British Expats - Transferring Monies to the UK

British Expats (https://britishexpats.com/forum/)

- USA (https://britishexpats.com/forum/usa-57/)

- - Transferring Monies to the UK (https://britishexpats.com/forum/usa-57/transferring-monies-uk-195778/)

Transferring Monies to the UK

I have a few obligations in the UK; namely a student bank account with overdraft and a student loan. On top of that, a few months back, one of our cats opted to eat a needle and thread, and I had to put $600 as deposit for his surgery on my UK credit card, as we only had that and our US debit card to hand, and they refused to accept that or wait until later.

Now I have the dilemma of how do I pay these items off in an easy, straightforward manner, ideally with a minimum lost to fees or comission. My UK bank is HSBC and I know there is a US division in NYC. My HSBC statements, which they mail to me here in NYC, have an international account number on them, but I don't know if that'd allow me to do a straightup direct deposit in dollars.
I guess my other option is a wire transfer.

Anyone have any suggestions/advice?

Re: Transferring Monies to the UK

Quote:

Originally posted by nathan barley
I have a few obligations in the UK; namely a student bank account with overdraft and a student loan. On top of that, a few months back, one of our cats opted to eat a needle and thread, and I had to put $600 as deposit for his surgery on my UK credit card, as we only had that and our US debit card to hand, and they refused to accept that or wait until later.

Now I have the dilemma of how do I pay these items off in an easy, straightforward manner, ideally with a minimum lost to fees or comission. My UK bank is HSBC and I know there is a US division in NYC. My HSBC statements, which they mail to me here in NYC, have an international account number on them, but I don't know if that'd allow me to do a straightup direct deposit in dollars.
I guess my other option is a wire transfer.

Anyone have any suggestions/advice?

You may be able to pay it with a US check. I can do that with Barclaycard. I get a decent rate of exchange and no extra charge for cashing a check drawn on a US account.

Call their customer service and ask if you can do this, and if there are charges, and how close the rate will be to the middle rate.

Re: Transferring Monies to the UK

Quote:

Originally posted by nathan barley
..... Now I have the dilemma of how do I pay these items off in an easy, straightforward manner, ideally with a minimum lost to fees or comission. My UK bank is HSBC and I know there is a US division in NYC. ....

Unless you have an account with HSBC in New York you'll probably find it as cheap and easy to wire funds from your US bank account to you account in the UK (you need to specify bank name, branch address, and give the sort code (explain that it is like the US routing number) and account number. I'd guess that it'll cost you about $30 to send, and you'll be stuck with a Â£10-Â£15 receipt fee in the UK. Ask HSBC what they'll charge you first - but I bet that overall it is a similar amount.