Buying in dollars - credit card or dollar bank account

Olenna

RomfordNavy said:

Thanks for all the comments.  Looks like I will be best to forget about dollar bank account and just search for a forex fee free credit card.

Just to highlight that many of above recommendations are for personal cards.

Given you use the terminology 'we' and 'available to businesses' it's appears that you're looking primarily for your business transactions and as such will be against the T&Cs of personal cards.

RomfordNavy

Olenna said:

Just to highlight that many of above recommendations are for personal cards.
Given you use the terminology 'we' and 'available to businesses' it's appears that you're looking primarily for your business transactions and as such will be against the T&Cs of personal cards.

It is a business but run as a sole-trader, not a limited company.

Edit: I don't know as a sole-trader whether we should be applying for a Personal or Business credit card?  There would be about $12.5k per month being spent on it if the credit limit allows.

eskbanker

RomfordNavy said:
I don't know as a sole-trader whether we should be applying for a Personal or Business credit card?  There would be about $12.5k per month being spent on it if the credit limit allows.

You should check the Ts & Cs of any product you're considering applying for, as many will prohibit business use of a personal card.

RomfordNavy

eskbanker said:

You should check the Ts & Cs of any product you're considering applying for, as many will prohibit business use of a personal card.

So are there any Forex Fee free business cards available then?

grumpy_codger

RomfordNavy said:

eskbanker said:

You should check the Ts & Cs of any product you're considering applying for, as many will prohibit business use of a personal card.

So are there any Forex Fee free business cards available then?

??................

grumpy_codger said:

RomfordNavy said:

Can a UKperson/business have a $ credit card.

... a quick google search results in https://www.finder.com/uk/business-credit-cards/business-credit-cards-no-foreign-transaction-fees

Olenna said:

...

You could use a commercial credit card like Capital on Tap that is forex free.
The card's USD/GBP rate is set by card scheme (in this case Visa with a 0% loading fee).

A Wise business account can offer a GBP and USD account that you can use with their debit card. 

RomfordNavy

Does anyone know about how a Capital on Tap credit card actually works, it is not at all obvious from the website.  Does it send out month ly statements like normal credit cards that we then pay by BACS?  It mentions something about a weekly direct debit but does not make it clear whether this is mandatory or optional.

Edit: Capital on Tap Business card might not be suitable as apparently not available to sole-traders, limited companies only.

lr1277

I too wondered about fx fee free business credit cards. The 1st one I looked up was the Santander business cashback credit card. It is forex fee free and gives 1% cashback. It is available to sole traders.
The downside is you need a 123 Business current account with Santander.
Otherwise have a play around with the finder site mentioned above. I like using it to look at personal credit cards where you can filter on a few different criteria. If you want to search it for personal credit cards into Google enter:
finder credit cards. On the returned page, down the left hand side are the criteria to filter on.

RomfordNavy

For the moment we have opened a Barclaycard Rewards card (forex charge free); actually already had a Barclaycard so was very easy to change that to a Rewards card with a simple phone call.

Capital-on-Tap is not available to a Sole-trader, Limited Company only,

We already have a Santander bank account but think that is a plain Business account, not a 123 Business Account but will check.  Will wait and see what credit limit we have with the new B.card but if more is needed will look at the Santander option.

DullGreyGuy

Do you really mean you are buying dollars (ie USD cash) or do you mean you are buying products/services and being charged in dollars?

Are you needing credit facilities or have the cash at hand to pay?

As a sole trader there is only you however most banks have T&Cs that on paper prevent you from using their personal lines products for business use however enforcement of those terms is generally rare. 

If you arent needing the credit then a Starling account can be setup for a sole trader and their debit card doesn't attract fees for FX. 

If you need credit then personal cards are going to be much better but then you have to be comfortable breaching their terms. If it is cash you want, rather than goods/services you need to be careful on the cash transaction fee and probably double check how it works for foreign currency bought in the UK as its likely to be billed as GDP and therefore not be an FX issue but a cash like transaction fee instead. 

lr1277

RomfordNavy said:

For the moment we have opened a Barclaycard Rewards card (forex charge free); actually already had a Barclaycard so was very easy to change that to a Rewards card with a simple phone call.

Capital-on-Tap is not available to a Sole-trader, Limited Company only,

We already have a Santander bank account but think that is a plain Business account, not a 123 Business Account but will check.  Will wait and see what credit limit we have with the new B.card but if more is needed will look at the Santander option.

If required, please do check the Santander offering. After posting I checked the `Santander page and there are two eligible accounts. If memory serves, one is the 123 account and the other might be a business account.