Bring money from america, here

Sillychuckie

Hi.
I have some money (approx $30k) in the US which I want to bring here and make pounds.

I am having the bank in the US draw up a cheque (dollar denominated) and send it to me here. I have been told this is the only option, rather than bank transfers etc.

Question: Which is the best bank to pay it into, so I don't get hit with large charges or bad exchange rates?
I am happy to open any new account as necessary, but I DO want this converted to pounds.
i.e. A US $ denominated, UK based Citi type account isn't suitable.

Any suggestions/advice?
Should I just pay it into anywhere? Does it matter?

Thanks.
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teralin

Recently I sent money to the US using the Swift money transfer system used by most banks around the world. I used the Nationwide BS to do the transaction as they usually give the best exchange rate. In short, I gave the Nationwide £3000 to convert into dollars before it was wired to a US bank. There is a one off charge of £20 to do this. They gave me a rate of 1.695 which at the time was very close to the interbank rate.

I don't know why your US bank is insisting on you haveing a cheque, this seems to be a very odd way of transferring money. Check out the Swift option with them but don't allow them to convert your dollars into sterling, get them to send dollars to your Nationwide account and let NW convert into sterling. If you do have to accept a cheque from your US bank, then deposit it into a Nationwide bank account for the best dollar/sterling rate.

This is only my experience, others may have other suggestions.

opinions4u

Clearing a dollar cheque through a UK bank will take around 14-28 days.

The exchange rate you get will be the one applicable at the time the cheque is cleared, so any fluctuations could give you an unpleasant shock or a nice surprise.

Most UK banks will charge a flat fee for clearing it.

Many USA banks are very insular and don't tend to deal with foreign currency in any significant way, shape or form. Hence their insistance on a cheque. It is worth challenging them on whether there is an automated alternative though.

withabix

The US bank should (if it is a major bank) be able to send you a draft in Sterling, or transfer the money via iBan/Swift in Sterling. That should be the cheapest way to carry out the ForEx transaction.

You will be given an exchange rate which is very close to the commercial ForEx/interbank rate (live with major banks or previous day's closing rate with others) and will be charged a nominal fee (if similar to UK banks doing this in the other direction, the fee should be under £20).

If you get a draft in Sterling from a US bank, you will not be charged for depositing it at a UK bank (as it will be drawn on a UK bank) and the exchange rate will be fixed at the point the draft was ordered.

If you get a $US draft sent to you, ALL UK banks (including Nationwide) will charge you quite a large fee for the transaction - certainly more than the rate for getting a draft in the first place.

Sillychuckie

OK, thanks all for the replies.
I am doing this through a family member, since they are the custodian and its all very convoluted.
They say that the bank said providing a cheque is the only way, but I'll go back to them and request they push alternative methods.

I just wanted to rule out any major services I didn't know about.
Since it seems there is nothing, I'll just pay the cheque in (assuming I get a cheque) to a bank account here. I'll go around at lunch to find out which one charges the least.
Alternatively, I could open a US$ account here, pay the cheque in... and then transfer it myself (SWIFT) to a sterling account.

I'm not so worried about exchange rates (I don't think I can predict or control those)... but it would be nice to avoid any excessive fees for the 'service'.
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Spangled

Hi Sillychuckie — I'm in a similar situation. I get paid regular freelance money in dollars from a US company so I opened an HSBC US account to handle that (I bank with HSBC here in the UK). You'd have thought that transferring funds from a HSBC US account to an HSBC UK account would be simple and could be done online — alas no. I emailed their customer services and they said in order to set up a wire transfer from my US to UK accounts, I have to FAX them! Yes, fax — that up-to-the-minute modern 21st-century technology. I have to phone them, request a confirmation code then fax them a request each time I want to transfer money.

What a pallava! So instead of doing that each time, I just withdraw money from my HSBC US account via ATMs and then pay it into my HSBC UK account. I don't get charged a handling fee if I withdraw funds from my HSBC US account using an HSBC UK ATM.

97trophy

You could open an account with XE trade -.https://www.xe.com/fx/login/

Once an account with them is open they can either send you a GBP cheque or pay the money directly into your GBP account. All done online and good fx rates.

They are unable to debit your US$ account through the ACH system - an American style direct debit.

Sillychuckie

Ok, thanks.
I am fairly sure then that the first step in anything I do will be to get the USD cheque paid into a UK based dollar account.
This gives me more flexibility to do the transfer myself (to £), or use one of these other currency exchange services that have been mentioned.
e.g. https://www.hifx.co.uk

I'll work on the US $ account when I am about to receive the cheque, and then look again and my options.
Since I'll only have the money in my US $ account here for a few days (that is the plan anyway... or a week at the most, if I want to pick my moment for a better FX rate), I don't suppose it matters which one I open.
Most probably the CitiBank US$ account.

We shall see. Thanks for the advice all. I'll also look into that HSBC option.
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