LTD paid in USD, any good tips? (Bank account, currency conversion, investments)

[jamesbrown]

I'll piggyback on this thread and ask whether anyone here has any experience with using company foreign currency accounts in the UK? I might have the option to pick Euro as the currency in which my invoices are paid and I'm seriously considering it with Brexit looming in the background.

See above. Transferwise. Or do you mean to stash money, long-term, in Euro? In that case, there are banks that offer them, yes. HSBC and Cater Allen come to mind. But that's a pretty big gamble when your costs are in largely in GBP. I would stick to minimizing fx costs and hassle (Transferwise) and forget about forecasting fx rates (an FSCS savings account).

[darmstadt]

I dealt with a literal bank a few years back (As in, my direct client was *the* bank) and they insisted on sending me a cheque. US banking is bizarre and antiquated.

With a previous job I was paid by cheque drawn on a bank in Las Vegas which I had to take in and pay into my account monthly and only occasionally would I get a strange look.

Just checked with the company in the USA and they only get charge $8 for each transfer to me via Western Union so nothing too high so we're sticking with them. Its also nice, stick the invoice in one day and the money is in the bank the next.

[eek]

With a previous job I was paid by cheque drawn on a bank in Las Vegas which I had to take in and pay into my account monthly and only occasionally would I get a strange look.

Just checked with the company in the USA and they only get charge $8 for each transfer to me via Western Union so nothing too high so we're sticking with them. Its also nice, stick the invoice in one day and the money is in the bank the next.

What exchange rate does Western Union charge compared to Transferwise? That $8 isn't where the real profit is

[jamesbrown]

What exchange rate does Western Union charge compared to Transferwise? That $8 isn't where the real profit is

Yurp. Not spot rate, you can be pretty sure.

Tranferwise amounts to about 0.5% above spot for cable after all fees.

[redgiant]

I use TransferWise too. What hasn't been mentioned is that TransferWise integrates with some accounting systems (I use Xero but QB and others may have connectors) so you can reconcile payments easily.

[dsc]

See above. Transferwise. Or do you mean to stash money, long-term, in Euro? In that case, there are banks that offer them, yes. HSBC and Cater Allen come to mind. But that's a pretty big gamble when your costs are in largely in GBP. I would stick to minimizing fx costs and hassle (Transferwise) and forget about forecasting fx rates (an FSCS savings account).

I meant stashing it away in Euro, have enough £ in the business account to last over a year, so can use that for now. The thing is that depending on how this new contract pans out, I'll probably move out of the UK, so then Euro would definitely be better (I'd be dealing via a non-UK company then). Still as you say a fair bit of hassle, so perhaps stick with Transferwise and do Euro-£ for the next two months and then simply stay on Euro elsewhere.

[anim]

How much do you pay to transfer $ from USA to $ account in the UK (revolut) with transferwise?
Say on $10 000.
They say transfer of $ to outside USA is made via SWIFT and it is $3.50 extra on top of $1.60 they normally charge for $ to $ + any correspondence bank(s) fees (TW dont know what they are).

Otherwise for euro, Starling bank has euro account both company one and personal. Comp one is £2/month, personal is free.
They have 0.5% commission on E>£ and £>E conversion.

Revolut can also store E with £1000/m free conversion, 0.5% fee afterwards. Or no limits with £7/m plan.

[darmstadt]

What exchange rate does Western Union charge compared to Transferwise? That $8 isn't where the real profit is

Got paid a couple of days ago and it was $1 = €0.85 which looks like the current exchange rate. Apparently we use the business version of WU rather than the Nigerian Prince version which may make a difference

[redgiant]

How much do you pay to transfer $ from USA to $ account in the UK (revolut) with transferwise?
Say on $10 000.
They say transfer of $ to outside USA is made via SWIFT and it is $3.50 extra on top of $1.60 they normally charge for $ to $ + any correspondence bank(s) fees (TW dont know what they are).

Otherwise for euro, Starling bank has euro account both company one and personal. Comp one is £2/month, personal is free.
They have 0.5% commission on E>£ and £>E conversion.

Revolut can also store E with £1000/m free conversion, 0.5% fee afterwards. Or no limits with £7/m plan.

As I type this TransferWise would charge 42.82 USD (0.4282%) in fees to change 10,000 USD to 7,710.67 GBP at 0.774383 (Current Mid Market rate is 0.774380 checked on XE.com).