Worth Having a Dollar Account

Banking UK

[FattyB]

I was wondering if anyone UK based doing business mostly with US companies finds having a dollar account handy.

I was going to chat about it next week with HSBC.

The main reason being that the fluctuations in currency make it a real pain when reconciling accounts. Our bank statements do nto have invoice numbers on them so it takes ages to match up invoices in Sage to the bank account. Especially when there is say a 3 month gap and the currency has changed so much as to make it tricky to find the right entry.

I figure with a dollar account at least we could easily match the right amount and so reconcile it.

I wonder if there might be good reason to have one in terms of hedging bets a bit as well. We often have quite a large balance sitting in the account. Would it be worth using the dollar account to leave some of it in dollars, as it arrived. Maybe jsut move some of it into the £ account?

I should say that 80% of our income comes from the US in $.

Thanks
James

[edited by: FattyB at 12:49 pm (utc) on Jan. 26, 2007]

[Matt Probert]

I am in the UK, and deal mainly in US dollars. However, as the business only really takes payment in dollars, its not worth me opening a dollar account as the charges are high. If you are receiving and making payments in dollars it might be worth it, but pay close attention to the charges!

Matt

[Nick0r]

I've been considering getting a USD account too. It seems it would be worth it just to hold the money in USD until the exchange rate gets a bit better.

[Fortune Hunter]

Years ago before my Internet marketing career I used to work at a large bank in the international department. I handled currency exchanges, letters of credit, international wires etc. for our corporate customers. My point is that currency swaps and exchanges is pretty sophisticated stuff to do well. Anyone can get lucky once in a while, but consistently being able to move international currency around and not get burned is generally considered a full time occupation or one left to a professional. So while you may find the cost of the account ok, consider the extra cost of people to help you move the money from one currency to another successfully and the fees involved, which can become quite high.

Fortune Hunter

[Nick0r]

Interesting.

I was under the impression from my bank is was free and relatively cheap to have a business USD account. And the transfers between my GBP and USD account were also free?

(Bank of Scotland)

[FattyB]

Thanks for the replies folks.

Nick, I am not sure I think moving money is probably free but a monhtly charge on the account.

Like I said the main reason I want it is to simplify my account reconciling.

I will get one setup and do another post after I have used it for a while, see if saves any money and/or improves accounting speed.

James

[andye]

Yeah, the charges for dollar account at HSBC seem really high. If you find that they have any new reasonably-priced products then please tell me!

At the moment we're paying in dollar cheques each month, paying a fee on each one. For each one we get a written notification through the post of what the exchange rate was, which is useful for the accounts.

Best, a.

[JGWhitelaw]

I simply have a bank account in the USA which I have paperless statements, and keep an eye on through the website. Then you just have to find the best way of transferring money back, every now and then.

Please note though, it would have to be a personal account in the USA, as you cannot open a business account without a lot of hassle.

Jim

[andye]

JG, what US bank did you choose?

As an international customer, how do they treat you? (I mean, is it a pain applying, do they understand non-US company registration details, do all the forms on the website expect you to give a US address, that kind of thing).