# Transferring money from USA to UK



## Mobley

Does anyone have any suggestions for the cheapest way to transfer money from the USA to my new UK bank account? My US bank is MB Financial, and my UK bank is Santander. Santander allows one foreign currency check deposit per month at no charge, but I'm still trying to figure out how much MB would charge me for that. Thanks!


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## crystal_dynamo

Hi Mobley, sorry I can't help out but I wanted to bump your question as I have the same issue! I'm in the UK and my US partner needs to transfer regularly to our joint UK account where we are saving together for things like visa costs, shipping his belongings over, top up to my salary for the time when he won't have permission to work, paying his child maintenance and student loan during the same period etc. I occaisionally need to send money over to him as we've included flight costs to see each other in our savings but I can use companies like TransferWise for that. I can't find a US equivalent? We need to evidence joint financial responsibility before applying for a fiance visa and I can't work out how to do that! Sorry for hijacking your question- I hope that you don't mind and that someone can help us both!


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## ddang

Mobley said:


> Does anyone have any suggestions for the cheapest way to transfer money from the USA to my new UK bank account? My US bank is MB Financial, and my UK bank is Santander. Santander allows one foreign currency check deposit per month at no charge, but I'm still trying to figure out how much MB would charge me for that. Thanks!


Depending on the amount of money you want to send back and forth. I use PayPal to send small amounts back and forth for a small small fee and they'll show you the exchange currency rate before hand. That's just an idea.


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## MA123

Hi there, 

I've been using Transferwise with great success! Try it out.


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## Mobley

Thanks! And, crystal_dynamo, no problem with the "hijacking"!  I'm here as a student as a way to be here legally with my UK boyfriend, so I completely understand.


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## goose10110

I always do Xoom. It charges only $5 per transfer (US bank account to UK bank account), with the best exchange rate, as published on Xe.com. The funds arrive within an hour, any day and any time. It is so much better than Paypal. 

Here is a link (it is my referral link, and both myself and whoever signs up receive rewards, but even without the reward, I would still say that it is the best out there for transferring funds US-UK): http://refer.xoom.com/a/clk/10D5D2

If you do use Xoom through the link, thank you!


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## Mobley

MA123 said:


> Hi there,
> 
> I've been using Transferwise with great success! Try it out.


Thanks, but actually, Transferwise seems to only do pounds to dollars, not the other way around.


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## punktlich02

Oanda.com one of the oldest and best (and still great for historical and current foreign exchange rates) no longer do money transfers except when they are incidental to foreign currency speculation. But there are many other money transfer brokers. The problem is that because of money laundering rules you have to sign up and provide copy of passport, etc. and that takes time. You can also only use designated accounts. 

HSBC Priority customers are said to get a good rate and no fees even on ATM transactions.

I know that when I have made transfers of over £10,000 I have been quoted a money-market rate to accept or refuse, and the rate remains valid for some period of minutes or hours. I've done that with banks in several countries. A client once transferred £500,000 and the bank quoted a rate and even as the rate was changing (getting higher) they held it for him for half an hour saving him $1000s.

Below that sort of transfer there are dozens of firms. A search engine query on <foreign exchange transfers> will give you many. They are almost always cheaper than the banks for casual transfers. Look at flyertalk and the other traveler forums and see what people say.


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## Brynna87

I've been using Paypal for the past year and it works well for me. It usually lets me do about 1000 quid at a time for a pretty low fee. Usually my transfers show up in my UK account automatically which is great.


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## punktlich02

Brynna87 said:


> I've been using Paypal for the past year and it works well for me. It usually lets me do about 1000 quid at a time for a pretty low fee. Usually my transfers show up in my UK account automatically which is great.


It's not so much the fee as the spread on the exchange rate you have to look at.


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## Brynna87

punktlich02 said:


> It's not so much the fee as the spread on the exchange rate you have to look at.


Generally the exchange rate is pretty good. Better than other places I've tried.


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## 2662evans

*My US bank won't let me move money to the UK*

I feel for you, but I'm going to top your problem.

I've just sold my house in San Francisco and now have $800,000 sitting in my Bank of America account. Lucky me! 

EXCEPT I live in the UK and don't have a US address, so BofA won't let me transfer more than $1,000/day by electronic transfer. I can write a check, but that will take 4-6 WEEKS to clear. 

Also, because I don't have a US address, I'm extremely limited in what I'm allowed to invest in in the US. Meanwhile, my money is earning a meagre .1% (notice the ".") interest with Bank of America when it could be earning in excess of 10% in my UK investment accounts.

Any solutions, please? I've been butting my head against the wall for over 48 hours now and the only answers I'm getting are "NO"!


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## Maerok

*Afex*



2662evans said:


> I feel for you, but I'm going to top your problem.
> 
> I've just sold my house in San Francisco and now have $800,000 sitting in my Bank of America account. Lucky me!
> 
> EXCEPT I live in the UK and don't have a US address, so BofA won't let me transfer more than $1,000/day by electronic transfer. I can write a check, but that will take 4-6 WEEKS to clear.
> 
> Also, because I don't have a US address, I'm extremely limited in what I'm allowed to invest in in the US. Meanwhile, my money is earning a meagre .1% (notice the ".") interest with Bank of America when it could be earning in excess of 10% in my UK investment accounts.
> 
> Any solutions, please? I've been butting my head against the wall for over 48 hours now and the only answers I'm getting are "NO"!


Try Afex.com, they just make a little on the spread but there really isn't anyone lower. They bank with Barclays in the UK so it helps if you have an account there.


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