Hello!

My fiance got his visa yesterday - YAY - and now we're working on all the little details to get him over here smoothly. He's been saving up in an HSBC account, and while I'm starting to see little HSBC branches pop up around here, I've been told it's the "American" branch and his account wouldn't really be recognized here any more than it would at any other bank.

So... does anyone know of the most painless way to transfer his savings from pounds to dollars? We've looked at Paypal and regular his-account-to-my-account transfers, and of course everything charges a fee. We're still looking, but I just thought I'd ask in case anyone found a good way to do this. Any experiences? Thanks!!

I'm not sure if you mean just get his sterling into a dollar account, or make regular payments? He would be better off transferring it in one or two 'lumps' rather than regular little amounts in any case; I imagine most places will charge per transaction.

I can pay UK cheques into my US bank account with Bank of America with no charges except $1.50 foreign transaction fee.

..and congrats on the visa!

I use Moneycorp to transfer my funds www.moneycorp.com. Not as expensive as my bank and a much better exchange rate.

Everyone finds different ways, we transferred a huge amount through our bank Lloyds/TSB and because of the amount we sent it was a commercial rate so we got $1.89 to the pound which was great for us.

We checked with HSBC and they would only give us $1.81

We also checked with Money transfer organisations but they could only give us about the same as our bank and the only thing different was the charge. However Llloyds only charged us £30 and our money was in our bank in the US in 3 days plus we know our bank whereas we do not "know" money transfer companies and for peace of mind we went with our bank. A good time to transfer is now as the rate is so good.

Best to shop around and see what you can get, good luck and great news about the Visa, congratulations, hope it is not too long before you are together.

We are using Moneycorp as well, quite happy with their service, actually!

I just wrote myself a check on my UK account and paid it into my US account... only charges were $1.50 foreign transaction fee... and the funds were available the next day...

Kezzie

At the end of the day I suppose it is what amount you are moving and if you intend to keep a UK bank account open, we don't , once we are gone, that is it. As parents we have no reason to return and therefore cannot see the point in retaining a bank account when we will have no need for it. My pension is paid into my US bank account and our very kind pension service convert it at this end because it gets a better rate than if it went into my US account as GBP as their rate is not as good as ours. This I found out when I very first opened my account over there and deposited some GBP

Keep your UK Accounts open, you never know and it would be a pain to re-open.

The important issue is the rate, not the charges.

I use my Bank, Nat West, I could get a marginally better rate if I used a specialised and they provide other options if you need them.

There is a charge if I want it moved overnight, I do not. My US Bank do charge for receiving the money!, welcolme to America.

Thanks everyone! I had forgotten that the rate changes... nothing's easy with any of this, is it?

add on to my previous post, I forgot we are keeping one bank account open into which goes to very small private pensions which we wwill have transferred over on an annual basis.

As Boiler said Nat West do give a good rate, we also checked that out but stayed with our other bank. The rate makes one hell of a difference, we have been watching it for a good few weeks now and last week it hit hust over $1.90 and then dropped to $1.89 so we chose to move our money then and we got an excellent rate

Hehe. I'll third the recommendation for Moneycorp. I used to work for them back when I was in the UK. So I know that they're a good company.

I also transferred my money over from the UK to US with them. They were great to deal with, and they give you a great rate, I'd recommend you get your fiance to give them a call.

I'm currently looking into transferring about £4-5k to the US ready for when I fly over on 23rd September.
Just registered with MoneyCorp after reading a few recommendations & their rate looks equally as good as the other companies.

One thing I'm a little unsure of though is whether I am able to transfer it to my fiancee's account (Bank of America or USA). Or does it have to be sent to an account in my name?

TIA

Not sure, Peter. As I transferred my money when I was in the US, into an account where I was the primary card holder. If you give MoneyCorp a call I'm sure they'll be able to answer it for you. But having worked for them I'm sure the answer is most likely to be yes, you can.

Ok thanks. I'll give them a call.

Before I got the chance to call them, they called me.
It sounds like it won't be an issue, as he said you can send money from & to any account, so it doesn't have to be in my name.
He was really helpful & I'm in the process of setting up a trading facility.

My fiance and I are in the same boat. Though we've just transfered around 1k pounds sterling using Western Union. They're VERY good. Andys had no problems picking up the transfer from his local Western Union in California USA from England.

Fiona

Hehe, aren't they awesome? They really are so, so helpful. They used to call me just when I was about to call them, also. Hmm, I really should change my name with them. My account is still in my maiden name.

Also, I forgot to mention, when you get a MoneyCorp trading account they'll send you out a Privelege Card which will give you commission-free transactions at any of their retail branches (Gatwick, Stanstead and Central London), and you'll get 1% improvement of the airport branch rates. (However the rates are better in London, due to the fact that they take a commission, whoever with the card, that's not a problem)

But it could be handy if you need to change some dollars at the airport. Also, everyone will treat you fantastically when you show the card (not that they wouldn't anyway). Hehe.