Moving money from the US to the UK

[Ellesse 11]

Hey there

So, I wondered if anyone has used any companies to transfer money from the US to the UK; need to pay some bills and wondered what others had used. The amounts I'm looking at moving are pretty small, so can't use www.usforex.com due to their minimum limits. I've seen www.tranzfers.com does this kind of stuff, but was interested in what anyone else had used.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

L

[LeftCoastLady 441]

Have you tried PayPal?

[Ellesse 11]

Have you tried PayPal?

Actually, I haven't - that hadn't even entered my head! Ooops! Will have to look into that one.

Thanks!

[LeftCoastLady 441]

Actually, I haven't - that hadn't even entered my head! Ooops! Will have to look into that one.

Thanks!

Yeah, they have a UK version of their site: https://www.paypal.com/uk/webapps/mpp/home

[scotinmass 588]

Yeah, they have a UK version of their site: https://www.paypal.com/uk/webapps/mpp/home

Don't use paypal. They are a nightmare to deal with and have a horrible exchange rate. I used them once and about a year later someone tried to steal $300 from my account. Paypal didn't do anything and I had to get my bank to stop it.

I use xe.com. Good exchange rate and no fees. They don't have minimum limits. You can us them to transfer money between your own accounts or to other people's accounts.

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

We never transferred money either way, but I've heard of a lot of people using xe.com

[amykathleen2005 441]

Get a travel debit card which can be used internationally and stick the money in there.

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

Another recommendation for xe.com. Been using them for 7 years and highly recommend them. The customer service is fantastic and one of the cheapest ways to send money.

[LauraDP 10]

This might be a really "teaching granny to suck eggs" reply as it is so obvious but do you still have a UK bank account open? If so, you could use internet banking to transfer funds from the US to UK accounts and then from your UK account to pay the bills.

[Ellesse 11]

Thank you all so much for your replies! It sounds like xe.com might be the first option to look for, given the responses.

To answer the other recommendations - I have a US debit card that I can use internationally but that won't work in this instance, unfortunately, and, as I'm still building credit, I don't have a very big limit on my credit card to pay larger bills.

And, yep, I have a UK and US bank account, and am looking at how to transfer from one to the other to pay the bill without getting paid high fees, as bank-to-bank charges are pretty high.

Thanks everyone!

L

[Elora & Rob 15]

If you send over $10k do you need to provide evidence for it?

I have over $50,000 in savings, don't want to pay tax on it when I have already paid that in the UK.

Thank you all so much for your replies! It sounds like xe.com might be the first option to look for, given the responses.

To answer the other recommendations - I have a US debit card that I can use internationally but that won't work in this instance, unfortunately, and, as I'm still building credit, I don't have a very big limit on my credit card to pay larger bills.

And, yep, I have a UK and US bank account, and am looking at how to transfer from one to the other to pay the bill without getting paid high fees, as bank-to-bank charges are pretty high.

Thanks everyone!

L

You could try western union.

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

If you send over $10k do you need to provide evidence for it?

I have over $50,000 in savings, don't want to pay tax on it when I have already paid that in the UK.

You could try western union.

Rob, the $10k talk is part of the banking law part of the Patriot Act passed after 9/11. They want a paper trail of large sums of money so they can better watch for terrorist funding, money laundering, etc. Anything coming into the US or even moved within the US gets reported. Banks are required to make the reports. If you POE with it in your pocket, then you self report it.

You can bring in a million if you want. There is no tax or import duty on your money. It is not counted as if it was new income you earned and subject to income tax. But anything over $10k gets reported to the US government. If you had a US account and withdrew $10k, then went to an Edward Jones office and bought $10k worth of stock, your transactions have to be reported by the financial institutions. It's only a paper trail and of no consequence to you.

[Owen_London 65]

This question pops up pretty often, so this is one of my previous replies:

The specialist currency transfer companies usually give better rates than transferring directly through your bank.

I opened accounts with xe.com, hifx.com (looks like they also do the Post Office service linked above), Moneycorp and Currencies Direct.

For the amount of money I wanted to transfer, all four required scans of both ID (e.g. passport) and proof of UK address (e.g. recent utility bill) loaded to their secure website. XE's requirements wanted one of each; HiFX wanted one of each, and sent me a password in the post that I could type in on their website; Moneycorp wanted two forms of each ID, which was a problem as I don't have a photocard driving license. I did like that they talked through the possible future trends in the pound to dollar exchange rate with me though; Currencies Direct, I forget what they wanted. Some of the companies I didn't use have been trying to phone me every few days, though I think that's finally stopped.

In the end I used HiFX, as their rates were noticeably better than XE. I have no complaints.

Original thread here

[Ellesse 11]

This question pops up pretty often, so this is one of my previous replies:

Original thread here

Thanks for this. Had noticed a few threads about moving UK money to the US (and actually contributed to the thread you linked) but hadn't seen any for moving money the other way. Didn't think I could use the same company that I had used before (the Post Office), hence the question.

Thanks

L

[Owen_London 65]

Thanks for this. Had noticed a few threads about moving UK money to the US (and actually contributed to the thread you linked) but hadn't seen any for moving money the other way. Didn't think I could use the same company that I had used before (the Post Office), hence the question.

Thanks

L

Sorry, I should have noticed that you're looking to take it the other way.

I just checked the HiFX signup page as an example, and it looks like you wouldn't be able to use it as a US resident, but you can use it as a UK resident to transfer USD to UKP. I'm not sure if the other companies will be the same.