Have US dollars - but how to access in USA?

[MKL]

I was wondering if anyone could help me out on this problem. A while ago I transferred some Australian dollars into a USD term deposit account with the Australian branch of a US bank. Now I am about to go travelling in the US, I want to access my US dollars while I am over there. But finding out a way to do this - without having to convert the money into AUD and back again - is not as simple as I thought. The bank can't offer me a regular deposit account where I could keep the money in USD and access it while in the US. They can wire the money into another account but unless that account is denominated in US dollars the money will be converted into AUD automatically (at a poor rate) once it hits that other account. That seems to be all they can do - they can't give me a USD bank cheque.

I thought I could use the money to buy a Visa Debit Card of the type offered by ANZ (and others). However ANZ tell me I could only pay for that card in Australian dollars, even if it would be denominated in USD (how silly is that). As far as I can tell most of the other cards that are offered like that are rebranded Travelex cards, and as far as I can tell I think would have the same problem.

I don't think that opening an account with a US bank if I am an Australian resident is likely to be practical.

Does anyone have any suggestions? One option (less than ideal) would be to use it to buy USD travellers cheques, they aren't offered by the US bank I am with, and I am not sure if I could purchase them from anyone by wiring USD anyway.

Thanks all.

 

[moa999]

I would suggest you need to talk to your bank

(assume Citi)
if so you would have found out that Citi Aust is not Citi US.
and in fact despite all their marketing Citi is very different in each country

Can't they give you an ATM card that will be at least fee free in US??

 

[jingles]

How about opening up a usd denominated account with citibank, a usd paypal account and apply for a paypal credit card

Transfer the money from your current deposit account to the citibank usd account, then into the paypal usd account. From there you can use the paypal credit card to make purchases in usd without ever converting the money into aud.

 

[MKL]

Thanks for the suggestions so far.

Yes it's Citi. I think they can only offer an ATM card linked to an AUD account, not a USD term deposit.

Anyone have experience with what HSBC can offer?

I am interested in the Paypal credit card option. Do you know for a fact they can offer such a product to Australians? Couldn't see anything based on a quick look at their Australian website. I fear they wouldn't be licenced to offer one here, but I don't know.

 

[Evan]

<..>
Anyone have experience with what HSBC can offer?
<..>

Can't speak about HSBC in USA but i wanted AUD either in cheque or cash in AU from my SG HSBC account.... no chance !, like Citi they are different it seems

 

[odysseus]

I am interested in the Paypal credit card option. Do you know for a fact they can offer such a product to Australians? Couldn't see anything based on a quick look at their Australian website. I fear they wouldn't be licenced to offer one here, but I don't know.

As far as I know, it's US only. As such it would be even more difficult than getting a US bank account, given you have to pass lending criteria there as well (and they've been toughening them up there a lot more than here the past few months).

 

[SimonM]

It seems you can open a US bank account with E-Trade.

xomba.com/how_to_open_usa_bank_account_for_non_usa_residents

 

[MKL]

Thanks for all the suggestions - and please keep them coming. I will look at the last option suggested but would be nervous sending money to people I have not heard of.

Spoke to HSBC, they can open a USD account and give me a card that allows ATM withdrawals, but there's a $200 fee to open it and they admitted their ATM network is very limited. Plus it isn't a debit card that could be used to buy things directly.

Spoke to Travelex. As I suspected their prepaid debit cards can only be purchased here in AUD. They did point out I could buy a USD one when I arrived in the US. However I am not sure if it will be possible to then wire money from Citi to recharge the card. Suspect not, given everything else seems not to be possible...