International Student Moneys

Athravan

My boyfriend is a US citizen who's coming to Cardiff for 3 years to get an engineering degree - has been accepted, confirmed, currently gathering paperwork for the visa.

Our question is - he's going to have about $90,000 to cover 3 years fees and living costs. What's the best way to get this over here? Should he leave it in the US and pay for everything with his credit card, or is there an effective way of getting it into a UK bank account?

He would obviously like a UK bank account with some money in, to cover at least some of the rent / bills - you can't use a credit card for everything so he will need access to some cash - although he is intending to get a part time job here to free up some extra cash.

So basically is there any account / way of moving it over, without losing a horrific amount on the exchange rate, and are there any banks that offer a reasonable interest savings account to international students as well as current accounts?

He's 23 years old with no debts, 90k US$ in cash in his bank account and a good credit rating in the US.

Any advice on how to make the most of this would be much appreciated.

xycom1

Hard one. How often will he be going backwards and forwards between here and the US? If once every few months, then I would just carry $5-10K (or whatever he needs for those few months) at a time and then exchange it when the rates are good/when he needs it, etc.

This is depending on whether he is happy carrying so much cash with him - and whether it's legal - I don't know if there are export/import limits on cash between US and UK?

An alternative would be to open an account at a bank in the US which also has branches in the UK (maybe CitiBank? HSBC?) and then see if that opens up the possibility of opening a UK account when he gets here?

Voyager2002

He will need a UK bank account: there are situations like paying the deposit on a flat where you can't use a credit card and would not want to use cash. Many other reasons as well for getting a bank account. Note that most student bank accounts are not available to foreigners, but he may get some sort of account with NatWest or Smile.

Once he has a bank account here he will be able to transfer funds from his US account. XE.com offers this service, apparently at good rates, as do some other companies.

misskool

Standard student bank accounts are not available for foreigners but banks will have what is called an international student bank account.
The bank will require a letter from the university and confirmed housing. They will normally require a large deposit (which shouldn't be a problem if he has to bring the money over). The most international student friendly banks are HSBC, Barclays, Natwest.
If you have a bank account with an international bank and they have a branch here (eg Citibank, HSBC) they can arrange an introduction to make opening of the new account easier.

As for moving large amounts of money, look for a currency broker who are used to dealing with large sums of money.
The exchange rate with the US dollar is rising at the moment, you might want to keep an eye for when it drops so he get more sterling to his dollar.

Hope he enjoys the experience!

PS-Also, he may not require it but all US students are allowed loans for their studies, he maybe able to take out a low-interest loan in case the money isn't enough. He should have all his information ready.

dayzee_2

Ok. What he needs to do is open a HSBC bank account in the US for the UK.

When does this he can the put all the US money into the UK bank account. The exchange rate is what it is on the day, but other than that it is free. He will need to provide various details for them such as a letter from the uni etc.

When he gets to the UK he will need to go to a major HSBC (london .. there might be more), show some ID (passport) and he will get his account number but no card. The card will need to be sent to a UK address which should be his 'home' address. When he leaves the UK he can then request his account be activated in the US and thus he can continue banking via going into the bank. (he will be able to use his debit card in the US and globally)

Don't apply for an international student account because they are horrible, and awful for various reasons.