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what UK banks do you use for your US$ accounts?
i seem to recall HSBC being mentioned, any other?
I'm sure most UK banks will open a US$ account apart from HSBC. Prior to 9/11 we could open up a non res account in the States but that's almost impossible now :(
I'm sure most UK banks will open a US$ account apart from HSBC.
HSBC suggested i open a USD account last year ... i never bothered as i was in the process of switching from them to lloyds ... they made it harder to get a $ account now?
JT.. It's due to all the worries of terrorists and laundering money :( I've had my UK US$ account and my acct. in the States since 2000, so missed all the current probs.. I'll take your money for a 5% commission.. LOL
Whats the benefit of a USD account? Is it just so you can transfere the money at a higher rate? or what?
Whats the benefit of a USD account? Is it just so you can transfere the money at a higher rate? or what?
You get to move money when the exchange rate is more favourable (theoretically) and it can work well if you are paying a lot of bills or payments in US $ too.
You get to move money when the exchange rate is more favourable (theoretically) and it can work well if you are paying a lot of bills or payments in US $ too.
I guess thats ok if you can wait for the money, I need to turn my dollars in to beer tokens emediately :drink:
mellenig
08-11-05, 09:51 AM
Barclays do a US$ account, I just pay all my cheques in there and move them when the $ rate is good you can save quite a bit if you can save the cheques for a while. It's got a dollar cheque book with it which makes it handy for any large purchases.
Mattyboy
08-11-05, 10:26 AM
I just got a US$/chequebook account with Lloyds.
I'm sure most UK banks will open a US$ account apart from HSBC.
most likley, that wasn't the point though.
You get to move money when the exchange rate is more favourable (theoretically) and it can work well if you are paying a lot of bills or payments in US $ too.
it also helps if you move amounts on to Euro accounts, saves one exchange step.
Mattyboy
08-11-05, 01:39 PM
This may be off topic but... if you want a US $ account you obviously receive or need to send money to and from the states.
If you send a lot of wires to the US, its a pain in the ass queing at the bank and then spending about an hour while they fill in the forms for you. Once the ordeal is over i usually head off for a swift half or two which costs me more time and money.
Lloyds do a "codekey" which lets you send wires from the comfort of your own office/home by fax which is a massive time saver and way easier.
Its also a little more discreet and saves any embarasment if the woman at the bank casualy asks what "Porn Films Inc" does :drink:
I have a word document template with all my name/bank info on and simply fill in the payee details, print off and fax over. Job done.
i was kinda assuming all this could be done online. am i too spoilt here?
From previous memory when I paid US$ cheques into my standard HSBC account I got hit with fees and commission and crap - if I get US$ wires paid into my same account do I get hit with the same fees and commissions? If so does opening a US$ account bypass the fees etc? I dont need to make payments in US$ - I just want the cheapest and most convenient way of transferring funds from my payment processor to my bank account.
Cheers
Jase
Yes it does bypass the fees but... If you have less than a certain amount in your UK US$ acct it costs about $100 a year to run. This is still a lot cheaper than paying in US$ checks to a regular acct. :)
As for other charges.. There has never been less to transfer at that days rate than was wired to me.. It saves a lot of money in the long run. Checks is another story as I only use my UK US$ acct. for certain wires. I have the acct. in NY and so post my checks back there.
Having an non resident acct. in the States can also be a prob at times. Paycom are currently only paying us EU guys through ePassporte or wires and they charge $30 for a wire. I decided to go for ePassporte payment as it only costs $2. Now the fun begins. As I'm a non US resident I couldn't sign up for an account as the bank and my billing address are in two different countries. Now I can pay ePassporte a big compliment. I called a lovely Indian lady there who has got me organised and hopefully I'll be set up next Mon/Tues. The only other prob now is that because of my type of acct. I can't ACH the money to it :( Thank god I get a Visa Electron card with the account so I can take the money out of an ATM here... Who wants to be a webmaster... LOL
daveydude
08-13-05, 09:31 AM
We are getting a NatWest US$ chequebook account to make it easier to send $$$s to our affiliates. Epassporte is cool when you have money in the account but there is no easy way to send a wire to top up the account. NatWest don't have any way of sending a wire online - we have to fill in the annoying form every time, and then wait a week for the money to go through unless we want to pay $40 for an "urgent" transfer.
We are getting a NatWest US$ chequebook account to make it easier to send $$$s to our affiliates. Epassporte is cool when you have money in the account but there is no easy way to send a wire to top up the account. NatWest don't have any way of sending a wire online - we have to fill in the annoying form every time, and then wait a week for the money to go through unless we want to pay $40 for an "urgent" transfer.
supposedly - not tried it myself yet - you can use the Moneybookers withdraw funds option to send money to Visa cards, including the epss virtual Visa. i saw several folks claim it so far. MB should be rather easy to top up.
Yes it does bypass the fees but... If you have less than a certain amount in your UK US$ acct it costs about $100 a year to run. This is still a lot cheaper than paying in US$ checks to a regular acct. :)
As for other charges.. There has never been less to transfer at that days rate than was wired to me.. It saves a lot of money in the long run. Checks is another story as I only use my UK US$ acct. for certain wires. I have the acct. in NY and so post my checks back there.
Having an non resident acct. in the States can also be a prob at times. Paycom are currently only paying us EU guys through ePassporte or wires and they charge $30 for a wire. I decided to go for ePassporte payment as it only costs $2. Now the fun begins. As I'm a non US resident I couldn't sign up for an account as the bank and my billing address are in two different countries. Now I can pay ePassporte a big compliment. I called a lovely Indian lady there who has got me organised and hopefully I'll be set up next Mon/Tues. The only other prob now is that because of my type of acct. I can't ACH the money to it :( Thank god I get a Visa Electron card with the account so I can take the money out of an ATM here... Who wants to be a webmaster... LOL
So just to clarify Joe - a US$ account and I dont pay fee but do I pay fees for having a US$ wire sent to a normal UK sterling personal account?
Jase
We pay for all wires at source :) Some banks make a charge for receiving them here but you'll have to check this out with your bank. I've never been charged by HSBC UK.
CCBill charge $15 I think, Paycom $30 and it varies from company to company. Get a UK US$ account if you can for wires... As far as I know there is a charge to pay in a US$ check in to your UK US$ acct.. It's been so long since I did that (5years) that I've forgotten.
Unfortunately, HSBC is the most expensive bank to pay US$ checks in to a current account, which is why I mail all mine back to the States :)
Sarah_Maxcash
08-15-05, 09:36 AM
Most expensive? Who is the least? I ask because we are told £10 a check and it is accessable right away. Every other account we checked into took weeks to get our money and it was the same(ish) fee.
Alf Garnet
08-15-05, 11:09 AM
Most expensive? Who is the least? I ask because we are told £10 a check and it is accessable right away. Every other account we checked into took weeks to get our money and it was the same(ish) fee.
Barclays for all the checks you can carry for total of £9, takes a week to clear
Sarah
Surely you still have an acct. in the States, so why not mail the US$ checks back there :)
NumptyNuts
08-16-05, 09:47 AM
Unfortunately, HSBC is the most expensive bank to pay US$ checks in to a current account, which is why I mail all mine back to the States :)
Bet my old bank were - £7.50 EACH item - so if you pay in 3 USD chqs you paid £22.50 in fees!
I have only sent a 3 wires in my life, the ones I done within the EU were free, I just used an IBAN / BIC Code and bang it was transfered in 3 days. I sent one to the US and thought it was one hell of a lot of effort.
RicardoB
08-16-05, 11:01 AM
We use ABN/AMRO for our dollar account.
It's decent and does the job.
Shandy McAndy
08-16-05, 11:06 AM
We use ABN/AMRO for our dollar account.
It's decent and does the job.
Sorry if Im being thick, who are they?
RicardoB
08-16-05, 11:16 AM
Hmm they are a bank in the Netherlands but to my undrstanding they are everywhere.
Perhaps the name ABN/AMRO is Dutch only.
http://www.auctionpix.co.uk/ are very good for cashing cheques into sterling
but i would be very interested to know what UK banks actually do do US$ a/c's
i did trawl around the high street and from the few i tried HSBC was the only one that did and they charged $70 every 6 months for the privalege
Rogue....
Work out that $70 aprox £35. I think most wm's pay that and a lot more in commission charges paying in to a regular UK current account. So if you pay in a lot.. That cost is covered easily :)
Sarah_Maxcash
08-17-05, 02:32 PM
Sarah
Surely you still have an acct. in the States, so why not mail the US$ checks back there :)
I do that already..it would just be nice to have some cash sitting here incase my bank card gets swallowed, etc. Plus the DHL costs aren't great but still cheaper if I send them over in batches than £10 a check.
Sarah_Maxcash
08-17-05, 02:34 PM
http://www.auctionpix.co.uk/ are very good for cashing cheques into sterling
but i would be very interested to know what UK banks actually do do US$ a/c's
i did trawl around the high street and from the few i tried HSBC was the only one that did and they charged $70 every 6 months for the privalege
The people at HSBC told us that if we are doing under 5k per pay period it makes more sense just to get a current account where the money gets to us faster. She said the only exeption would be if we wanted to have a US dollar check book. I already have one of those for free :)
Sarah_Maxcash
08-17-05, 02:35 PM
Also the account was being opened up for my flatmate who is coming into the buisness with me and he is British.
Sarah..
I post the checks back to the States and for 64p by email they arrive in NY usually in 3 days :) In the good days when I'd receive many checks for large amounts all the time, I'd DHL/Fedex them over for next day delivery for £10.. A hell of a lot cheaper than paying in to a UK account.. :)
Sarah_Maxcash
08-17-05, 06:31 PM
you send them via email? *confused face* I used to send some checks regular mail WAY back when but since you have to endorse them it was like having a heart attack for a week or so until they were in the bank. I am still going to send my checks over but my partner is British and I don't see how he is getting an American account.
Sarah
First of all... ADMIN... CAN U PLEASE ADD AN EDIT BUTTON.. :)
I write about emails more than the post so I didn't notice the mistake.. LOL. If the admin add an edit button, it sure would help when we re-read a post after it appears..
And I wrote Sahara instead of Sarah at the top due to writing that name all the time. I noticed just before hitting the "Post" button ... DUH
Sarah_Maxcash
08-18-05, 12:28 AM
lol don't worry I have been called Sahara before.
For all I knew there was some new email check thing..lol
Sarah
First of all... ADMIN... CAN U PLEASE ADD AN EDIT BUTTON.. :)
I write about emails more than the post so I didn't notice the mistake.. LOL. If the admin add an edit button, it sure would help when we re-read a post after it appears..
And I wrote Sahara instead of Sarah at the top due to writing that name all the time. I noticed just before hitting the "Post" button ... DUH
There is an edit button. But it only lasts so long, Less beer more posting :drink:
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