Dollar payments into UK account

IanMel_2

1: I have been offered a job that will pay me in US Dollars each month into my UK current account with Barclays via BACS - does anyone know what charges I will incur and what exchange rate they will give me / issues may arise?

2: The other choice I have been given is to be paid in Sterling each month at a fixed exchange rate of 0.639 for six months - would this perhaps work out as a better deal. Also I presume there is no charge to have Sterling from abroad paid into my account?

Thanks for any advice - sorry for cross posting, not sure if I have the right forum!

fawinds

If I were you I'd open a Citibank US dollar account and receive the full salary in US dollars. Then exchange the money at the best possible rate (you could use Citibank's own rate or xe.com, for example).

I had a similar situation in which I received payments in euros from Italy to my Natwest sterling account, and the exchange rate wasn't very good. In addition for US dollars there may be further charges from the receiving bank.

http://www.citibank.co.uk/personal/banking/international/eurocurrent.htm?merchant=citi

IanMel_2

fawinds wrote: »

If I were you I'd open a Citibank US dollar account and receive the full salary in US dollars. Then exchange the money at the best possible rate (you could use Citibank's own rate or xe.com, for example).

I had a similar situation in which I received payments in euros from Italy to my Natwest sterling account, and the exchange rate wasn't very good. In addition for US dollars there may be further charges from the receiving bank.

Thanks for this, the extra twist to this is that I will also be living in Italy and drawing the money in Euros though anticipate having money left at the end so wanted to keep things in the UK (and I am going next week!)

fawinds

So if you open the US dollar and euro accounts you may be able to exchange dollars to euros without going through sterling, which might bite a bit of your money.

atsoc15

lloydstsb international offer an account in all three currencies. Had it in the past not great but done the job.

would recommened it just for using to transfer money however and then having a local bank to withdraw from.

i.e. have local american bank you can transfer money to once it is in your US dollar lloyds account.

http://www.lloydstsb-offshore.com/international/account/

Boozer

I would take the offer of 0.639(1.56) right now if i could, i have been paid in dollars into RBS international for 8 years now, and have seen the exchange rate from 1.3 to 2.1, if i could lock it at 1.56 for the next 6 months i would, then you know how much you will earn and not be at the mercy of exchange rates.
All depends what you think will happen to the rates in that time i guess, and if you like to gamble a little.

IanMel_2

Thanks for this, I have now accepted to be paid in Sterling. Does this thus mean that even though the Sterling is coming from abroad via BACS there will be no extra charges from Barclays - I have been into the branch and they had no idea, in fact the person who I asked got stressed and said I was "doing her head in"