Hi
I receive cheque payments from a US company twice a month. Does anyone know of a bank account to which these may be paid into without a huge charge?
Preferably a bank that will cash these small cheques for free, or a lowish commission ? Either way, less than the tenner Abbey National charge ?
You'll be hard pressed to find a financial institution that will readily cash US checks (sic). They cannot be cleared in this country, so banks will have to send them back to the drawing bank for 'collection'. The proceeds will then have to be sent back to UK, converted into sterling and paid into customer's account. Hence high charges. ISTR that US checks can be endorsed, so you can give to someone with a US bank account, and once cleared they can give you the dollar amount in cash.
Alec
Ahh, right, I see why the charges are high now. I had previously just assumed it was banks taking the mick again! Never mind, I'll just have to ask for an increased remittance threshold.
Ta for the advice.
Joe
I remember reading somewhere that the Halifax will cash cheques $30 or under without a commission charge. However I can't remember where I read it!
Simon
Yes, as long as it is under the equivalent of 30 GBP.
Daniel
Abbey National charge 10 and Nationwide charge 6.50 for putting foreign currency cheques into their accounts. The cheques take several weeks to clear but Nationwide did credit a NZ$ cheque (only 70 though) into our account after one week with a warning of charges if it bounces.
I don't consider these charges too high. If you want the money quicker consider getting it wired into your account. This takes a few days to clear and doesn't cost the recipient anything (with Nationwide at least).
___
citbank do a us$ savings account. hth
Can you pay US$ cheques into it?
You could try opening an HSBC US$ account and deposting the cheques in there, once cleared (or if you've got a good credit rating straight away) transfer the amount at the current Cheque rate. (that's what I used to do when I lived in Canada and the States). When I used to do it there was no problem, delay or massive charges. Just a thought.
Stephen
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