US Dollar Account with Debit Card for UK Resident
Petals
Posts: 14 Forumite
I work for a US company and receive share options which, when sold, are paid to me in US Dollars. I generally pay fees and suffer from the offered exchange rate in order to transfer the funds to my UK GBP account.
In August we're travelling around California for 3 weeks, before which I should be receiving another share allocation, so I've been trying to find a US$ account with a debit card that I can pay my share income into and then spend / withdraw from while we're in the US, otherwise I have to go through the steps of USD -> GBP -> USD and lose out significantly on the double exchange rates and fees.
All the UK-based US$ accounts I've found either require a large balance and/or a significant monthly fee or only offer a cheque book or the facility to transfer funds to a UK account, so I was wondering whether anyone on here is aware of an organisation offering this type of account?
Thanks, in anticipation!
In August we're travelling around California for 3 weeks, before which I should be receiving another share allocation, so I've been trying to find a US$ account with a debit card that I can pay my share income into and then spend / withdraw from while we're in the US, otherwise I have to go through the steps of USD -> GBP -> USD and lose out significantly on the double exchange rates and fees.
All the UK-based US$ accounts I've found either require a large balance and/or a significant monthly fee or only offer a cheque book or the facility to transfer funds to a UK account, so I was wondering whether anyone on here is aware of an organisation offering this type of account?
Thanks, in anticipation!
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Comments
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Have a look at Revolut, they provide a free USD current account and a visa card for spending.0
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Check the brokerage that your employer uses for your stock transactions. I have worked for US companies that use E*Trade and Schwab, and both have offered Visa Debit cards to access the cash balance. Schwab reimburses US ATM fees (which is nice) and both cards offer 1% FX fees (so using a UK ATM can be a good way of transferring smaller amounts back here). There's something really nice about spending US$ in the US. Enjoy California!I’m a Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on the Credit Cards and Budgeting & Bank Accounts boards. If you need any help on these boards, do let me know. Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any posts you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button, or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com.
All views are my own and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.0 -
Apart from the 'offshore' accounts that provide a USD debit card but require a large balance, there's unlikely to be such a card available. HSBC Singapore or Hong Kong may accept you if you say you intend to upgrade later.
Revolut is a very useful multi-currency tool, but you will not have actual account details in your own name to receive USD from a third party, so unlikely to be acceptable.
Your USD payments can be received into an account with Fineco Bank UK and converted at a rate very close to the interbank, or TransferWise Borderless Account and converted at interbank rate for 0.5% fee, then the pounds sent to a fee-free card for overseas use such as Starling Bank, Loot.io or Revolut, or use a 'travel' credit card in the normal way.Evolution, not revolution0 -
Would the new TransferWise Borderless Debit Card work?
I know this is only on limited release at the moment and I'm not yet entirely sure how it works, but it looks like it's designed to avoid any currency conversion if you spend in a currency that you already hold in your Borderless account.Let's settle this like gentlemen: armed with heavy sticks
On a rotating plate, with spikes like Flash Gordon
And you're Peter Duncan; I gave you fair warning0 -
sausage_time wrote: »There's something really nice about spending US$ in the US. Enjoy California!
What currency do you usually spend in the US? Trump Pesos?0 -
What currency do you usually spend in the US? Trump Pesos?I’m a Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on the Credit Cards and Budgeting & Bank Accounts boards. If you need any help on these boards, do let me know. Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any posts you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button, or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com.
All views are my own and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.0 -
Would the new TransferWise Borderless Debit Card work?
I know this is only on limited release at the moment and I'm not yet entirely sure how it works, but it looks like it's designed to avoid any currency conversion if you spend in a currency that you already hold in your Borderless account.
However, I've now run into an issue trying to transfer funds from my UK HSBC USD account into the TransferWise USD account as it asks for my Routing Number but HSBC have told me that these are only associated with US accounts (as opposed to UK based USD accounts).
Is anyone aware of any way to find a value for a UK account that will serve as a routing number? The alternative is to do a wire transfer but this will apparently convert the USD to GBP before converting it back to USD (according to HSBC again), which is exactly the problem I was trying to avoid in the first place! :wall:
Thanks, in anticipation...0 -
So the HSBC UK USD account is even more useless than I thought.
I don't know what account details TransferWise provide for receiving USD. You should try to insist that HSBC send the funds as USD, it should be possible.
I use Revolut, dollars are received to the IBAN / BIC of their USD account at Lloyds UK.Evolution, not revolution0 -
The TransferWise USD part of the account is held with a US bank . . .
AUD is with an Australian bank, EUR is with a European bank and so on.
You can't do an international payment from HSBC to TW?Thanks
JG0
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