Cheapest way to pay USD into UK bank account

no-monet

I am a self employed consultant, and have won a contract with a US company. They will pay my fees in USD into UK account. What is the most cost effective way of doing this? I know some banks make exhorbitant currency exchange charges. Any advice urgent & welcome.

alisong1

Could you open a USD account just for this client?

lpgm

I was recently in a similar position.

If it's not too late, can you charge them in GBP? It's only fair.

In any case, check how much your bank will charge to receive the money, and add it on to your fee, if you can. My Metro Bank account doesn't charge; my Lloyds TSB account wanted £7.

Finally, make it clear on your invoice you expect them to cover the costs at their end, and you expect £X to appear in your account. I think this is where I slipped up

DavidHayton

no-monet wrote: »

I am a self employed consultant, and have won a contract with a US company. They will pay my fees in USD into UK account. What is the most cost effective way of doing this? I know some banks make exhorbitant currency exchange charges. Any advice urgent & welcome.

Talk to your bank and see what they advise. Insist that they itemise the charges, commissions and spreads that they would deduct. It might not be as bad as you fear!

Once you have this information you can trawl around the currency brokers to see what they could offer and what they will charge.

Alternatively, as alisong1 pointed out, you could open a USD account. Try Citibank:http://www.citibank.co.uk/personal/banking/international/currency.htm?merchant=citi

Best wishes
David

[Deleted User]

DavidHayton wrote: »

Talk to your bank and see what they advise. Insist
that they itemise the charges, commissions and spreads that they would deduct. It might not be as bad as you fear!

Once you have this information you can trawl around the currency brokers to see what they could offer and what they will charge.

Alternatively, as alisong1 pointed out, you could open a USD account. Try Citibank:http://www.citibank.co.uk/personal/banking/international/currency.htm?merchant=citi


Best wishes
David

or Barclays
Metro Bank seem to not charge for incoming transfers

James129

no-monet wrote: »

I am a self employed consultant, and have won a contract with a US company. They will pay my fees in USD into UK account. What is the most cost effective way of doing this? I know some banks make exhorbitant currency exchange charges. Any advice urgent & welcome.

I also worked as a consultant for an American company. To avoid complications, my employer agreed to pay me in GBP rather than USD.

All my salary was paid into my Natwest account and they charged £7 for each incoming wire.

Also a fee is applied by sending bank depending on the urgency of transfer e.g same day

NFH

lpgm wrote: »

If it's not too late, can you charge them in GBP? It's only fair.

Why is it fair to expect the OP's customer to pay in a currency that is foreign for them?

lpgm wrote: »

In any case, check how much your bank will charge to receive the money, and add it on to your fee, if you can.

What justification is there for the OP to expect his customer to pay his own bank charges which are incurred through his own choice, i.e. choice of bank and choice of bank's location?

lpgm wrote: »

Finally, make it clear on your invoice you expect them to cover the costs at their end, and you expect £X to appear in your account.

Surely the OP can only stipulate the amount that his customer sends? If the OP's bank deducts charges after receipt, that's the OP's problem.


I suggest opening a USD account with Citibank UK or a proper USD account in the US, which isn't too hard if you for example if you've had a UK account with HSBC for at least 6 months. You can then transfer the USD via a broker to GBP once you have accumulated a sizeable amount to reduce the broker's margin. I should mention as well that US banks charge to receive incoming domestic wire transfers from within the US, typically $15.

lpgm

NFH wrote: »

Why is it fair to expect the OP's customer to pay in a currency that is foreign for them?


What justification is there for the OP to expect his customer to pay his own bank charges which are incurred through his own choice, i.e. choice of bank and choice of bank's location?


Surely the OP can only stipulate the amount that his customer sends? If the OP's bank deducts charges after receipt, that's the OP's problem.

My client didn't have a problem paying in GBP. They chose to deal with someone in the UK, after all. I've rented holiday apartments around the world - it's never occurred to me to insist on sending them sterling.

I agree it might be tricky or awkward to get them to pick up the costs of receiving at the UK end. That's why I mentioned Metro Bank doesn't charge you.

But I think it's reasonable they pick up the costs of sending at the US end - that's something you have no control over. If they sent you a cheque, you wouldn't expect to pay for their stamp.

NFH

lpgm wrote: »

My client didn't have a problem paying in GBP. They chose to deal with someone in the UK, after all. I've rented holiday apartments around the world - it's never occurred to me to insist on sending them sterling.

It's conventional for the currency of the price maker, rather than the price taker, to be used. The price inherently includes a currency. It makes no difference who is the customer or who is the supplier. What matters is who sets the price.

lpgm

NFH wrote: »

What matters is who sets the price.

Yes, agreed. In my case, *I* set the price.

photosailor

...i work as a photographer onboard cruise line. On the ship i am paid in USD, cash. I did have a US bank account, and my plan was to wire my contracts pay, across to my UK account before coming home. The problem was i came to do this and the rate was extortionate!

Anyway i ended up carrying the cash home, which yes is a large amount of money, way beyond what is mentioned in the above post. Normally this is what i have done on previous contracts, but with a much lesser amount, exchanged the USD at the best rate i could find with Thomson, Thomas Cook etc, then paid the GBP into my Barclays account.

So my question is, what is the best way for me to go about this, i understand i will lose by changing to GBP, but how is this best done? I am looking at using the money to put a deposit on a property, so i don't think an International account is the way to go, however, i really don't know, any advice will be much appreciated!