Funding an account from the UK

Alpaca Account Troubleshooting Random
1

Hello, has anyone from the UK (or other non-US countries) managed to fund their live account?

I’ve tried using TransferWise (now called Wise) but it’s US bank (Evolve) isn’t working with ACH.

Revolut don’t seem to have ACH details with their accounts.

I’ve looked into Starling but only the business accounts can have an ACH number.

Any help would be much appreciated!

1 Like
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Hello, has anyone any update on this? Thank you!

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@Loudovikos are you trying to fund from the UK as well?

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@JCHall I am from EU and I have an account on Revolut as well as on TransferWise.
I understand that ACH routing number for Revolut USD accounts is only available to US based customers.
TransferWise could be an option for ACH connection since it provides a routing number through Evolve Bank & Trust, but it seems that it doesn’t work with Plaid. Have you find any solution to deposit from UK?

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I just opened an account from the UK too…

I think you need to use a wire transfer. In the banking section of your account, you can change the instructions as indicated in the attached image. I use Starling Bank, so they allow me to send a transfer in USD. This is required, per the instructions on the Alpaca site (they said they won’t do any conversions).

I just tried sending £100 to see if I’m doing it correctly. According to my bank it should be there tomorrow.

alpacaWireInstructions
alpacaWireInstructions531×834 56.1 KB

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Thanks @jayc it’ll be interesting to know if it works, and what the cost is?

ACH seems to be the easiest way but it just doesn’t work with TransferWise’s US bank partner.

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According to Starling, it’s £5.50 for SWIFT, and £0.30 for a standard transfer (I forget the name of the service).

I went with SWIFT as it’s more secure and you can recall it if there’s a problem.

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Ah OK, not that expensive then. What’s the conversion rate for GBP to USD? If it’s only 0.5%/1% then that’s OK

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@jayc Did you receive the £100? It took 1 day?

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Hey - yeah, the money went into my account. It appeared on Monday, but I transferred late on Thursday, so I suppose it’s just over one business day. It would be a better test to start the transfer on a Monday.

At the time of transfer, £100 was worth $136, and I got $110 into my account. Not sure if that’s a % or a set fee. I’d hope just a set fee!

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You can actually do this with (Tranfer)Wise - just not via the normal way you’d use Wise to send money. You need to setup a USD account with them (it’s free) which will effectively give you an American bank account. You can send/receive ACH payments just like a real bank.

To get Plaid to accept your details, pick a bank (I picked Wisely since I was searching for Wise) and then when it asks for your login details, click the little X at the top right. It will then finally offer you the chance to link with just bank account details and you can input your Wise details.

I’m still pending bank verification so I’ll update once I’ve completed the process, but I’ve performed this exact procedure with other brokers just fine.

1 Like
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Lewis, thanks a lot for the information. Great find. Fingers crossed it works. Please let us know.

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I can confirm my account is now funded.

  • It took a few minutes to verify my Wise account, 1 day to receive the verification payments from Plaid, and the 1 more day to deposit money into my Alpaca account.
  • I transfered £100 and got an exchange rate of 1.38095 from Wise and ended up with $137.61 in my Alpaca account.
  • Wise fees were 0.35 GBP which was actually less than what I received from Plaid/Alpaca as verification transactions so I’ve actually made money out of it! Although I suspect they may take the verification deposits back.

So all in all, 0.35% fees and 2 days (but it will only be 1 day in the future). I’m extremely happy with the experience, I’ve funded a few brokers this way but Alpaca’s has by far been the easiest experience.

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Lewis, amazing news! Thanks a lot for letting us know.

I’ll do as you suggest. I’ve already got a Wise USD account so this should be pretty straightforward.

Good luck trading!

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Hi Lewis, great it worked for you. I finished Plaid verification, but the Alpaca front-end still saying pending verification. Did your status change right after your Plaid verification? Thanks,

17

Alvin,

I’ve also followed Lewis’ steps and have been able to verify and fund my account.

It took 1 or 2 days for the verification amounts (x2 small $ payments) to come through to my Wise USD account.

Thanks

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Hi JC, so, right after you entered the two amounts, the ACH section under Banking allows you to pull money straight away? Mine still says pending, and if I click on Verify Bank again, Plaid shows an error because Plaid had already verified me.

The only difference is that I used an US domestic account, but that shouldn’t matter to Alpaca since Plaid is the one verifying things.

I’ve logged a support ticket with screenshots, but thanks nonetheless about Wise. I’ll get a Wise USD account to try, but I doubt it’s anything to do with the ACH account origin.

Thanks,

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Alvin,

Ah OK, sorry to hear. I didn’t try and fund my account straight away, so maybe that was why. Hopefully yours will update/change eventually.

Otherwise, yes, speak to support. Fingers crossed!

Thanks