Starling Bank account receiving USD to GBP account.

PEGBUSD

Hi I have contacted starling but can't seem to get an exact answer so can anyone help. I want to have money sent from a share dealing account in the USA via swift to my GBP starling account. ( not a business account ) . What I can not seem to understand from starling customer services is what the charges are for the transfer and to exchange the USD to GBP.  They have told me so far that there is no charge and they use the master card conversion rates for the currency conversion but then when I read the terms of a UK current account they state that a 2% charge will be applied if receiving in the wrong currency,  but they are yet to explain this statement .  Their online documentation only states charges for outgoing payments . Can anyone help  ? 

DullGreyGuy

Their FAQ state its a 2% fee for receipt of monies... if you go into the Payments tab there is then an exchange rate, go into the info button and it gives you the exchange rate (obv ignore the rest as the fees are in relation to sending money).

They claim they refresh the FX rate exceptionally frequently using the service from Currency Cloud (think my past advisor was more clued up than yours)

PEGBUSD

Hi thanks I hadn't seen this tab so I can see the conversion rate  and I have just found a document in the app that specifies that a transaction requiring a foreign exchange conversion a 2% margin will be applied . Seems their customer service are not aware of this don't blame them as it's taken me ages to find this . Thanks for your help . 

penners324

Sounds like they mis interpreted your question. The Mastercard rate is in relation to debit card spending

LadyWithAPlan

I set up a Barclays Dollar account which receives $ in. I then can transfer it to my main £ barc acct when I need it. There are no charges for the transfer or indeed the $ account - they make their money on the forex rate  - has worked fine for years

grumbler

LadyWithAPlan said:

I set up a Barclays Dollar account which receives $ in. I then can transfer it to my main £ barc acct when I need it. There are no charges for the transfer or indeed the $ account - they make their money on the forex rate  - has worked fine for years

Whatever you call it, charges or fees, it costs you.

Many banks don't charge any flat fee for receiving foreign currency transfers directly to a £ account. They make money on the currency exchange rate. You need a $ account only if you want to keep $$ and exchange them when you want.