US Resident / UK Citizen needs a bank account

Californiaresident

I am a UK Citizen but live in the US as a Green Card holder. I have kept my current account with Abbey National open since I left the UK 5 years ago but, in spite of my 20 years as a customer of Abbey National, my customer service experience of late has been horrendous so I would like to switch to a different bank. I don't really need an overdraft facility, I just need an account that I can manage on the internet, transfer funds in to and out of electronically and that direct debits can be taken from. Of course, earning interest would be a bonus ! If anyone has any advice, I'd appreciate it. Many thanks.

Stageshoot

Go to your nearest Bank Of America (If you are in California you should trip over one) open a Bank account with them. They are very closely tied in with Barclays in the UK, when we came back to the UK after 7 years CA/NV BOA provided references for Barclays which allowed for a current account and Credit Card with no UK history showing on credit file.

(Not sure how long it would take to build up the history with BOA required to get things moving, but if by chance you already have a BOA account?)

Also with the relationship BOA and Barclays have you can use a BOA Debit card in a UK Barclays cash machine and withdraw cash with no withdrawl fee and no exchange rate surcharge. So you get the actual market rate on any funds you draw out of your BOA account whilst in the UK.

Might not help in the short term I am afraid, but may be of some use..


They are also very useful if you move back to the UK and want a US Bank account, as they are happy to send paper statements and new cards to a UK address with no hassle,