Thread: Opening a Pound Sterling account in the USA

Hi all!

I would really like to take advantage of the weak pound at the moment and open a pound sterling account in the USA (New York). I went to my bank today (HSBC) and inquired about the possibility of switching my account from USD to pounds but they said that isn't an option with them.

I dont know a great deal about how these things work and was hoping someone might have some advice on either a bank that I can do this with or any other options that might be available.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts you may have.

Sarah

Hi Sarah,
We tried the same thing here in California 'cos it was costing us to convert and wire money back for the mortgage in the UK. We checked out HSBC in San Francisco as well as our local branch of our American bank but no joy. Instead we found a different way to send money back that doesn't cost us a penny and when we fly back to the UK we just expect to be poorer!!

So you're in New York? Not been there yet but should be visiting next June so maybe I'll get some tips of places to go!

Hi Traveller,

So what was the diferent way to send money that you found?

Andrew

Hi Andrew,

I'd been looking back into this so thanks for bringing it back up. We've been using Paypal but there's now a 2% fee on each transfer from our US Paypal account to our UK Paypal account - we did check and it's legal to transfer personal sums between accounts so we've continued using that method as it's still far cheaper than any bank wire transfer.

However over Xmas we met an American couple who live here and own a property in Greece and they have a Sterling account with a US bank which they can convert to Euros so we're trying to find out if we would be eligible for such an account if in fact it's still available. The banking system here is changing as you can well imagine.

We should be meeting up with our new friends over the next month so I'll try and remember to post any progress news!

Many thanks Traveller,

Sounds like a good idea to use paypal, and I'd be interested in any alternative methods.

Out of interest, we are considering moving from the UK to California too. My wife is a US citizen and we have been living in the UK for about 10 years but she keeps threatening to move home!!! Her hometown is Davis, which is near Sacramento. Is that anywhere near you???

I'd be interested to hear from you as to where you are and what sort of jobs you have etc. etc. My own area is law and of course I would need to take the CA state bar if I planned to work there as an attorney.

Thanks,
Andrew

www.everbank.com allows foreign currency accounts.

If I were you, I'd buy gold though - there doesn't seem much point to me in switching between two currencies whose central banks are both hell bent on being the first to destroy their currency :-)

PhilFog

Lloyds TSB has an international service where you have a US account and a Stirling account (or Euro) (based in Isle of Man?) with free transfers between the two...

International bank account - Lloyds TSB International

Originally Posted by Mrs Lobley

Lloyds TSB has an international service where you have a US account and a Stirling account (or Euro) (based in Isle of Man?) with free transfers between the two...

International bank account - Lloyds TSB International

We have a Lloyds account for US$, Sterling and Euro.
It is based in the IOM and costs $7.5 per month.

Hi Sarah get in touch with the Barclay Bank, as you can do what they call International Banking. Try and find a bank, that has an Alliance with your bank. If you do that, you don't have to pay for using ATM'S and also you only pay 3% when you use a credit card. If you go to another bank, if there's no Alliance, then you'll have to pay £5.00. Bank Of America, has an Alliance with the Barkclay in the UK. Hope this helps, as I have done it. I new at this, hoping you see this message if not sorry.Christina