I wonder if it would be possible to have UK account number+sort code for the new USD currency accounts in addition to the US account details?
This would be great for receiving USD from UK banks using faster payments (such as receiving from Barclays and HSBC UK currency accounts).
In my initial testing through wire transfer, sending from HSBC UK currency account incurred a USD 25 intermediary fee which could’ve been avoided if local FP was possible.
Another thing I noticed is that searching for the US bank details in HSBC when defining the payee would not produce an address match (neither by bank name+address, neither by routing number). I ended up searching by routing number and sending a small amount to the bank with the matching name that showed up for that routing number, even though the bank’s address still didn’t match. The initial test transfer worked. Not sure if the mismatch is because of stale data on HSBC’s side or not.
Another minor thing I noticed is that the personal balance at the top left of the screen does not seem to consider the GBP equivalent of the currency balances into the total. My guess is this is something Monzo’s is already aware of and will probably tackle soon.
So IBANs only apply to the Euro currency accounts. With USD currency accounts, you get US account and routing numbers which can only be funded by wire transfers - not even ACH from other US banks - if I understood it correctly.
A wire transfer to the US, again based on my understanding and assumptions, will always be a draw of the luck whether the transfer will incur intermediary bank fees or not. In my test case, it went through HSBC USA National Association, and incurred 25 dollars in addition to the expected 5.99 receiving fee, bringing the total of fees to USD 30.99.
My guess is that what I’m looking for is probably not easy to implement, but worth asking for as Monzo’s new currency accounts seem to be a great option, especially for those of us who do not wish to go through the Wise transfer and FX route, not to mention the very competitive 0.25% rate.
Currently, my USD-GBP FX overhead using the HSBC network + HSBC UK Global Money is roughly 0.8% regardless of the amount transferred/exchanged. It’s costlier than Wise but it’s instantaneous, easy to document and trouble-free. Monzo’s offering is attractive with no additional documents from another institution to keep track of. If I can guarantee that no intermediary fees will creep into the process, using Monzo for USD-GBP conversion would become a no-brainer for me.
Yes, you’re right about the purpose: I wish to send USD that I hold in a currency account in another UK-based bank to Monzo and convert it to GBP.
The Monzo USD currency account does not come with an IBAN. I’m not sure, but I think you’re probably conflating this with Monzo’s standard current account which comes with an IBAN, and with which you can convert other incoming foreign currencies into GBP at a 1% conversion rate versus the 0.25% conversion rate with the currency account.
Just to confirm what your saying but provide no solution , both the GBP and EUR accounts come with IBAN numbers and as you say, the US account only comes with local US account numbers.
The only way this would be advantageous to myself is if ATM’s abroad will recognise the card as registered in Europe. so it doesn’t charge a fee for withdrawing money, which I doubt it will be classed as registered in Europe because it’s just an account….. over the that, it’s basically like spending a broad on your card but with a 25 P to do so. Maybe it’s just not for me
Correct. But the main issue is when I transfer to that US currency account using wire transfers (the only way available), it has unpredictable fees that may be added on top of the expected USD 5.99 receiving fee.
To give you an example, HSBC UK does not charge me fees for wire transfers, but if that transfer goes through an intermediary bank, there will be fees that the intermediary bank will take to deliver that transfer.
Wire transfers go through intermediary banks when the sending bank and the receiving bank do not have a direct financial relationship or established account with each other.
In my case, HSBC UK charged 0 fees, intermediary bank charged USD 25, Monzo charged USD 5.99 receiving fee. A total of USD 30.99.
If on the other hand the Monzo USD currency account had UK account number+sort code, I’d have no additional fees, the transfer would be instant (most of the time), and may not even incur the USD 5.99 receiving fee (which I personally don’t mind if it’s a must).
However, it’s unlikely that the solution I’m asking for can be achieved easily as it’s very possible that the provided currency accounts are through an established third party/third parties at the backend and that is the way their service works
, both the GBP and EUR accounts come with IBAN numbers and as you say, the US account only comes with local US account numbers.
yet I still missed it