Trading in USD, customers and suppliers

[alitech]

Hi guys

My business mostly trades in USD. I get customer payments in USD and also my suppliers are international and only take USD payments. When I receive payments into my bank account, they come in GBP and there is a conversion happening. All my customers are from US.

Basically there is a conversion on receiving the funds into by GBP bank account and then reconverted to USD to make payments to my suppliers. It all seems very inefficient as I am charged twice for conversions and it is hitting my margins.

I have an international payments credit card that I use to pay the suppliers and then repay it in GBP.

I was wondering if there is a way to make everything work in USD until I need to withdraw salary and dividends or any other local expenses.

Has anyone had to deal with this and what options are there for me?

Thanks.

 

[DontAsk]

Open a USD bank account. You might have to change banks.

Open a Wise (new name for TransferWise) USD account. Mine, however, always automatically transfers everything to a UK account. That's fine for me but I'm not sure if it's the default or a user setting.

 

[alitech]

THank you. I have a wise account already. They have a USD account, however that account is not available to pay off any credit card bills in the UK as the USD account is based in the US.

 

[MOIC]

Ask your current bank to add a USD account in your same company name.

if it’s one of the big 4/5/6 then they should have advised you to do this, It’s typical that they look after themselves first and not the customer.

It shouldn’t cost anything and you’ll save £££ on the rip off conversion rates they charge.

All transactions in USD should go into and out of this account.

It shouldn’t cost you a penny ….or a cent.

 

[UrbanRetail]

Revolut is another option to consider if you can't get anywhere with your current bank.

https://www.revolut.com/business/multi-currency-account

 

[scstock]

I've recently opened a EUR account with Lloyds as I make and receive payments in EUR. Only downside is it costs £50/month to get online access to it.