I'm a UK resident but travel regularly to the US on business and leisure. I usually just pay for eveyrthing on credit cards.

Here is my scenario - bear with me!!
I have now started participating in our company's share scheme. 10 percent of my income is changed from GBP to USD (at, say 1GBP=1.4USD)to buy shares at a preferential rate every 6 months. The shares are then deposited in a US stockbroking account. I can then get a cheques sent to the UK (in USD) and bank it (at an exchange rate of, say, 1GBP=1.5USD + an additional 20GBP to cash the foreign cheque)

This whole process means I proabably lose about 8% of my share value - I still make an 8% profit though because we are sold shares at 85% of value.

Now.....I spend more than 10% of my income each year in the US on expenses and leisure travel. It would be GREAT if I could have an account (interest earning!) in the US in which I can deposit my USD every 6 months and draw from (using a credit/debit card) for all transactions in the US. I woould then save a fortune on two way excahnge fees (and actually make a profit!)

Any ideas? Do I need to be a US resident to open a US account? Does anyone else operate accounts in this manner?

Thanks