Strengthening Dollar

Just hoping for some advice on strengthening dollar. I travel to the US a lot and was wondering if its possible to hold a dollar account in Ireland or have a dollar credit card where I could lodge money until needed (safeguarding against a falling euro/dollar). Dont want to hold cash.

It certainly is possible. Many financial instituations will be able to assist you with this; althought your best bet is probably to open a US bank account.

Personally I have a share dealing account with Keytrade (a French/Benelux subsidiary of a french bank). A by-product of being able to invest in US equities is the ability to keep my money in dollars. I can convert back to euro or indeed to pound easily online and can have money transfered online into and out of account back to my aib current account.

This is just an example of how I personally go about maintaining funds in dollars. As I said, opening a US bank account would probably be more convenient and may allow you to get a atm/debit/credit card.

do u not need to be a US resident / citizen to open an account there

limerickboy1 said:

do u not need to be a US resident / citizen to open an account there

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Yes, you do. I tried to invest with an american online bank once, and I was told that wasn't possible.

SligoInvest said:

was wondering if its possible to hold a dollar account in Ireland or have a dollar credit card where I could lodge money until needed (safeguarding against a falling euro/dollar). Dont want to hold cash.

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Something you could do if you just want to hold US dollars, which is much simpler than opening a bank a/c, is to use paypal. I imagine like most people you already have an paypal a/c for ebay transactions. You can transfer your euro funds into dollars easily (and other currencies).

As for having a dollar credit card, I suspect you already have visa or mastercard, so ring up the card company and ask them about your options, I'm sure they have a solution they use all the time.

btw: I would not bet on a rising dollar, I don't advise currency speculation unless you really really know what you're doing, it's one of the most risky things you can do with money. However, if you're just interested in having small sums of dollars to hand when you're in america, it's fine.

Morgan 2.0 said:

I tried to invest with an american online bank once, and I was told that wasn't possible.

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Come to think of it, that might just have been a rule for online banks, if you showed up in person and asked them it is probably different.

I have a US$ account through Bank of Ireland.

jrewing - and can you move dollars into that account and access them in the US?

I think you can do this with Ptsb also. As far as I know you can set up a US$ account and put your money there. Not sure of logisitics like accessing it but I would think the bank should be able to set up something for you - ie, a bank link card, etc. There should be a way so just have your list of questions ready and contact your own bank or those people have advised you of here.