Lending to a family member in the USA

Exodi

Archergirl said:

wolfehouse said:

Have a look at Hargreaves Landsdown   https://www.hl.co.uk/investment-services/currency-service

Unfortunately I cannot find out the cost without either opening an account or phoning them.

In the past when my parents sold their house, I shopped around for various currency quotes (as they had several hundred thousand Euros they wanted to convert). I called Currencies Direct (the company HL are fronting for), as they do not display their rates online and you have to give your details for them to get back to you (already a red flag). Unsurprisingly, they were not competitive with Wise, but annoyingly I then got a few marketing calls after which I eventually managed to get them to stop.

If Currencies Direct were already not competitive with Wise, they definitely won't be after paying one of the most expensive investment platforms on the internet a commission.

Keep_pedalling

How are you going to manage the repayment? If it it a pay me back when you can in a lump sum then fine, but if it is going to be a regular repayment over several years the the cost of lots of small payments in $ could work out quite expensive in fees and exchange rates.

Archergirl

Keep_pedalling said:

How are you going to manage the repayment? If it it a pay me back when you can in a lump sum then fine, but if it is going to be a regular repayment over several years the the cost of lots of small payments in $ could work out quite expensive in fees and exchange rates.

She will put the repayments in a saving account in the USA and transfer it back when she has completed the payments.

Archergirl

CliveOfIndia said:

Archergirl said:

wolfehouse said:

Have a look at Hargreaves Landsdown   https://www.hl.co.uk/investment-services/currency-service

Unfortunately I cannot find out the cost without either opening an account or phoning them.

Any reason why you can't phone them?  I'd have thought it's worth a quick call to find out their prices - if a 5 minute call could potentially save you a few hundred quid, that's time well spent in my book

I phoned Moneycorp and got talked into opening an account as that was they only way to find out and they have called me a couple of times, so to be honest I don't want lots of people hassling me. Other places you can find out online without committing yourself. Wise seems the best option so far.

macman

Wise is consistently competitive and totally reliable, I have been using them for about five years, though with smaller sums than you are proposing.
As suggested, do a small test transfer first.

Archergirl

Exodi and macman thank you, she says it needs to be a 'wire transfer' is that was Wise is?
And they have Swift numbers not IBAN

Exodi

Archergirl said:

Exodi and macman thank you, she says it needs to be a 'wire transfer' is that was Wise is?
And they have Swift numbers not IBAN

AFAIK, wire transfer is a generic team commonly used by Americans in place of what we would call a bank transfer. To be honest, I'm not sure why they've mentioned it, as obviously you weren't intending on stuffing cash into an envelope and posting it (I hope!).

Yes, in the US they use the SWIFT network instead of SEPA, but the difference is irrelevant to you.

When you add her as a recipient, you'd enter her SWIFT account details.

How it would work is:

1. You book the transfer - e.g. after you set up the sender and receipients details, log on and confirm how much you're sending and how much the recipient would receive.
2. You send the money to Wise - they provide you the details of their UK bank account for you to send the £20k to.
3. They send the money to your friend - once they've confirmed the money is received by their UK bank account, they'll send the dollars from their US bank account to your friend.

Some people might be hesitant because you send the money directly to Wise, but this is how they keep their fees low (as likewise, they'll then use your GBP to send to someone in the UK that is receiving a transfer).

It is also incredibly quick, most transfers are received same day, or the next (as I said, I use Wise personally and for business, so have done probably over 100 transactions, many in the thousands).

Archergirl

Exodi said:

Archergirl said:

Exodi and macman thank you, she says it needs to be a 'wire transfer' is that was Wise is?
And they have Swift numbers not IBAN

AFAIK, wire transfer is a generic team commonly used by Americans in place of what we would call a bank transfer. To be honest, I'm not sure why they've mentioned it, as obviously you weren't intending on stuffing cash into an envelope and posting it (I hope!).

Yes, in the US they use the SWIFT network instead of SEPA, but the difference is irrelevant to you.

When you add her as a recipient, you'd enter her SWIFT account details.

How it would work is:

1. You book the transfer - e.g. after you set up the sender and receipients details, log on and confirm how much you're sending and how much the recipient would receive.
2. You send the money to Wise - they provide you the details of their UK bank account for you to send the £20k to.
3. They send the money to your friend - once they've confirmed the money is received by their UK bank account, they'll send the dollars from their US bank account to your friend.

Some people might be hesitant because you send the money directly to Wise, but this is how they keep their fees low (as likewise, they'll then use your GBP to send to someone in the UK that is receiving a transfer).

It is also incredibly quick, most transfers are received same day, or the next (as I said, I use Wise personally and for business, so have done probably over 100 transactions, many in the thousands).

Exodi.........Thank you so much for your help, I think I will do as you say and set up my account and send a small amount to her, then when that is OK I will do the rest. Do you think it will be best to wait till Tuesday now as it's the Easter weekend. I can set up the account now though I expect. 
Where it says recipient address I guess I put her address and not her bank address?

• ACH
• Wire
• SWIFT ..........and I guess I choose SWIFT so sorry for all the questions...........
• 
  
• .......Update I tried to do it via a Swift payment but it came up with an error, I called Wise and the chap said I need a ACH number as I am doing GBP to USD so I have asked her to get this from her bank, she is with BOA and they are being less than helpful.....

Exodi

Archergirl said:

Exodi said:

Archergirl said:

Exodi and macman thank you, she says it needs to be a 'wire transfer' is that was Wise is?
And they have Swift numbers not IBAN

AFAIK, wire transfer is a generic team commonly used by Americans in place of what we would call a bank transfer. To be honest, I'm not sure why they've mentioned it, as obviously you weren't intending on stuffing cash into an envelope and posting it (I hope!).

Yes, in the US they use the SWIFT network instead of SEPA, but the difference is irrelevant to you.

When you add her as a recipient, you'd enter her SWIFT account details.

How it would work is:

1. You book the transfer - e.g. after you set up the sender and receipients details, log on and confirm how much you're sending and how much the recipient would receive.
2. You send the money to Wise - they provide you the details of their UK bank account for you to send the £20k to.
3. They send the money to your friend - once they've confirmed the money is received by their UK bank account, they'll send the dollars from their US bank account to your friend.

Some people might be hesitant because you send the money directly to Wise, but this is how they keep their fees low (as likewise, they'll then use your GBP to send to someone in the UK that is receiving a transfer).

It is also incredibly quick, most transfers are received same day, or the next (as I said, I use Wise personally and for business, so have done probably over 100 transactions, many in the thousands).

Exodi.........Thank you so much for your help, I think I will do as you say and set up my account and send a small amount to her, then when that is OK I will do the rest. Do you think it will be best to wait till Tuesday now as it's the Easter weekend. I can set up the account now though I expect. 
Where it says recipient address I guess I put her address and not her bank address?

• ACH
• Wire
• SWIFT ..........and I guess I choose SWIFT so sorry for all the questions

I don't remember having ever entered a recipients personal address, but I'm not sure what you're looking at. If it's a screen asking for her bank details and it includes a field for address, I'd assume it means her banks address.

ACH is only used for domestic transfers between two people living in the US. I'm not why 'Wire' is listed as a separate option as I'd assume a wire transfer would very likely be sent on the SWIFT network (or possibly Fedwire).

Yes, choose SWIFT. I think sending a small amount is fine, just keep in mind that the fees will be proportionally a lot higher.

EDIT: just raised a test transfer, and you're right. It does indeed ask for recipients (not bank) address. I wonder if this is new AML regulations?

Archergirl

Exodi said:

Archergirl said:

Exodi said:

Archergirl said:

Exodi and macman thank you, she says it needs to be a 'wire transfer' is that was Wise is?
And they have Swift numbers not IBAN

AFAIK, wire transfer is a generic team commonly used by Americans in place of what we would call a bank transfer. To be honest, I'm not sure why they've mentioned it, as obviously you weren't intending on stuffing cash into an envelope and posting it (I hope!).

Yes, in the US they use the SWIFT network instead of SEPA, but the difference is irrelevant to you.

When you add her as a recipient, you'd enter her SWIFT account details.

How it would work is:

1. You book the transfer - e.g. after you set up the sender and receipients details, log on and confirm how much you're sending and how much the recipient would receive.
2. You send the money to Wise - they provide you the details of their UK bank account for you to send the £20k to.
3. They send the money to your friend - once they've confirmed the money is received by their UK bank account, they'll send the dollars from their US bank account to your friend.

Some people might be hesitant because you send the money directly to Wise, but this is how they keep their fees low (as likewise, they'll then use your GBP to send to someone in the UK that is receiving a transfer).

It is also incredibly quick, most transfers are received same day, or the next (as I said, I use Wise personally and for business, so have done probably over 100 transactions, many in the thousands).

Exodi.........Thank you so much for your help, I think I will do as you say and set up my account and send a small amount to her, then when that is OK I will do the rest. Do you think it will be best to wait till Tuesday now as it's the Easter weekend. I can set up the account now though I expect. 
Where it says recipient address I guess I put her address and not her bank address?

• ACH
• Wire
• SWIFT ..........and I guess I choose SWIFT so sorry for all the questions

I don't remember having ever entered a recipients personal address, but I'm not sure what you're looking at. If it's a screen asking for her bank details and it includes a field for address, I'd assume it means her banks address.

ACH is only used for domestic transfers between two people living in the US. I'm not why 'Wire' is listed as a separate option as I'd assume a wire transfer would very likely be sent on the SWIFT network (or possibly Fedwire).

Yes, choose SWIFT. I think sending a small amount is fine, just keep in mind that the fees will be proportionally a lot higher.

EDIT: just raised a test transfer, and you're right. It does indeed ask for recipients (not bank) address. I wonder if this is new AML regulations?

I wonder if she joined Wise it would be easier, The error message said............... We don't support SWIFT payments in USD to bank accounts located in the USA or US Territories..