non USA webmasters... do you use foreign US dollar accounts? - GoFuckYourself.com

rowan · 01-27-2005, 09:34 PM

I deposit about 5-10 US dollar cheques per week into a standard $AUD bank account. I called my bank today and asked about foreign currency accounts, and it looks like opening a US dollar account can actually save me a bit of money in the long run. The reason? They have different conversion rates depending on the deposit type - teletype transfers (wires) get the best rate, cheques get the second best rate, and cash gets the lowest conversion rate. The transfer from the $USD account to the $AUD account is converted at the teletype rate, which means I can effectively deposit cheques at the TT rate!

For example, using current rates...

$USD3000 worth of cheques direct into $AUD account
check exchange rate 0.7856
=$AUD3818.74
minus $AUD10 fee
=$AUD3808.74

$USD3000 worth of cheques into $USD account
no conversion performed at deposit
=$USD3000
minus $AUD15 fee ($USD11.57)
=$USD2988.43
then I transfer immediately to my $AUD account...
T/T exchange rate 0.7802
=$AUD3830.34 ($AUD21.60 more)

It's not a huge difference, but it is a difference. The other big advantage of a US dollar account is that I can watch the rates and choose exactly when the best time to transfer is.

Does anyone else here use a foreign US dollar account? I'm going to open one next week and see how it goes. Now I just have to find out how/if this complicates my taxes.

pornstar2pac · 01-27-2005, 09:36 PM

I always get confused about other countries currency

it should all be US dollars everywhere

Spunky · 01-27-2005, 09:36 PM

Yes it is a very good idea due to the flucuation of our dollar

rowan · 01-27-2005, 09:54 PM

Hmmm, the difference on the example I worked out is less than 0.5%

Maybe it's not worth the extra hassle...

bigang04 · 01-27-2005, 10:01 PM

I;m selling all the USD dollars and buying EURO!

HA!

in approx 2 yrs it will be the DOW 5000 ..... thanks BUSH ( you fucking donkey! )

The Other Steve · 01-27-2005, 10:08 PM

Rowan - our accountant who seemed to be fairly switched on told us that the easiest way to deal with overseas currency that was earned but not brought into the country was not to declare it until it did hit the country.

Of course the down side to that is that if you pay any of your expenses from that money in whatever overseas account it might be in, you can't then claim it as a business deduction come tax time.

Did your bank tell you what the amount was that they required you to deposit into that foreign currency account just to open it?

NewbieNudes · 01-30-2005, 01:03 AM

Rowan I too am in Aussie and wanted to talk au related biz stuff with you - whats ur AIM ICQ or MSN?

NewbieNudes · 01-30-2005, 01:09 AM

Damn - said it didnt post the first time and there it is!

TheMob · 01-30-2005, 01:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pornstar2pac

I always get confused about other countries currency

it should all be US dollars everywhere

hehe, a world currency would be great

shima · 01-30-2005, 01:26 AM

Rowan, stick with Epassporte, forget the troubles ;)

Matt_WildCash · 01-30-2005, 01:27 AM

Yep we use US$ funds accounts for Wildcash. We get money in from processors and keep it in US funds then pay out to affilates promptly via wire transfer, epasporte & paypal. works good and stops us from losing $1000's in bank % fees of double converting the money

rowan · 01-30-2005, 03:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shima

Rowan, stick with Epassporte, forget the troubles ;)

I've said it in another thread already, but epass has a worse conversion rate than my banks cash rate. In other words, from most $ in my hand to least...

1. wires (will get this rate with a US dollar account)
2. cheques (currently get this rate with my AU dollar account)
3. cash
4. epass

The Other Steve: At the moment my income is declared as the Australian dollars my bank pays, because the USD cheques have no fixed value until they're deposited and converted... setting up a US dollar account is likely to complicate things, since I'll be doing that extra section on overseas income/investments or similar.

Here's the info I got from Westpac about the account:

- No setup fee or minimum balance.
- $AUD15 fee for deposit of up to 8 cheques of the same currency and payee. Deposits are converted on the spot but take 7 working days to end up in the account.
- $AUD8 for inbound teletype transfers
- $AUD50/mo maintenance fee if equivalent average AUD balance is between $0-$5000 (I didn't get the other rates, but the fee is obviously lower for higher balances)
- Transfer between US dollar account and a standard AUD Westpac account is done at teletype rates (see http://www.westpac.com.au/forms/fore...rm&StartPage=2 )
- No online or automated phone banking access to the account.

To find out your balance or any other details you have to call during business hours and ask a human...

I'm not sure whether the small conversion advantage outweighs the disadvantages and the extra work that will be required to get AUD funds into my account. Since there's no opening minimum it won't hurt to try.

rickholio · 01-30-2005, 03:36 AM

I considered retaining a USD account at RBOC for a while, but it never really yielded any benefits for the cost, plus the downside of inertia (leaving the money parked in the account rather than getting it converted on receipt of payment) would have resulted in a substantial drop in my real revenue.

If I did a lot of business travel to the US or paid a lot of bills/made purchases in US funds, it'd probably have more use to me. As it is right now, the faster I can pull USD and switch it to CDN, the more money I make.

Dalai lama · 01-30-2005, 03:40 AM

USD - EURO is about 30% difference

Lifer · 01-30-2005, 03:54 AM

I just keep an account in the US as well as Europe.

When in that states, I use the US... or when I buy US.

You can always get it out through a money machine if you need it.

rowan · 01-30-2005, 03:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rickholio

I considered retaining a USD account at RBOC for a while, but it never really yielded any benefits for the cost, plus the downside of inertia (leaving the money parked in the account rather than getting it converted on receipt of payment) would have resulted in a substantial drop in my real revenue.

If I did a lot of business travel to the US or paid a lot of bills/made purchases in US funds, it'd probably have more use to me. As it is right now, the faster I can pull USD and switch it to CDN, the more money I make.

I'm in a similar situation. I have a home loan which has a feature called an offset account - any balance in your savings account is deducted from what you owe on the loan when calculating the interest. This has two direct benefits...

1. It's effectively the same as a savings account paying 6.77% interest.
2. The deduction is seamless and applied before interest is calculated, which means that the interest 'earned' doesn't count as income (it's a saving rather than earning), and is therefore not taxed.

As an example: if I parked $20k in there for a year I would make/save $1396 in interest (including compounding). If that was fully taxed then I'd have to give the govt $656.12 of that... but it's not taxed at all so I get the full $1396.

So it's definitely in my best interests (ha! ha!) to get those USD funds into my AUD account as quickly as possible. A better currency conversion rate along the way helps, which is the point of this thread.

Rui · 01-30-2005, 06:50 AM

I'm loosing so much money from Dollar to Euro convertions...its fucking unbelivable

dammit

thaifan99 · 01-30-2005, 06:52 AM

1 US$ account with bank of china................and epassporte for ATM .

01-27-2005, 09:34 PM	#1
rowan Too lazy to set a custom title Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Australia Posts: 17,393	non USA webmasters... do you use foreign US dollar accounts? I deposit about 5-10 US dollar cheques per week into a standard $AUD bank account. I called my bank today and asked about foreign currency accounts, and it looks like opening a US dollar account can actually save me a bit of money in the long run. The reason? They have different conversion rates depending on the deposit type - teletype transfers (wires) get the best rate, cheques get the second best rate, and cash gets the lowest conversion rate. The transfer from the $USD account to the $AUD account is converted at the teletype rate, which means I can effectively deposit cheques at the TT rate! For example, using current rates... $USD3000 worth of cheques direct into $AUD account check exchange rate 0.7856 =$AUD3818.74 minus $AUD10 fee =$AUD3808.74 $USD3000 worth of cheques into $USD account no conversion performed at deposit =$USD3000 minus $AUD15 fee ($USD11.57) =$USD2988.43 then I transfer immediately to my $AUD account... T/T exchange rate 0.7802 =$AUD3830.34 ($AUD21.60 more) It's not a huge difference, but it is a difference. The other big advantage of a US dollar account is that I can watch the rates and choose exactly when the best time to transfer is. Does anyone else here use a foreign US dollar account? I'm going to open one next week and see how it goes. Now I just have to find out how/if this complicates my taxes.

01-27-2005, 09:36 PM	#2
pornstar2pac Omaha Hi/Lo Join Date: Nov 2003 Posts: 17,380	I always get confused about other countries currency it should all be US dollars everywhere __________________ Trump haters gonna hate. that's all they can do

01-27-2005, 09:36 PM	#3
Spunky I need a beer Industry Role: Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: ♠ Toiletville ♠ Posts: 133,949	Yes it is a very good idea due to the flucuation of our dollar __________________ *YOUR INFORMATION HERE*

01-27-2005, 10:08 PM	#6
The Other Steve Confirmed User Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Sunny Queensland - perfect one day and better the next. Posts: 2,106	Rowan - our accountant who seemed to be fairly switched on told us that the easiest way to deal with overseas currency that was earned but not brought into the country was not to declare it until it did hit the country. Of course the down side to that is that if you pay any of your expenses from that money in whatever overseas account it might be in, you can't then claim it as a business deduction come tax time. Did your bank tell you what the amount was that they required you to deposit into that foreign currency account just to open it? __________________ Left intentionally blank ... just like my brain

01-30-2005, 01:03 AM	#7
NewbieNudes Confirmed User Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 939	ROWAN - what's ur IM details Rowan I too am in Aussie and wanted to talk au related biz stuff with you - whats ur AIM ICQ or MSN? __________________ \| Click Here to join our unique high converting program \| Add yourself for free traffic! ICQ: 279 738 569 \| Skype: NewbieNudes \| Email: affiliates at newbienudes dot com

01-27-2005, 09:54 PM	#4
rowan Too lazy to set a custom title Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Australia Posts: 17,393	Hmmm, the difference on the example I worked out is less than 0.5% Maybe it's not worth the extra hassle...

01-27-2005, 10:01 PM	#5
bigang04 Registered User Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 40	I;m selling all the USD dollars and buying EURO! HA! in approx 2 yrs it will be the DOW 5000 ..... thanks BUSH ( you fucking donkey! )

01-30-2005, 01:09 AM	#8
NewbieNudes Confirmed User Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 939	Rowan Damn - said it didnt post the first time and there it is! __________________ \| Click Here to join our unique high converting program \| Add yourself for free traffic! ICQ: 279 738 569 \| Skype: NewbieNudes \| Email: affiliates at newbienudes dot com

01-30-2005, 01:26 AM	#10
shima Confirmed User Industry Role: Join Date: May 2003 Location: Office, as usual Posts: 1,753	Rowan, stick with Epassporte, forget the troubles ;)

01-30-2005, 01:27 AM	#11
Matt_WildCash Confirmed User Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 1,699	Yep we use US$ funds accounts for Wildcash. We get money in from processors and keep it in US funds then pay out to affilates promptly via wire transfer, epasporte & paypal. works good and stops us from losing $1000's in bank % fees of double converting the money

01-30-2005, 03:36 AM	#13
rickholio Confirmed User Industry Role: Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Nor'easterland Posts: 1,914	I considered retaining a USD account at RBOC for a while, but it never really yielded any benefits for the cost, plus the downside of inertia (leaving the money parked in the account rather than getting it converted on receipt of payment) would have resulted in a substantial drop in my real revenue. If I did a lot of business travel to the US or paid a lot of bills/made purchases in US funds, it'd probably have more use to me. As it is right now, the faster I can pull USD and switch it to CDN, the more money I make.

01-30-2005, 03:40 AM	#14
Dalai lama Strength and Honor Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Europe Posts: 16,540	USD - EURO is about 30% difference __________________ A program you can trust. Gallerybooster Run multiply TGPs of 1 script

01-30-2005, 03:54 AM	#15
Lifer Confirmed User Industry Role: Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Working Posts: 871	I just keep an account in the US as well as Europe. When in that states, I use the US... or when I buy US. You can always get it out through a money machine if you need it. __________________ CCBill Sponsor Programs Get Paid On Time - Everytime!

01-30-2005, 06:50 AM	#17
Rui web Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: On icq: 85-483-060 Posts: 9,533	I'm loosing so much money from Dollar to Euro convertions...its fucking unbelivable dammit

01-30-2005, 06:52 AM	#18
thaifan99 Confirmed User Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: London UK Posts: 3,029	1 US$ account with bank of china................and epassporte for ATM . __________________ ARE YOU A FAMILY MEMBER? CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT!