Clearing time for international cheques

There is a procedure (at least with Barclays) where you can get the money into your account within a week or so but they still have the right to withdraw it should it 'bounce'. That happened to me once, 4 or 5 weeks later. Wiring it is much quicker (a day or so) and worth the 20-ish, if it can be done by the other partty.

Which bank/institution?

Not you for sure.

In message , Mr B writes

'Clear' is actually the wrong word but even bank staff misuse it these days. Foreign cheques dont go through a 'clearing' as UK cheques do. Your cheque is sent for 'collection' by your bank to the bank in the US upon which it is drawn. That Bank then send the money to its US HQ who transfer the dollars to the New York (probably) Branch of your banks International Department. If your bank doesnt have an outpost in US then the US$s get sent to a 'correspondent' bank of your bank in US. They then tell their UK branch to transfer the same amount of dosh, but now in sterling, to your banks HO who then send the dosh to your bank account. The US system is renowned for taking ages, especially for cheques not drawn in NY, and their internal 'clearing' is not like ours at all. European cheques can be collected far quicker.

It is actually a waste of time using Cheques because the mechanism I have described above is the basics upon which all currency transactions take place between countries, the interbank instructions being communicated either by SWIFT, Wire or mailor etc.,,, so a cheque ends up as a 'wire' payment anyway!

That what happens when you use a cheque, which is an outdated payment method anyway. You should have selected a more modern method.

The drawer will get a lot of it because it will be a while before he account is debited, then each party to the transactions above will get a day or twos interest each.

However, in addition, you may get most of it as well because very few banks will use the old manual accounting method for handling bills and cheques sent for collection in which the cleared funds arent available in your account until the bank gets the dosh from abroad. Many banks, even when collecting foreign cheques rather than negotiating them, will credit your account as though it was a UK cheque meaning that if the account is credit interest bearing then it will attract interest from whatever day your particular bank starts paying on uncleared items. You are still liable if the cheque bounces of course, but you still get the interest.

In message , Tumbleweed writes

Yes there are two reasons for this, one is in my other post and the other is that for smaller amounts most banks will negotiate it for you, rather than collecting it.

Citibank and the institution is SSB (owned by Citigroup!).

Yes I'd kinda guessed that. ;-)

Yeah, it really sucks, doesn't it? I bank with NatWest and do everything I can to stop my foreign clients paying by cheque. Not only does it take ages, but it's not at all uncommon to lose around 10% of the value of the transaction in bank charges.

I've found PayPal is a reasonably efficient method of getting paid by people who bank in foreign countries.

Adam

described above is the

interbank

cheque ends up as a

But with citibank at least, there is no administration charge for depositing a US dollar cheque into a UK account. If the money were wired, the wirer would likely want a fee of 20-30USD.

Steve.

In message , Stephen Clarke writes

Is the account into which you pay the cheque denominated in £ Sterling or $US?

Either. For citibank, there is no administration charge for paying a US dollar cheque into a sterling account, nor for paying it into a US dollar account. The OP stated he had a US dollar citibank account.

Steve.

In message , Stephen Clarke writes

We werent talking about admin charges but collection times. I was asking so as to prepare my next question.

I have to admit I missed that the OP had a US$ account but he didnt say it was Citibank, where did you get that from?.

Also you merely said a 'UK account' which is meaningless without knowing the denomination of the account.

To get the thread back on track, how long does it take Citibank to collect a US$ cheque drawn on a secondary State Bank for a £UK Account to give nonrecourse funds?

Having said that, Citibank are one of the best in doing this.

Citibank, where did

From the following:

I took that to mean that the money was being transferred from SSB to citibank.

Steve.

In message , Stephen Clarke writes

Ahh a different thread.