Studying in America

polmed22

I'm studying abroad in Texas for the next year and wondered if anybody could advise on whether I should try and open a particular US account or look at other options. To state the obvious, I will need to pay rent, utilities, food etc in USD, from sources such as student finance which will be in my UK bank account. Struggling to find advice.

marcia_

polmed22 said:

I'm studying abroad in Texas for the next year and wondered if anybody could advise on whether I should try and open a particular US account or look at other options. To state the obvious, I will need to pay rent, utilities, food etc in USD, from sources such as student finance which will be in my UK bank account. Struggling to find advice.

 Wasn't aware you could get student finance for a course in a foreign uni. Thought it was for uk study only 

grumbler

I think all universities have foreign students support services where you'll be able to get advice locally. Meanwhile try opening some UK bank account offering commission free spending and withdrawals abroad, e.g. with Chase UK.
>> Travel credit (and debit) cards

lr1277

No particular experience in this but here are some suggestions:

1) Open an account with Wise. One so that you can pay for things with their debit card. Two: to get a decent rate when transferring money to US accounts. Be that paying the university or paying into your US checking account.

2) I am sure I have read that as a student you will be able to open a US checking account. Normally US accounts require you to have a Social Security number, but you might be exempt from this as a student. Ask your university's admission office or student welfare office. You won't be their first international student so they may have some expertise in this area.

3) Has the university assigned anyone to 'hold your hand' whilst you are there?

Marchitiello

To add to the above:

I would strongly recommend for you to open an Account with Chase UK. It has a unique feature of allowing you to access your Sterling balance at Chase USA ATM using MasterCard near perfect rates and without additional fees (virtually all USA ATMs charges a fee to non customers).

In addition to this I would also open an HSBC UK current account (if you do not already bank with them) and then open both the Global Money Account and USD Currency account (you will then be able to use the GMA for doing the currency exchange, and the US Currency to receive USD Payments and/or as an alternative to make US IBAN payments.

I do use Wise for business but tend not to use it for personal transactions as I found that the feee means the net amount converted is often worst than the alternative I have, however it does have a unique feature of allowing to open a USD account that use the local banking coordinates (not only the Swift/IBAN used for international payment). I would therefore also open this before I travel just in case.

Once there, I would then try to definitely open a local bank account. Some banks are familiar with non resident accounts, and/or International Students (quick google came up with a dedicated page by Bank of America- not read through it though - https://bettermoneyhabits.bankofamerica.com/en/personal-banking/international-student-bank-account) . Chase USA may even look favourably at the fact that you are a customer of their UK sister company (these two banks operate completely separately). https://www.chase.com/personal/checking/student-checking#:~:text=Non%2DU.S.%20students%20without%20a%20Green%20Card%20can%20open%20a,with%20the%20expected%20graduation%20date.

WillPS

Marchitiello said:

 Chase USA may even look favourably at the fact that you are a customer of their UK sister company (these two banks operate completely separately). https://www.chase.com/personal/checking/student-checking#:~:text=Non%2DU.S.%20students%20without%20a%20Green%20Card%20can%20open%20a,with%20the%20expected%20graduation%20date.

Everything you're saying is spot on, apart from this - Chase UK are quite clear you'll be treated as a new customer: https://www.chase.co.uk/gb/en/support/moving-abroad/

Marchitiello

WillPS said:

Marchitiello said:

 Chase USA may even look favourably at the fact that you are a customer of their UK sister company (these two banks operate completely separately). https://www.chase.com/personal/checking/student-checking#:~:text=Non%2DU.S.%20students%20without%20a%20Green%20Card%20can%20open%20a,with%20the%20expected%20graduation%20date.

Everything you're saying is spot on, apart from this - Chase UK are quite clear you'll be treated as a new customer: https://www.chase.co.uk/gb/en/support/moving-abroad/

In fact I said “may look at it favourably” and specified that are different banks, however it may give them some extra incentives to help you with the documentation, use it as a reference and so on..

when about 20 years ago I opened an account with Barclays in the EU, showing by UK Barclays Debit Card and Barclaycard, the branch manager went the extra mile to help me open a non resident account..

[Deleted User]

I would also suggest that Chase (Cash/payments), Wise (banking/ cash up to £200 equiv) plus a UK credit card with zero fees (flights/events/ emergency) would be most useful.

Wise let you make & receive US domestic ACH payments easily - that may be sufficient. However, If you have to use local checks/cheques or Zelle you'll require a local checking account to process those. 

Was in the US a few weeks ago and Google/Apple Pay was very widely accepted.