%. You can do a bank to bank transfer but it will cost you considerably more. There is no restriction on the amount of money you can transfer.

Wh431

Thanks but for a biggish amount, the fees from Wise also feels a bit steep. In fact in less amount, i can just fly over to the Uk take the cash out and bring it to US in a big suitcase

Will try to contact Barclays bank tomorrow to find out their charges.

Olly_

I can almost guarantee a high street bank will charge you more than Wise will to do the conversion.

Bringing a suitcase of GBP to the USA isn't very useful, how are you going to convert it when you get it here?

tht

Just remember you need to declare it at customs , if it’s over $10k…

Pulaski

Carry the cash and you'll pay a whopping spread (terrible exchange rate) on converting your sterling to dollars when you deposit it at your bank in the US (think in terms of 4%-5% worse than the mid-rate (commonly reported by the media as "the exchange rate"), and you'll have to declare it to US customs when you enter the US, and there's a very real risk that the customs officers could seize it (it's called "civil forfeiture") and you'd have to go to court to try to get it back, by explaining to a judge where you got the cash and why you were carrying it into the US, and once you get it to the actual bank branch, the bank would have to report it to FinCEN (a division of the IRS) on a Currency Transaction Report, and that may be the least of your concerns, especially if you create any sort of scene at the bank (they can get very funny about customers behaving suspiciously), and, needless to say, you also run the risk of having the cash stolen, so in short, your idea of carrying cash is a terrible idea, with no redeeming features that I can think of.

If you're transferring about £50,000 or more, then you need to ask your bank for "a dealing desk rate" (use those words), and you will get a rate quote linked to the live FX market rate for USD/GBP at that moment in time. Because exchange rates vary continuously throughout the day, the rate quote will only be held for 30 seconds to a minute before it changes. It's the same if you use an on-line currency broker such as Wise.

If you use a bank you may, depending on the terms of your bank account, be charged a wire fee, most likely around £30-£35, and there may be a smaller fee charged by your bank in the US, perhaps $15, for receiving the wire, again, depending on the terms of your bank account.
It might be closer than you think if you ask for a deal desk rate. Though for any amounts under about £50k, you are almost certainly correct.
He'd just deposit it at a bank - most banks will accept foreign currency, but the exchange rate will be truly terrible, probably no better than the tourist rate for people coming back with surplus spending money after their holiday overseas.

Wh431

All good advice. Many Thanks

…and I wasn’t really considering bringing in the suitcase full of cash. Will check with the banks to figure out the cost of that option.

durham_lad

I just did a quick check using Wise and £200,000 at the moment would deliver $261,744 to my US bank including all fees. Don't get too focused on stated fees, it is the final amount that counts. I have compared transferring money between my UK and US HSBC accounts many times (zero fees) and the only time they have beaten Wise was on a very large transfer for my house money and then they did give me the "dealing desk" rate Pulaski mentions above.

tht

This was back in the days of Oanda not Wise, but low amounts alos seems to be cheaper in HSBC, because the lack of a fixed fee (around $15 back then) made up for them marking up/down the rate. I always used to have both open and a spread sheet and would hit send on which ever worked out best at that moment.

durham_lad

This is exactly what I do these days, usually for sums around $10k. No need for a spreadsheet. I log onto my Wise and HSBC accounts in separate windows and set up the transfer. Both transactions show the actual £s that will be delivered and Wise is always significantly better value so I click "Cancel" on the HSBC transfer and "Submit" on the Wise transfer. If I do the transfer on a weekday morning then the money is in my UK bank account within a few hours which is certainly quick enough for me. (I have free wire transfers with my US HSBC account)

petitefrancaise

I did actually have a client that brought US$80k in cash on the plane with him to deposit in the US bank account that we were opening for him. He had US$, he declared it on his customs form on arrival in the USA. Carried it around all morning in a backpack until his appointment at the bank at lunchtime. The personal banker almost had a fit when he answered her question " How much money do you have to open the account, sir". She checked with the manager and all was well.

PetrifiedExPat

Agree with all of the above. To add re: Wise fees, I have transferred amounts from ~1000 GBP to 12,000,000 JPY across to the US using Wise, fees were quite reasonable. My bank did not charge for the wire in either.

Pulaski

I believe that one of the advantages of using Wise is that the credit to your account is an ACH, not "a wire" (perhaps "credit by wire" is an option - it was on other transfer services I have used), and no bank charges to receive an ACH.

durham_lad

My US bank never charges for wires in or out so I always wire money to Wise, and their transfer between their UK bank and my UK bank is also free. I wire money to Wise in the morning (US workday) and it arrives in my UK account a few hours later.

similarly my US Vanguard account charges no money for wires in or out so I always transfer out of Vanguard using a wire, much faster than ACH.

msk2uon

Care to share which US bank is not charging for outgoing wires?