NYCbound

My Husband is transferring to one of the US offices of the company, the New Jersey office more than likely. He works for a large, well known US company and they want him to start asap heading up a department so will do what is necessary to fast track anything if they can. I know the visa process time scale is as long as a piece of string, but my Husband sees us all over there in Sept (which quite frankly is daunting). We have a young family so ideally he wants them to start school when the new school year begins, we have no house to sell/rent out so nothing apart from the visa process that will take time this end.
Visa process aside, what I want to know about are existing UK financial commitments.
We have a few credit cards (one of which is an Amex, which I've read can be useful for US credit) and a loan, manageable debts, but ones we won't be able to clear before we move. Can we keep these going, paying them off as we do now, but from the US? The accounts are all manageable online and if we keep our current UK bank account open and feed money into it monthly from the US the Direct Debits will just keep going. Would it be unwise to tell the companies of our move, how would they respond to that do you think, given that we would still be UK citizens, just not living here? I was thinking of just giving the companies my parents' address for any correspondence.
On my husband's new wage, which will be considerably higher than now I estimate they could be worked off in 18 months.
I am in no way trying to escape these debts, they WILL be paid off and I want to pay them off! We have spotless UK credit record, but understand this means jack-all in the US.
Do they do a financial check for an L1 visa?
If I know that side of things will be ok then I will feel a lot better about this potential move.
Thanks

tonrob

Inform the companies of your change of address, giving your parents address. Keep UK bank account(s) open and feed them from the US, as you said. Seems to be what many people do.

Sending money from the US to the UK you'll be at the mercy of the exchange rate, which will of course fluctuate. Probably handy for you to find out if there are any early repayment penalties etc. on the debts that you have, as you mentioned that your husband's salary will be bigger.

Don't believe there's any kind of financial check performed when getting an L-1 visa (which is how I got over here) but I wait to be corrected if necessary.

Good luck with the move, and welcome to BE!

NYCbound

Thanks tonrob, for your advice and welcome.
We overpay what we can each month anyway so not affected by penalities luckily. At the mercy of the exchange rate is a bummer, but nothing I can do about that, I'll just have to lump it!
Cheers again

celticgrid

A couple of thoughts...

Moving money from US to UK every month, as you mention, will mean paying lots of fees. Better to move a larger amount less frequently.

A multi-currency account in the UK would allow dollars to be moved across as dollars and then converted to the Sterling line when required or when rates were favourable. Possible advantage is one of speed - ability to convert dollars into readily available Sterling on the same day rather than waiting for a trans-atlantic transfer to complete. May not be a requirement for you though.

henryh

Here are two good sites for exchanging money between US and UK bank accounts:

http://www.xetrade.com/
http://www.ukforex.co.uk/

I'd recommend signing up for both. You can sign up before you've opened a US bank account. The sign-up for xetrade is a bit of a hassle (have to scan or fax some forms, and take a phone call from them) but worth it. Signup for ukforex is easier.

Both have much better rates than you will get from any high street exchange, or from your bank. UKForex typically has slightly better rates than xetrade, but it also has a large minimum amount, while xetrade doesn't have a minimum.

NYCbound

You are right, unfortunately to begin with it would have to be a month by month thing, in time that would improve as we get on our feet over there.

NYCbound

Fabulous, thank you I will look into these companies!

NYCbound

henryh, tried to post your links in my reply and obviously can't yet.
But was trying to say thanks, I will definitly look into those companies!

rebs

The company my husband works for allows him to pay his salary into both his US and UK bank accounts - fee free. Maybe your husband's company does similar?

We send a portion of his pay back to our UK account - so we've been able to pay off a couple of interest free loans we had going in the UK and keep paying our mortgage as initially the rent on our house was not enough to cover the mortgage payments.

I had our post re-directed to our US address and didn't even bother to tell the loan companies about the change of address.

NYCbound

Now that is very interesting, and would solve a lot of issues.
Definitly something to talk about in the relocation package.
Thanks, it wouldn't have occured to me.

sambapink

Another option is HSBC - we transfer money regularly for no fee. Best of luck with your inpending move

Bob

Welcome to BE

Definitely keep all your accounts open and change your address to the US, shouldn't be a problem unless you've got a egg account.

Barclays are linked to BoA for free transfers, but look at xe for better rates.

Read the wiki, it's got a lot of good info about credit history and there's a lot your employer can do to help out.

Plenty of good threads on what to ask for and expect in a relocation package too.

NYCbound

We do have an Egg account, but will definitley use folks' address for that then. We are also currently with HSBC, will go chat to them.
I've read a few threads on relocation packages and am glad I did, I didn't realise they could stump up for so much! My husband is over there next week to discuss his package (fnarr) so we will know more then, but at least we know what to ask for if it's not as standard.
Told the kids last night, went down well, amazing what saying "NYC has a humngous toy shop with a Big Wheel inside" it can do!
Thanks

lansbury

You don't have to be.

At least 2 companies HiFX.com and moneycorp.com allow you to fix an exchange rate for monthly payments. The contracts can be between 6 - 24 months.

I have a pension paid into my UK bank account and I got a contract last July to run until June 2010 at $1.85 to the pound. At least if nothing else it allows you to know what the cost will be over a fix period and not see it change each month. Moneycorp charge £4 a month fee. Last time I used HiFX it was free.

NYCbound

Thanks, some more stuff to look into, that's great.
You guys are a wealth of information, and completely off topic but thanks for those ickle squares that say I "have a brilliant future", they made my day, I'm such a sap!
I will be back with more inane Q's when Hubby gets back from his trip. (but at least they won't be "how can I live in Florida?" ones!!)
Thanks guys