US$ bank account but not transferwise

Rixdorf

Hi - I recently started getting paid by a company in US$ and I want to mimimise fees. I am quite happy to keep the money in US$. Does anyone have any experience with a UK based account?
I did think transferwise, but the snag is that the company cannot (or will not) send money to the US and transferwise's US$ account has American banking details so this is a no go.
I have found Lloyds International - which only seems to be for high earners and Starling but that is only for sending money. There is Revolut business, but I am not going to put my whole business through there, though I guess it is an option. Are there any other banks? I did try to do this at Barclays last year and I had to use high street branches and it failed at two different branches, so I had bad experiences there.
Thanks in advance.

colsten

Not sure I understand your requirements and I don‘t have personal experience with USD accounts but you might get lucky with Fineco. Or HSBC.

If you are thinking of keeping your money in USD, you should be looking for an outfit with a deposit protection scheme. The likes of Transferwise and Revolut don‘t offer this. Though I am not sure you can get it for USD at all.

Rixdorf

it is just the address of the US$ account for transferwise and the BIC IBAN is for a bank in New York and I can't use this, so looking for for a British bank I guess. I don't know Fineco so I will check it out and I am not a HSBC customer, but I will have a look and see if it is open to new customers.
Thanks

Voyager2002

Citibank (London) also offers US dollar accounts, but with a rather high monthly fee.

Deposits to the Fineco bank US dollar account are routed through the USA.

lr1277

You could consider Cater Allen. This is not a recommendation as I have never had an account with them. For their dollar account, I don’t know if it is a UK based account. You do get a debit card with their account, and it seems like a proper current account, unlike the Barclays offering.
Downsides:
1) Need to be introduced by a regulated intermediary e.g. accountant, lawyer or financial adviser.
2) In order to have a dollar account, you need to have a sterling account as well. Each requires a minimum deposit. The sterling account requires £5k and the dollar account requires $5k, so I understand.
As an aside over the last month or so I have recommended Cater Allen a few times on this site. I am not getting any kind of commission. However they don’t seem to appear in search results for banking facilities when I google for an account with a particular feature. 

HTH.

bhjm

it seems the amounts are small 
company does not want to send money to US - raises some questions which i will not ask here
would be the company willing to pay you in another currency? EUR or GBP.
You are saying you have a company, so you will give them an invoice with Banking details written down. So I would say its your client responsibility to send you the money they owe you on your account.

colsten

lr1277 said:

You could consider Cater Allen. This is not a recommendation

lr1277 said:

As an aside over the last month or so I have recommended Cater Allen a few times on this site.

Can you clarify, please: are you not recommending Cater Allen or are you recommending Cater Allen?

lr1277

colsten said:

lr1277 said:

You could consider Cater Allen. This is not a recommendation

lr1277 said:

As an aside over the last month or so I have recommended Cater Allen a few times on this site.

Can you clarify, please: are you not recommending Cater Allen or are you recommending Cater Allen?

Sorry you are right. I should have used the word ‘suggested’.
i am not making a personal recommendation as I have never had an account with them. But I am aware they exist and they may provide a service that some may require.
HTH

Zellah

Voyager2002 said:

Deposits to the Fineco bank US dollar account are routed through the USA.

Are you sure about that? I thought all multi-currency Fineco accounts (incl. USD) were held in Italy under a single Italian IBAN?

Zellah

OP, a multi-currency Fineco account is probably your best option and unlike Transferwise, Fineco do NOT charge to convert between currencies. Forex rates are more or less the same with both. Only thing to beware of with Fineco: they send all outward payments by SWIFT which they don't charge for at their end, however nearly all banks in UK charge to receive incoming SWIFT payments in GBP. The only UK banks/BS which i know of which don't charge to receive SWIFT GBP payments are Nationwide and Starling bank.

penners324

Look at the Starling account again. It's website says that it's US $ account is for sending and receiving money.