mattw89

Hey Everyone,

I've tried reading so much about transferring funds between USA, UK and Vice Versa on this site and others, I would like some advice and clarification if possible, this is what I seem to have found so far:

For regular transfers (i.e. my direct debit for student loans), it seems the best option is keep a direct debit going monthly from my UK account, and make sure it never goes over $10,000 USD. When I need to top it up again, e.g. a transfer from my USA bank account to UK of around $5k I have four options:

1) Bank to Bank direct (adv: easy disadv: expect bank charges)
2) Bank to XE.com to Bank (adv: no fees? disadv: takes longer/min transfer applicable)
3) Bank to Paypal to Bank (adv: smaller fees than bank to bank but more than xe)
4) Bank to Post office Account to Bank (adv: no cost disadv: ???)

This overseas post office account I have yet to find a disadvantage, but there must be someway they profit - so I was assuming they would offer a worse exchange rate...

So first of all what do people think about these options and which are best for transferring say 5k every few months...

and secondly...

Right now lets say I have 25k in my UK bank account, I want to leave 9000$ USD in there.

I enter on my Green Card on Thursday, over the coming weeks I will have no social security number, no credit score, yet need to furnish my apartment. Therefore I will need access to my cash.

I will open an account with a US Bank account on arrival, but what is the best way to move so much money in the least costly manner:

-I could exchange it locally and say take 9k in my hand luggage
-I could write a cheque and cash it in my US Bank account?
-I could do a bank transfer once I have the US bank account online
-Use on the four options above for transferring

or....

Any ideas whats best way to get so much money to the USA in the most cost effective manner, plus having plenty to buy bed/sofa things alike...

If anyone has any input that would be great !

Michelmas

Exchange your cash in the UK to get you the most favourable rate you can. I don't know where you got your ideas from, but you can take more that $10,000 into the US, you just have to declare it or risk forfeiting any amount over the $10K limit.

It is a system put in place so that any huge sums of money that are regularly brought into the US does not upset the balance of currency in the US (we're talking sums in the hundreds of thousands).

Your $16,000 that you will be bringing over will NOT be a problem.

RayM

I would suggest opening a US bank account then using some like HiFx to transfer the money. It's quick and simple. Even large amounts are easy. In fact the more you send in one go the better the conversion rate. I moved several hundred thousand dollars in about 2 hours and got a great rate.

rpjs

We sold our house after moving and ended up with just under $10k to transfer once all our UK debts were settled. We used XE and it took a couple of days to set up an account and a couple of days to complete the transfer, with no extra fees as I recall. The key to making a fast transfer is to use the Faster Payments Service to transfer from your UK account to XE's.

Don't forget if your UK bank accounts hold more than $10k aggregate at any point after you become a Green Card holder you'll need to make an FBAR declaration to the IRS next year.

md95065

... and that really isn't a big deal - as long as you do declare it - so I wouldn't obsess too much about keeping your UK account under $10k unless you want to do so anyway for other reasons.

Bob

For anything over a few k...use a currency exchange service such as xe/hifx, whatever because the rate will make up for the hassle of waiting a couple days to open accounts up.

Plus you can just use your UK debit card for the first few days till you're set up.