Need a UK dollar bank account

dseabrook

I receive income in dollars from a US university. At present the quarterly amounts (about $4,000 each time) are wired to a dollar account I have with Allied Irish Bank in the Isle of Man. Once funds are paid in I can then transfer them to a linked AIB sterling account and then transfer the sterling funds to my Santander current account. All of this costs me nothing apart from a $10 fee each time a deposit is made. Unfortunately AIB will be closing its IoM operation at the end of 2013 so I need to find a cost-efficient alternative. Anyone got any suggestions? Note I want the university to still be able wire funds; I don't want to receive payment by cheque and then have the hassle of paying it into a UK account.

catokelly

It was a bit of a palava to try to set up a us dollar account when i tried a few years ago, maybe try citibank?

Or have you thought of using a currency broker? They usually hold currency accounts in US Dollars and other major currencies. Therefore you could transfer Dollars directly to their US dolllar account, they would then negotiate the dollars into Sterling for you at much better rates than the banks and would then transfer the Sterling equivalent to your uk bank (I imagine when you were transferring the dollars to your sterling account the conversion rate wouldnt have been very good).

I use Thomas Exchange www.thomasexchange.co.uk quite often when transferring Dollars and Euros from my accounts abroad back to the UK (when i was transferring the dollars and euros directly to my bank the rates and fees were lousy)!

Its quite easy to set up you just need to register and provide id.You can email them [EMAIL="enquiries@thomasexchange.co.uk"]enquiries@thomasexchange.co.uk[/EMAIL] or ring them (I notice their website concentrates more on sending money out of the uk so there isnt much info about it on their website).

missile

Most UK banks have an international branch which will provide you with a USD account, I use LTSB.

You should speak to Santander, > http://www.fairinvestment.co.uk/santander_offshore_banking.aspx

jrusso

I'm pretty sure there are some banks that don't charge for incoming SWIFT payments which would negate the need for a dollar account. Certainly when I worked for Abbey & The Co-op they didn't charge for incoming funds. It might be worth asking them. Some will charge, I know Clydesdale have a flat £8 fee but on $4000 even that level of fee isn't so bad.

Citi do offer dollar accounts but they are about to start charging £5 p/m for them unless there is a hefty balance.

lil.smartie

Watch UK $ accounts, some (HSBC I'm talking to you!) think that a UK style sort code & account number but holding the funds in $ is an acceptable option... it's not! We were even sent a cheque book that was useless as they couldn't be cashed in the US!
My answer was to open a Bank of America account but I did need an address out there to do this. Citibank are going to be charging for their accounts soon so bear that in mind if you go with them.

Kate

jollyme

Barclays seem to have currency accounts including USD- but you do need a barclays sterling current account

NFH

dseabrook wrote: »

All of this costs me nothing apart from a $10 fee each time a deposit is made.

And a hefty mark-up on the GBP/USD rate, which will almost certainly be a lot more than $10. Whichever solution you choose, make sure that you won't suffer this cost in future.