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[the_walrus]

A practical question:  what do you do about banking?  I have student loan debt in the US and am moving to the UK.  I was hoping there might be some huge bank (e.g. citibank) with branches in the US that would allow me to write checks in both the US and the UK drawing on my single UK-based account.  Apparently no go, so far as I can tell, at least if the customer service rep I just talked to is right (and she seemed knowledgeable enough).

So, do I actually have to have two accounts, one in the US and one in the UK, and make wire transfers monthly in order to accomplish this?  There *must* be an easier way...

[expatinuk]

So, do I actually have to have two accounts, one in the US and one in the UK, and make wire transfers monthly in order to accomplish this?  There *must* be an easier way...

Nope... not that I've found.

[the_walrus]

sigh.

[expatinuk]

Oh... just wait until you find out just HOW much it costs to transfer money.

[seniorscholar]

In any case, don't close your US account. I've had accounts in two currencies (dollars and sterling) for 40+ years, and added a Euro account about 8 years ago. Sure does simplify things like (1) paying deposits from the US for conferences at UK universities that aren't set up to accept credit cards (2) vice versa (3) buying books from booksellers in several countries who don't accept credit cards or charge a large extra fee for converting money (4) paying a deposit on a private rental in a Euro country when going for a month's research and, finally, having a way to get a reading fee or a small royalty or a speaking fee or reimbursement for expenses deposited in whatever the appropriate currency is and thereby avoiding large transfer/conversion fees.

I realize this won't solve your repaying the US debt problem if you have no source of US income, but it's a subsidiary issue that people likely to be leading international lives (e.g., academics in many fields) in the future should keep in mind.

[supernumerary]

You don't need to make wire transfers. A friend of mine has two accounts both with citibank, one in sterling and one in dollars. He can pay any currency in any country but usually pays sterling in while he's in the UK and dollars in while he's in the States (he's British working at Georgetown U but spends summers back in the UK). He can ask the bank to transfer any sum between the two accounts, in either direction. So when he's in the UK he can pay sterling in, ask them to transfer it to the dollar account, and then send his dollar checks to pay his American bills drawn on the dollar account. This is still a hassle because there are two separate accounts, and he needs to make sure there's enough money in the dollar account when he writes his checks (and I think the bank takes 5 days or so to do transfers from one account to the other), but at least it's the same bank.

I don't know whether he pays a fee for this or not. But worth speaking to someone in citibank who knows about it! My guess is that the average customer service rep in the bank wouldn't know all the options.

[the_walrus]

Yes, expatinuk, it's the wire transfer fees that I've been worried about.  They're insane.  I learned yesterday that my us bank will likely charge even to *receive* a wire transfer, which seems ridiculous to me.

Supernumerary, thanks for the advise!  The situation you describe that your friend uses sounds not quite what I was hoping might exist, but pretty darn close, depending on whether or not they charge to do transfers between accounts.  I'll go try to find out more details soon.  Thanks a lot!

In any event, at a minimum, I'll take seniorscholar's advise and be sure to keep accounts in both the us and uk denominated in local currency.  Still, I hold out hope that there'll be a way to avoid the wire transfer fees. 

[expatinuk]

I went on an interview in the States last year and asked the Uni to reimburse me directly into my US account... I got slapped with a $25 fee by my US bank because they wired the funds to it... I've lived in many countries and have just learned that there is no way you can get around horrible banking fees when you move small amounts of money. So, get rich and move millions and the fees won't seem high.

[qrypt]

Another option is to have two Paypal accounts - one in pounds and the other in dollars.  You can then send money to yourself.  It's not free, the exchange rates they use mean that they win and you lose.  But there's no fee per se, and the exchange rate spread isn't all that different from the normal bank rates.  Make sure that you keep the accounts at a basic level - in particular, make sure you don't receive money from someone who is funding a payment with a credit card; if you accept money funded from a credit card, you will then have to pay a fee for *all* payments received.  Also, I think there's a monthly receiving limit of $500; if you go over that, you have to upgrade the account and pay fees. 

[the_walrus]

More great ideas.  Thanks!  I'm more optimistic now that there should be some way to hack the system.  :)

As for the pay pal exchange rate, do you find that it's actually worse than what the bank will give you when you do a wire transfer?

[snape]

I am British and my wife is Canadian so we have faced this issue. I sent some of my savings to my wife's Canadian account in a big block (say £500 a time). As the bank charges were fixed, it was preferable to transfer money as little as possible. 

[qrypt]

Banks nail you on the exchange rate spread *and* the wire transfer fee.  Paypal uses comparable exchange rates and doesn't have a fee.  So I think you're ahead using paypal.  Of course, paypal has been quite aggressive in constructing scenarios in which you end up paying fees more generally, so the advantage might not last.  But I think for now it's a pretty good deal, at least relative to banks. 

[stickball]

Why not just use a local ATM bankcard to withdraw cash in the local currency?  I did that in the South Pacific for a couple of years and it worked fine.  So you have two accounts, big deal.  Every few months when I needed to send money to my US account, I did a wire transfer.  Cost $25 every couple of months.  That was reasonable...

[graine]

I finally worked out the cheapest way to move money from Europe to the US is by directly withdrawing cash from the European bank accounts and depositing them in the US account - I don't pay any transfer fees or any currency conversion fees.  Yes, I literally stand at the ATM, withdraw $500 - the max you can on any day - and deposit it straight back into my US account at the ATM, must drive the people who fill the machines mad, but it's free. 

I'm not quite sure how this will work with US accounts that tend to charge for using ATMs that aren't associated with their banks, though my guess is that cost will be fairly minimal. Check it out with the various banks that are involved but unless you are moving huge amounts of money, or are really far from an ATM, this might be the most convenient way of dealing with it.

[philoctetes]

Can't you just email yourself the money, using interact email money transfer? You can usually do it all online. Or is paypal cheaper?