US Dollar accounts in the UK
Discussion
Next year part of my pay will arrive in USD and I've been advised that if I take the default option and have it transferred to GBP the rates are very poor.
I was wondering which UK banks will let me have a USD account into which I can put the money and then transfer some of it into GBP (at a decent rate) and ideally spend some of it in the US with a debit card.
One of my colleagues mentioned revolut but I'm not sure that'll do what I need.
Any tips would be much appreciated.
I was wondering which UK banks will let me have a USD account into which I can put the money and then transfer some of it into GBP (at a decent rate) and ideally spend some of it in the US with a debit card.
One of my colleagues mentioned revolut but I'm not sure that'll do what I need.
Any tips would be much appreciated.
I have a Revolut account and it sounds as if it will do precisely what you need.
It gives you a USD and a GBP account. You can transfer up to £2000 a month at interbank rates fee free. You can then transfer from your GBP account to any other British bank account.
Revolut also give you a Visa debit card which debits from the appropriate currency account. I've used mine extensively in the US without any problems.
It gives you a USD and a GBP account. You can transfer up to £2000 a month at interbank rates fee free. You can then transfer from your GBP account to any other British bank account.
Revolut also give you a Visa debit card which debits from the appropriate currency account. I've used mine extensively in the US without any problems.
I 8 a 4RE said:
Unless I am going a bridge too far thinking this is an interesting set up, but ... might you inquire if they would be willing to pay the USD salary into an offshore USD account and your GBP salary into a UK domiciled account?
This seems the most sensible thing,I have a US bank account with a Visa Debit card that I use here for card payments and withdrawing from a cash machine,the last card payment I made using it was for a £500 purchase, the exchange rate I got was $1.23 which was the rate at the time and on top of that I was charged a transaction fee of $18.49I guess it boils down to the cost difference of having your salary transferred from US $ to GB £
CzechItOut said:
I have a Revolut account and it sounds as if it will do precisely what you need.
It gives you a USD and a GBP account. You can transfer up to £2000 a month at interbank rates fee free. You can then transfer from your GBP account to any other British bank account.
Revolut also give you a Visa debit card which debits from the appropriate currency account. I've used mine extensively in the US without any problems.
Sounds ideal - but I just looked at their website and it only mentions a UK account and a Euro IBAN account. No mention of a USD account that I could see?It gives you a USD and a GBP account. You can transfer up to £2000 a month at interbank rates fee free. You can then transfer from your GBP account to any other British bank account.
Revolut also give you a Visa debit card which debits from the appropriate currency account. I've used mine extensively in the US without any problems.
My wife has (both UK-based) a sterling and a US dollar account with Citibank.
She pays for the privilege and Citi is not a byword for efficiency or customer service in her experience.
She used to have a (declared!) dollar account with Nationwide in the IoM but they closed the facility for UK taxpayers at the end of the financial year 2017/18.
She pays for the privilege and Citi is not a byword for efficiency or customer service in her experience.
She used to have a (declared!) dollar account with Nationwide in the IoM but they closed the facility for UK taxpayers at the end of the financial year 2017/18.
Check out WorldFirst. Once you have an account with them you can open a euro and a dollar account with a proper iban number and no correspondent bank with one phone call, instantly, and if you use them a lot their margin on dollar purchase is very reasonable indeed - better than the currency houses I was using before, in fact.
I 8 a 4RE said:
Unless I am going a bridge too far thinking this is an interesting set up, but ... might you inquire if they would be willing to pay the USD salary into an offshore USD account and your GBP salary into a UK domiciled account?
My offshore HSBC USD account had constant regulatory checks and hassle. It was a complete pain in the backside. I stand to be corrected but I don’t think the “offshore” thing is what it used to be.Julian Thompson said:
I 8 a 4RE said:
Unless I am going a bridge too far thinking this is an interesting set up, but ... might you inquire if they would be willing to pay the USD salary into an offshore USD account and your GBP salary into a UK domiciled account?
My offshore HSBC USD account had constant regulatory checks and hassle. It was a complete pain in the backside. I stand to be corrected but I don’t think the “offshore” thing is what it used to be.I also have a CH based account for historic reasons and there was a bit of regulatory hassle with that which I'd like to avoid if possible.
My current current account is with Santander, I'll check to see if they do anything suitable.
Julian Thompson said:
Check out WorldFirst. Once you have an account with them you can open a euro and a dollar account with a proper iban number and no correspondent bank with one phone call, instantly, and if you use them a lot their margin on dollar purchase is very reasonable indeed - better than the currency houses I was using before, in fact.
Looks interesting, thanks!456mgt said:
The high street is pretty hopeless for this and I ended up opening accounts with Citibank. Apart from the usual KYC rubbish, they've been good. It's all phone/internet based since they have one office, in Canary Wharf.
Plenty of Barclay's branches still on the High Street!Recently looked into this for receiving regular US funds.
Santander international and HSBC offer US dollar accounts, it was hard to work out what the actual exchange rate would be. Santander needed a balance of 70K.
In the end went for Transferwise, which has car attached, so can receive money in US dollars, transfer to various balances in other currencies and have a MasterCard that works agains it. Very nice.
Santander international and HSBC offer US dollar accounts, it was hard to work out what the actual exchange rate would be. Santander needed a balance of 70K.
In the end went for Transferwise, which has car attached, so can receive money in US dollars, transfer to various balances in other currencies and have a MasterCard that works agains it. Very nice.
I've had a USA $ denominated account in the UK for many years with Barclays, alongside normal UK bank accounts. I have relatively few transactions now so I use the $ account to get cash eg €s, USA$s when needed. Works well for me. No charges for the account but there are fees for transactions. FX rates used are always reasonable for the day. Don't get interest on the amount is the account, unfortunately.
R.
R.
supersport said:
Recently looked into this for receiving regular US funds.
Santander international and HSBC offer US dollar accounts, it was hard to work out what the actual exchange rate would be. Santander needed a balance of 70K.
In the end went for Transferwise, which has car attached, so can receive money in US dollars, transfer to various balances in other currencies and have a MasterCard that works agains it. Very nice.
Just to close out the thread, I went with Transferwise in the end. So far it seems to do everything I need and it's very slick!Santander international and HSBC offer US dollar accounts, it was hard to work out what the actual exchange rate would be. Santander needed a balance of 70K.
In the end went for Transferwise, which has car attached, so can receive money in US dollars, transfer to various balances in other currencies and have a MasterCard that works agains it. Very nice.
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