Can I sign over a cheque to someone else if it isn't crossed a/c payee only?

L-train

Hi folks, I've been lurking here for awhile and wondered if anyone could answer a question for me please...I just received a cheque for $300 from the US Treasury as an "economic stimulus" payment. Apparently they're giving all US taxpayers one of these this year. The problem is how to bank it. I understand that I can pay it into my HSBC current account for something like £12, which isn't too bad considering I've done absolutely nothing to earn this $300. However, my husband has a US dollar Citibank account, and it would be quite handy to be able to pay it in there for free.

In the US if I were to endorse the back of the cheque (which is made payable to me), I could give it to anyone to pay into their own account as cheques aren't crossed a/c payee only. Can I do this in the UK with a cheque that isn't crossed? My husband suggested adding me to his Citibank account to make it a joint account, but that seems like a lot of hassle for one cheque, and I've had difficulty before with banks because I'm not on the electoral roll (I'm not a citizen, so I can't be). Does anyone have any experience with this? Apologies if this has been asked before, but I searched the forums and couldn't find anything. Many thanks.

cifpower

I believe that as the cheque is not crossed a/c payee only it can be paid into anyone's account

L-train

Thanks for your quick response, cifpower!

LongTermLurker

I have a feeling (might be wrong) that all (UK) cheques have to be crossed A/C payee only - what you're suggesting used to be the case, but not sure if banks will accept them.

jonesMUFCforever

I have a feeling that this cheque if drawn in USD on a US bank in America then our rules about crossed cheques does not apply - HOWEVER the endorsing of the cheque may make the bank suspicious and collect the proceeds rather than negotiate (if they will accept it at all) - the cost then is upwards of £25. Is it worth it?

Alternatively do you not still have any account back in the states that you could pay it into?

Mikeyorks

L-train wrote: »

Can I do this in the UK with a cheque that isn't crossed?

Yes - the Cheques Act 1992 (which introduced the inability to '3rd party' a/c payee cheques by endorsing them) is UK legislation and doesn't apply to your cheque :-

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/Acts/acts1992/ukpga_19920032_en_1

Biggles

I think you'll find that US cheques can still be made over to another party and, indeed, are designed to make it easy to do that.
http://www.moneyinstructor.com/wsp/endorse.asp

L-train

Thank you all for your help:D