What service / bank account to receive occasional payments in USD? Is Wise my best option?

SouthLondonUser

I have just received a communication from Fineco that they will be winding down their UK operations.

My question is: what service / bank account do you recommend to receive occasional payments in USD, i.e. US dollars?

My priorities are:

• no commissions when I receive the US dollars
• Ideally I'd like to be able to decide when to convert in GBP, e.g. decide to convert half now and half next month
• either convert to GBP and send to my UK account with the service in question, or send a wire transfer to something like TransferWise, which will do the conversion for me

My situation is:

• we are talking about 1 to 3 payments in USD every year, so monthly fees are probably hard to justify
• the payments are linked to my work and fully declared in my UK tax return
• no tax is due in the US
• I am a retail customer; I won't get into details but think of it as commissions my employer pays to me.
• I won't/ can't/ shouldn't open a business account

The services / banks I have seen are:

• Starling charges a 2% commission: https://help.starlingbank.com/personal/topics/sending-and-receiving-money/how-much-does-it-cost-to-receive-a-payment-from-overseas/
• Monzo historically did not have an IBAN and receiving foreign payments was a nightmare. Not clear if that's changed now
• Revolut: they are not a UK bank and I'm not a fan (key staff rushing to leave, they failed to file their UK accounts on time). It seems they charge a fixed fee of £8 to receive USD payments, but it's not clear, and the lack of clarity is a big negative https://community.revolut.com/t/fee-for-receiving-usd/222942/10
• Wise: it should be free for non-wire payments, and $ 4.14 fixed for wire payments. They are not a UK bank https://wise.com/gb/pricing/receive?source=USD&target=USD&payInMethod=RECEIVE_BANK_TRANSFER&sourceAmount=1000
• Lloyds: fees from 1.50% to 3.55% https://www.lloydsbank.com/online-banking/payments-and-transfers/international-payments/receiving-a-payment.html
  
• Natwest: unclear. I have found information for their business accounts only
• HSBC: "Global Money" doesn't seem bad but they convert the payment in GBP when you receive it https://www.hsbc.co.uk/current-accounts/products/global-money/faqs/
  

Any suggestions? Thanks a lot!

wmb194

Wise. Try to have it sent to you via ACH.

plantation_2

Just use Wise (to receive and to convert)

SouthLondonUser

Does ACH mean the non-wire, slower but cheaper  version?  These payments are not urgent, so I'd rather wait an extra few days but save some fees.

Are the coordinates the same for  ACH and for wire? In other words, is it the sender who chooses which method to use, or do you give a different kind of banking coordinates if you want the wire?

sausage_time

Another +1 for Wise.  As noted above ACH transfers to Wise US virtual bank account from a US institution are free.   Seems to tick all your other boxes.

SouthLondonUser

Do you know if the funds are held in a segregated account with a US or UK bank?

I suppose I wouldn't use a non-bank if I were doing loads of very high-value transactions, but for the figures in question I could probably put up with it.

Has anyone tried HSBC by any chance?

PloughmansLunch

SouthLondonUser said:

Do you know if the funds are held in a segregated account with a US or UK bank?

I suppose I wouldn't use a non-bank if I were doing loads of very high-value transactions, but for the figures in question I could probably put up with it.

Has anyone tried HSBC by any chance?

Only into a HSBC Euro Currency Account, which can then be pulled into GMA for converting into GBP at your leisure. I’m unsure if there’s a charge for receiving USD into the equivalent Dollar Currency Account. 

Futuristic

Wise or Revolut both give local ACH number. Revolut offers £1k free FX a month, Wise is fixed fee like 0.4% or so for exchange. 

wmb194

Futuristic said:

Wise or Revolut both give local ACH number. Revolut offers £1k free FX a month, Wise is fixed fee like 0.4% or so for exchange. 

Wise's fees have been creeping up. Last week when I exchanged USD for sterling it was 0.5%.

wmb194

SouthLondonUser said:

Does ACH mean the non-wire, slower but cheaper  version?  These payments are not urgent, so I'd rather wait an extra few days but save some fees.

Are the coordinates the same for  ACH and for wire? In other words, is it the sender who chooses which method to use, or do you give a different kind of banking coordinates if you want the wire?

Yes, it's the US' equivalent of faster payments or Bacs. It's not so slow, though. My withdrawals from my US account are arriving with Wise the next working day at about midday GMT/BST which will be early morning on the east coast. The details are different - there's a routing number and an account number - and the sender chooses ACH rather than wire but it's detailed by Wise in your USD account's details.

gt94sss2

SouthLondonUser said:

I have just received a communication from Fineco that they will be winding down their UK operations.

My question is: what service / bank account do you recommend to receive occasional payments in USD, i.e. US dollars?

My priorities are:

• no commissions when I receive the US dollars
• Ideally I'd like to be able to decide when to convert in GBP, e.g. decide to convert half now and half next month

• HSBC: "Global Money" doesn't seem bad but they convert the payment in GBP when you receive it https://www.hsbc.co.uk/current-accounts/products/global-money/faqs/
  

Any suggestions? Thanks a lot!

Consider a free HSBC Currency Account to receive USD

https://www.hsbc.co.uk/international/currency-account/

You can then use the HSBC Global Money account to convert it to GBP when you choose to do so.

Eventually, you will be able to hold the USD in the Global Money account as well (HSBC have said this is coming but not when)