Send money from the UK to the United States
Grey turns pounds into US dollars once, at a rate fixed when you confirm, and pays them into an ordinary American bank account using its ACH routing number and account number. If you already earn in dollars, the USD account provided by Lead Bank lets you send without converting at all.
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Pounds to dollars, for people with a foot in both countries
The UK to United States route is less about remittance and more about two lives run in parallel. Americans living in London, Edinburgh or Bristol still have a mortgage, a student loan or a parent back home. British families pay college fees and dorm rent for a son or daughter in Boston or California. Owners of a holiday place in Florida settle the property bills, and UK firms pay American software vendors, agencies and freelancers.
Grey converts sterling to US dollars in one step, shows the fee next to the rate, and pays the dollars to the recipient's own account at Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo or any other US bank. All they need to have given you is an ACH routing number and an account number, and they do not need Grey.
If dollars already come to you, from an American employer, a US publisher or a client in New York, they can land in a USD account provided by Lead Bank and go straight back out to a US account with no conversion in between.
From a UK bank to an American account in three steps
Sign up
Opening the account costs nothing, takes about five minutes and needs one valid identity document, such as a UK passport or a US one. Your recipient in America signs up to nothing.
Fund
Send pounds over by Faster Payments from Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, NatWest or Monzo, or use dollars already sitting in your USD account provided by Lead Bank.
Send
Enter the recipient's ACH routing number and account number, read the dollar amount and the fee together, then confirm.
What a sterling to dollar transfer really costs
The cleaner test starts at the American end. A college bill, a closing cost or a supplier invoice is set in dollars, so fix that figure and see how many pounds each provider asks for. Whichever needs fewer pounds is cheaper, whatever its fee line says.
Then cost the conversion you might not need. Anyone paid in dollars who sends to the United States through a UK bank is often converting twice, into sterling on arrival and back out again. Keeping the dollars in a USD account provided by Lead Bank removes both legs.
The dollar amount is settled the moment you confirm
Grey quotes sterling to US dollars with the fee alongside and fixes the rate when you confirm. Whatever the pound does on the evening news, the dollar figure your recipient sees in their banking app is the one you agreed to.
That matters most when the American side has already named a number. A university bursar, a homeowners' association or a landlord in Brooklyn wants the exact amount on the invoice, and a payment that lands a few dollars short starts a second conversation nobody wants.
Grey against a dollar transfer from a high street bank
A UK bank sending dollars to America usually goes by international wire, folds its margin into the exchange rate and can lose part of the payment to intermediary banks on the way, so the American account receives a figure nobody quoted you. Grey shows the sterling to dollar rate and its fee before you commit, fixes the rate at confirmation and pays the dollars in as a local US credit.
What the recipient in the United States sees
A dollar deposit in their own American bank account, showing in the banking app they already use. There is nothing to collect and no app for them to download.
Routing and account number
Those two details identify any account at Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo or another US bank, and they are all Grey asks for.
Usually one to two business days
From a funded balance, dollars typically reach the American account within one to two business days, and you can follow each stage in the app.
GreyTag when both use Grey
If the person in the United States has a Grey account too, a GreyTag transfer reaches them free and instantly, in any currency.
Filling the balance before a US payment falls due
Three habits cover most UK senders, and nothing stops you using all of them.
Top up on payday
One Faster Payments transfer after your salary lands covers a monthly payment to America and leaves room for the odd extra bill.
Keep dollar earnings in dollars
Fees from US clients or royalties from an American publisher wait in your USD account until a US bill needs paying.
Convert ahead of a big date
Before a semester's fees or a closing date, buy the dollars when the quote suits you and pay them out later.
Each American recipient is saved after the first payment, so a monthly transfer to the same account needs only an amount.
What UK senders pay for in the United States
College fees and student living
Tuition instalments, dorm deposits and an allowance for British students at universities from New England to California.
Americans living in the UK
US citizens in London or Manchester covering a mortgage, a student loan or family costs back home from a sterling salary.
Holiday homes in Florida
Association charges, property taxes, insurance and repairs on a villa in Orlando or a flat along the Gulf coast.
American suppliers and freelancers
UK businesses settling dollar invoices from US software firms, agencies, developers and consultants.
Payments on this corridor tend to come with a dollar figure attached before anyone opens an app.
Why UK senders use Grey for dollars
Money going from Britain to America usually has a deadline. A fee instalment due before term starts, a property tax bill in Florida, an invoice on thirty-day terms, the same monthly sum to a parent in Ohio.
Pounds in by Faster Payments or dollars you have already earned, then US dollars out to an ACH routing number and account number. The rate is fixed when you confirm and nothing comes off on arrival.
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