American current accounts based in the UK

JammieDodger

I'm a newbie! Yes, I've been reading the boards for what must be 3 years now but only just started to post!

I'm looking to open a US dollar bank account (either/both a current and savings) that is based here in the UK. I want to be able to move sterling from my curent bank account into a dollar account
1) To take advantage of the exchange rate
2) To be able to use/transfer the account in the US

It's proving to be a bit difficult to find out!

Any ideas anyone?

JammieDodger

gt94sss2

Who do you bank with in the UK - they should be able to offer you USD accounts.

Citibank offer USD current/savings accounts in the UK - however, the exchange rate they give you is not as good as it used to be and you may need to keep a minimum balance in the account to avoid charges.

Some banks (like HSBC) can also arrange for you to open USD accounts in America - in HSBC's case with HSBC USA

Others (like Nationwide) offer offshore USD accounts.

Regards
Sunil

jonesMUFCforever

Most high street banks will offer you a dollar account but most will be domiciled offshore.
Be aware that they can be expensive to run as transferring between currencies is not always free and there will be other fees for making withdrawals and using a debit card.

sheffix1

Thinking about this myself.

Can you just use a commercial fx company to change your sterling into dollars and then just deposit in your citibank account? Then reverse the process when you want to exchange some back in to sterling. Thus limiting exchange rate deductions? Or have I got this totally wrong?

gt94sss2 - did you find a UK based dollar account with a better exchange rate policy than the citibank account?

Thanks.

gt94sss2

sheffix1 wrote: »

Can you just use a commercial fx company to change your sterling into dollars and then just deposit in your citibank account? Then reverse the process when you want to exchange some back in to sterling. Thus limiting exchange rate deductions? Or have I got this totally wrong?

I can't see why not..

gt94sss2 - did you find a UK based dollar account with a better exchange rate policy than the citibank account?

I needed my account years ago, as I was going to live in the USA for a year - HSBC here arranged for me to open an account in HSBC in America so I just use that whenever I need too.

I haven't checked exchange rates but I know that HSBC also offer certain customers fee free transfers between HSBC accounts globally..

You may want to try reading somewhere like the British Expats forum about banking abroad etc.

Regards
Sunil

jonesMUFCforever

If this was before Sept 11th then fine but afterwards it became much more difficult to open an American bank account without you being present.