I am a British citizen, legally resident in the US

I am a British citizen, legally resident in the USA for the last 20 years. I’ve been made redundant, am selling my house and moving back to the UK. How best do I transfer my house sale proceeds to the UK? I assume I should use a foreign exchange broker, and make the transfer bit by bit. How do I find a broker I can trust?

Hello Keith

Hopefully some exciting times ahead for you although perhaps not anticipated! I would suggest that the simplest and safest way for you to make the transfer would be to discuss this matter with your bank in the USA. If they have UK equivalent branches then it should be simple enough to transfer your money across to that UK version bank account. Should you not wish to remain with that UK bank account on your return, then you can always open another one once you are back here. On the other hand you should be able to contact a UK based bank if you have not already got a bank account in the UK and speak with them about opening a UK bank account and the simplest way to do the transaction. In any event, evidence of where the capital will have come from will be required by any UK based institution and this should be easy enough to provide evidence of the source of your capital.

You will of course be affected by the exchange rate when the money is transferred but transferring it bit by bit may raise more questions than necessary if a number of small transactions are noted as a regular event? If you need the capital to purchase another property this option may again create more problems than necessary.

Using a foreign exchange broker will bring an additional layer of the transaction process for you to what may be a simple process otherwise.

Hope that helps.

Thanks