A wrangle to cash a cheque

Hi,

Would you kindly tell me if a cheque for 20 U.S. dollars given to me by an American hotel, can be endorsed by my simply signing on the back, and then paying it in to someone's account an at an American bank, please?

Since the only person I know with an American account is not in the U.K. would an American bank be likely to accept the cheque without me being there for identification and might there be other complications?

My own bank here in the U.K. wants a 10 as a 'transaction charge', and told me there could be another charges as well, so for a $20 dollar cheque they said it was best to just forget it.

any advice on the best way to cash this cheque please?

john west

Reply to
john west++++
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It's certainly worth a try. I've no experience of US banks but certainly UK banks would probably accept the cheque if roles were reversed. Someone once wrote a cheque payable just to "Emily", our 3 year old daughter who doesn't have an account. Our bank accepted it (without a signature on the back).

If the cheque was for a larger amount or such cheques became regular, the rules would be tighter.

If you shop around you might find a bank that accepts foreign cheques for a fee a little less than 10. Even so, they wouldn't want to get the forms filled in and make you wait several weeks for the small part of the $20 that would be left for you.

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Reply to
DP

Why do people guess answer serious questions with guesses?

The facts: In the UK (Cheques Act 1992 and previous) bills of exchange (i.e., cheques) are not negotiable instruments. In the USA (Uniform Commercial Code) checks are negotiable instruments and may be endorsed to another.

A UK bank may, if it wants and has recourse, accept an endorsed cheque for collection. They do that routinely for their business customers (after all, cheques are often made out to trading names). They routinely refuse, or refer to your own bank manager, similar requests by private individuals. UK banks routinely (and wrongly) refuse to accept US "third party" that have been enorsed and deposited by another. Of course since you have no legal right to that service, you can't do anything about it.

Any US bank will accept a third-party US dollar check from anyone. US banks have recourse, so if the check bounces, they will debit the value of the bounced check plus a fee that may vary from, say, $15 to $30.

US checks used to be easily negotiable at US banks in London, but most of them no longer do retail business (and you can't use the US military "community banks" which serve SOFA personnel). American Express offices could (but probably won't) cash such a check: they do a dollar business and accept personal checks from their US$ card members only.

To digress a bit, while UK chequesa are not negotiable instruments, and extra caution needs to be exercised in cashing them for a third party (because the time limits, etc. that might otherwise apply apparently don't exist) and while all cheques are automatically "crossed" unlessHon Soc of the Middle Temple v Lloyds Bank Plc [1999]

1 All ER (Comm) 193, (QBD 8 Feb. 1999) where a Turkish bank foolishly/naively accepted deposit of a stolen cheque by one of its dodgy depositors.

So: yes, your US friend can easily deposit your USD refund check on your behalf. To try to deposit it in the UK would (unless you happen to have a USD account) likely cost more than the value of the check. (And I have no idea what banking charges UK banks levy on USD accounts; I know Canadian banks clear them quite reasonably even though Canadian banks' (and UK banks') USD checks don't clear through the Federal Reserve System.)

That's more than you wanted to know. And all true.

Reply to
Tam

Because the poster asked the newsgroup for any opinions (key phrases - "would [they] be likely to accept"? - "any advice ... please").

In other words what you call my guess is correct.

As I said, there was no problem for my daughter and I, both of us what you would probably call "private individuals".

Incidentally, the next time you want to put yourself forward as an expert, it would be more convincing if you found out how to turn your spell checker on.

Reply to
DP

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