US Dollar account in UK

BVI_EXPAT

eskbanker said:

BVI_EXPAT said:

Excellent, thanks for all the replies, I knew I would find the answer here ! So the way forward then is to hold the bulk of the funds in a FSCS protected Barclays USD account and transfer smaller amounts to Wise if I need cash or spend on the Wise debit card.

Another option to consider would be to immediately convert each deposit via Wise to a GBP account in your name and pool it with all your other money, taking advantage of interest earned from savings accounts, etc?  The fact that the Barclays USD account is FSCS protected doesn't necessarily mean that it's the best repository for the money, although I don't know if it's cost-effective to have that account without much, or anything at all, in it....

Thanks eskbanker, I'm just floating an idea at the moment, I do need to look closer at the pros and cons of a USD account with a big UK bank. I would be simpler to transfer direct to Wise but the BVI SSB are very strict on these matters and will only transfer to a bank or company they recognise with all the sort code, IBAN and SWIFT codes etc, they are a nightmare to deal with. I suspect Wise would have all that but getting the money out of the BVI monthly and safely deposited in the UK unmolested is half the battle, what to do with it after that is where I need advice. I recently opened the new Chase UK App account with linked savings at 1.5%, being an American Bank they may be able to offer a UK USD account.

eskbanker

BVI_EXPAT said:

eskbanker said:

BVI_EXPAT said:

Excellent, thanks for all the replies, I knew I would find the answer here ! So the way forward then is to hold the bulk of the funds in a FSCS protected Barclays USD account and transfer smaller amounts to Wise if I need cash or spend on the Wise debit card.

Another option to consider would be to immediately convert each deposit via Wise to a GBP account in your name and pool it with all your other money, taking advantage of interest earned from savings accounts, etc?  The fact that the Barclays USD account is FSCS protected doesn't necessarily mean that it's the best repository for the money, although I don't know if it's cost-effective to have that account without much, or anything at all, in it....

Thanks eskbanker, I'm just floating an idea at the moment, I do need to look closer at the pros and cons of a USD account with a big UK bank. I would be simpler to transfer direct to Wise but the BVI SSB are very strict on these matters and will only transfer to a bank or company they recognise with all the sort code, IBAN and SWIFT codes etc, they are a nightmare to deal with. I suspect Wise would have all that but getting the money out of the BVI monthly and safely deposited in the UK without fees or FX is half the battle, what to do with it after that is where I need advice. I recently opened the new Chase UK App account with linked savings at 1.5%, being an American Bank they may be able to offer a UK USD account.

Just to be clear, I wasn't suggesting getting the pension paid directly to Wise, I was meaning going from pension company to USD account (could this even be in the BVI?) and then onwards via Wise to a GBP account, the point being out that once you've received the money from the pension company, there's no obvious need to leave it in USD for any length of time, assuming you'll ultimately be spending it in GBP.

Voyager2002

Another possible solution is the Fineco multi-currency account. Fineco is a bank and deposits are protected by the Italian equivalent of FSCS. Their dollar account is identified by SWIFT and IBAN codes so receiving funds should be simple. And they offer currency conversion at near-perfect exchange rates.

BVI_EXPAT

eskbanker said:

BVI_EXPAT said:

eskbanker said:

BVI_EXPAT said:

Excellent, thanks for all the replies, I knew I would find the answer here ! So the way forward then is to hold the bulk of the funds in a FSCS protected Barclays USD account and transfer smaller amounts to Wise if I need cash or spend on the Wise debit card.

Another option to consider would be to immediately convert each deposit via Wise to a GBP account in your name and pool it with all your other money, taking advantage of interest earned from savings accounts, etc?  The fact that the Barclays USD account is FSCS protected doesn't necessarily mean that it's the best repository for the money, although I don't know if it's cost-effective to have that account without much, or anything at all, in it....

Thanks eskbanker, I'm just floating an idea at the moment, I do need to look closer at the pros and cons of a USD account with a big UK bank. I would be simpler to transfer direct to Wise but the BVI SSB are very strict on these matters and will only transfer to a bank or company they recognise with all the sort code, IBAN and SWIFT codes etc, they are a nightmare to deal with. I suspect Wise would have all that but getting the money out of the BVI monthly and safely deposited in the UK without fees or FX is half the battle, what to do with it after that is where I need advice. I recently opened the new Chase UK App account with linked savings at 1.5%, being an American Bank they may be able to offer a UK USD account.

Just to be clear, I wasn't suggesting getting the pension paid directly to Wise, I was meaning going from pension company to USD account (could this even be in the BVI?) and then onwards via Wise to a GBP account, the point being out that once you've received the money from the pension company, there's no obvious need to leave it in USD for any length of time, assuming you'll ultimately be spending it in GBP.

Thanks, that's understood, the only time it would be left in USD is when FX rates take a dive and wait to convert via Wise and into a GBP account when rates are favourable.

Exodi

eskbanker said:

BVI_EXPAT said:

eskbanker said:

BVI_EXPAT said:

Excellent, thanks for all the replies, I knew I would find the answer here ! So the way forward then is to hold the bulk of the funds in a FSCS protected Barclays USD account and transfer smaller amounts to Wise if I need cash or spend on the Wise debit card.

Another option to consider would be to immediately convert each deposit via Wise to a GBP account in your name and pool it with all your other money, taking advantage of interest earned from savings accounts, etc?  The fact that the Barclays USD account is FSCS protected doesn't necessarily mean that it's the best repository for the money, although I don't know if it's cost-effective to have that account without much, or anything at all, in it....

Thanks eskbanker, I'm just floating an idea at the moment, I do need to look closer at the pros and cons of a USD account with a big UK bank. I would be simpler to transfer direct to Wise but the BVI SSB are very strict on these matters and will only transfer to a bank or company they recognise with all the sort code, IBAN and SWIFT codes etc, they are a nightmare to deal with. I suspect Wise would have all that but getting the money out of the BVI monthly and safely deposited in the UK without fees or FX is half the battle, what to do with it after that is where I need advice. I recently opened the new Chase UK App account with linked savings at 1.5%, being an American Bank they may be able to offer a UK USD account.

Just to be clear, I wasn't suggesting getting the pension paid directly to Wise.

I was, and I *personally* think people are putting too much weight on FSCS protection in this situation.

If it was me *personally*, I'd just have the pension paid into a Wise Account, then set up an automatic monthly transfer schedule to convert the money from USD to GBP and send it to my GBP current account (with your bank of choice). It would then all run automatically and you would never need to login to Wise again.

Your pension would be effectively paid in GBP at market leading rates, your risk is minimal as Wise would only ever touch the money for a few moments and you can then invest the GBP in a market leading savings account.

Another method as I said before, is using Wise effectively as a current account, but paying with their debit card - essentially converting money at the point of purchase. Though I understand people may be put off that you may build a large balance that isn't FSCS protected in this case.

I really don't know why anyone would subject themselves to the antiquated and costly processes of many high street banks, especially Barclays.

EDIT: reason I seem to have a particular distaste for Barclays is because we hold our business accounts with them and I recently did two similar transactions of £24k, one by Barclays one by Wise.... Wise charged just under £100 in fees, Barclays charged about £450...

BVI_EXPAT

Voyager2002 said:

Another possible solution is the Fineco multi-currency account. Fineco is a bank and deposits are protected by the Italian equivalent of FSCS. Their dollar account is identified by SWIFT and IBAN codes so receiving funds should be simple. And they offer currency conversion at near-perfect exchange rates.

Now that's interesting, I will look into that, can you open their multi-currency account on line or would I have to go to Italy ?  I'm ready for a holiday anyway !

Exodi

Voyager2002 said:

Another possible solution is the Fineco multi-currency account. Fineco is a bank and deposits are protected by the Italian equivalent of FSCS. Their dollar account is identified by SWIFT and IBAN codes so receiving funds should be simple. And they offer currency conversion at near-perfect exchange rates.

Wise obviously provides SWIFT and IBAN codes for their international currency accounts and offer currency at the near perfect exchange rates. It's not clear how much Fineco charge in fees (spent five minutes looking and still can't find out - it looks more like an investment platform) but I would be suprised if its less than Wises ~0.4% - and I think this is probably evident by the fact Wise has 10x the customers.

I mean neither are FSCS protected, but I'll probably stop now because it probably looks like I'm sponsored by Wise.

Having used them for years now, I'm still suprised people choose to pay extra for no real reason.

eDicky

The Wise USD account can be used to receive USD payments only from certain countries that are outside the US, the list of which does not include BVI. It does include most European countries including UK, Jersey and Isle of Man.

Daliah

Exodi said:

Sorry to answer your 'how safe are they', they transfer billions of pounds per month across 80 countries.

This does not protect 1 penny of your deposits with them. It's not like banks transferring billions per month haven't gone bust before.

If the OP is happy to have their dollars sitting in a non-interest earning UK account, they could consider a multi currency account at Fineco. Not only does it have the full FSCS protection but also the best exchange rate in the market. The downside is that they are working at snails pace - it takes 2 working days from exchanging your USDs before you can get at your hands on the GBP, and then it takes a further 2 working days to send the money to another UK bank. Mind you, you could withdraw some of it by Fineco debit card in cash, or make purchases with the debit card, once the money is in your Fineco GBP account.

At the time of writing, the account is entirely free of charge and beats any other option if you aren't in any hurry for your money.

BVI_EXPAT

Lots of ideas and options rolling in here, very much appreciated, thank you. Anybody got any experience or thoughts on the Revolut card ?