No, no, it's v helpful, that's what I wanted to do too, but to me it seemed pretty silly to have a US $ account where I could'nt withdraw money from it by cashline as I needed it in the Sates. If anyone knows of such an account..!
the alt would have been to open an actual US bank a/c I guess, but my recolectionfrom trying that in vancouver in 93 was that it a nightmare for a foreign national, plus US banks actually charge bank charges for simply having it open..
Citibank charge 20 dollars a month if you don't have 2000 UKP in your citibank accounts. I have a UK sterling account too so it isn't unfeasible to have 2 grand in the current account even if it isn't all in dollars.
I think you get a normal cash card which can be used in US atms - but don't quote me on that.
we managed by opening an acct with a uni credit union, and then not closing it when we skipped the country. maybe next time you are there for a conference or visit or something you could do something like this? (not helpful for present purposes, of course)
Most U.S. banks do charge a fee for keeping an account open, unless there's a certain minimum balance - but not all. At my credit union, for example, most accounts are free.
Using a cash card, one can take out money from a US account at cashpoints/ATMs in the UK, and vice versa. Usually (depends on the bank), this gets you a really good exchange rate: the bank exchange rate, with no add'l fees.
Likewise, one can make purchases in one country with a card from the other, so long as the card institution belongs to Cirrus or one of the other international consortiums.
Where problems arise is when one needs to write checks in the currency of the other country; at that point, having a bank account there can be really handy.
PayPal might be worth a look. They handle lots of international business, and have several sorts of accounts at fairly competitive fees. No storefront where one can go to scream at the help, however.
My current requirement (which may be different to green_amber's) is to cash approx 800 dollars worth of US cheques. I don't think I can do that with Paypal which is a pain.
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Sorry if that wasn't helpful. It was just a coincidence I opened the account today.
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the alt would have been to open an actual US bank a/c I guess, but my recolectionfrom trying that in vancouver in 93 was that it a nightmare for a foreign national, plus US banks actually charge bank charges for simply having it open..
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I think you get a normal cash card which can be used in US atms - but don't quote me on that.
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I had a lokk at this awhile ago
Link below:
http://www.citibank.co.uk/uk/bankingproducts/currentaccounts/usdollar/index.jsp
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Using a cash card, one can take out money from a US account at cashpoints/ATMs in the UK, and vice versa. Usually (depends on the bank), this gets you a really good exchange rate: the bank exchange rate, with no add'l fees.
Likewise, one can make purchases in one country with a card from the other, so long as the card institution belongs to Cirrus or one of the other international consortiums.
Where problems arise is when one needs to write checks in the currency of the other country; at that point, having a bank account there can be really handy.
PayPal might be worth a look. They handle lots of international business, and have several sorts of accounts at fairly competitive fees. No storefront where one can go to scream at the help, however.
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Cheers, that is good to know as it isn't common practice in the UK and I wasn't sure whether Citibank were taking the mick.
However I have applied to them and they were supposed to contact me by telephone within two days - and they haven't.
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There are still free accounts, if they don't work out.
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