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Is it me but doesn’t it seem like we’ve been here before? The Greek crisis seems to have been dragging on longer than the Trojan War. It has been vacillating from spikes of on-the-brink debt refinancing, to periods where it has been seemingly out of the news altogether. But this time things appear different, more...
A US dollar savings account is simply an account that lets you make deposits and earn interest in dollars. You can open savings accounts denominated in US dollars from some UK banks and building societies, with most offshore banks offering this too.
The big advantage of having a US dollar savings account is that your currency isn’t converted. So if you are paid in US dollars, you don’t have to pay foreign exchange charges, or risk losing out if the exchange rate isn’t favourable with the country you are living in.
Funds kept offshore don't fall under the UK Financial Services Compensation Scheme, even if your bank is a subsidiary of a UK bank or building society. Depending on where the bank is licenced you might be protected by a scheme in that jurisdiction.
Isle of Man
Find out where an offshore bank is registered, and the relevant compensation scheme in our depositor protection scheme guide.