Inheritance from USA

Nb26

Hello I am a Trustee and also beneficiary of a Trust in USA California, the bank in USA have already said they cant transfer the funds which will be payable to me by a  bank transfer. Does anyone know the best method other than a cheque sent by post  ? 

sausage_time

Is cheque (check?) the only option on offer?

HSBC may be one of the better options in that case.

Hoenir

Cheque may well be your only option. US banking system operates very differently to that in the UK. 

COIAHLGW

If they can send a bank transfer (ACH), Wise are able to give you a US account with routing and account numbers.  Then you can transfer at your convenience back to GBP.

Nb26

Yes it seems a very backward system really, I do have an HSBC account so could do a cheque but im concerend the cheque may get lost in the post. Do i open a Wise account then and link it to my UK bank ?
Could Revolut card work ? 

sausage_time

Wise are not letting anyone open new US Dollar account details for ACH payments at the moment.  Nobody knows why.  But if you open a GB£ account with them, they can accept transfers using IBAN in Dollars, and do the conversion when it arrives.  Sending to an IBAN from the US will likely cost $20-30, and the Wise charge can be calculated here:  https://wise.com/gb/pricing/receive  You can send direct from Wise to your bank account.

May be worth asking HSBC the wire options too, and what their costs would be.

wmb194

COIAHLGW said:

If they can send a bank transfer (ACH), Wise are able to give you a US account with routing and account numbers.  Then you can transfer at your convenience back to GBP.

Not available at the moment for new accounts.

PRAISETHESUN

Nb26 said:

Yes it seems a very backward system really, I do have an HSBC account so could do a cheque but im concerend the cheque may get lost in the post. Do i open a Wise account then and link it to my UK bank ?
Could Revolut card work ? 

I would caution against Revolut. They have a well-known reputation for poor customer service. You might get through unscathed, but if you don't then you are at the mercy of their customer service which leaves a lot to be desired based on my experience.

With Wise, they have paused applications for new USD accounts at the moment, but if you're able to get the sender to use a wire transfer, you can provide them with your IBAN and have them send USD to your GBP account. As long as they send USD and don't handle the conversion themselves, then Wise will handle the conversion at their preferential rates. Even if you were to offer to pay the sender's transfer fees it will still work out better.

Cheque should be a last resort. Plenty of issues could arise with getting the check delivered by international post, and then also problems with cashing it. Not many UK banks will accept foreign cheques these days.

WastedWords

Nb26 said:

Yes it seems a very backward system really, I do have an HSBC account so could do a cheque but im concerend the cheque may get lost in the post. Do i open a Wise account then and link it to my UK bank ?
Could Revolut card work ? 

As you already have an HSBC account you can open a USD currency account which will give an IBAN. If the US bank are insistent (spell checker corrected) that they cannot transfer using the IBAN (not convinced they can't but many US banks, or at least their staff, are surprisingly archaic and seem unaware that there is a world outside the US) let them send the cheque (check) and you should be able to pay into the HSBC currency account foc. 

From HSBC T&C


From here you can transfer FoC to HSBC GMA for either exchange or onward to somewhere else for exchange.
Some possible examples from earlier this afternoon (no idea how much you are expecting).