Depositing foreign cheques into UK bank accounts

additive79

I have a regular income in both Australian and American dollars, and I was wondering if anyone knows the cheapest way to deposit this money via cheque into UK bank accounts? I bank with LloydsTSB, and they charge quite a lot for the pleasure of me putting in my money and converting it to Sterling! I'm happy to open another account if that helps - any ideas gratefully received.

The US dollar amounts are quite small ($150 a time approx), the Aus dollars more (regular at around $500).

choc_mouse

I think you can deposit USD cheques into a Citibank account for free. You can do this by post or at a Lloyds TSB branch. There might be a charge for AUD.

jonesMUFCforever

I'm not sure that LLOYDS TSB would accept foreign currency cheques for another bank even with the arrangement they have to accept normal credits for Citibank.

dzug1

You could try http://auctionpix.co.uk/ - I understand their fees are low but you take a hit on the exchange rate so OK for small amounts only

Biggles

choc_mouse wrote: »

I think you can deposit USD cheques into a Citibank account for free.

It might be free to deposit them into a USD-denominated account. But then you'd have to pay to transfer it to a GBP account to withdraw it.

xiox

Biggles wrote: »

It might be free to deposit them into a USD-denominated account. But then you'd have to pay to transfer it to a GBP account to withdraw it.

It's actually free to deposit US dollar cheques to a Citibank sterling savings account, which is free to open. I have done this. They do not charge for cashing cheques! The rate even seemed good.

Biggles

xiox wrote: »

It's actually free to deposit US dollar cheques to a Citibank sterling savings account, which is free to open. I have done this. They do not charge for cashing cheques! The rate even seemed good.

You're contradicting yourself there, you say they don't charge then admit you don't know what rate they've charged you.

You pay several % on the exchange rate, Citibank are not cheap. See other threads on the subject.

xiox

Biggles wrote: »

You're contradicting yourself there, you say they don't charge then admit you don't know what rate they've charged you.

You pay several % on the exchange rate, Citibank are not cheap. See other threads on the subject.

I was charged no fixed charge (what I meant as free) and the difference between the mid market exchange rate on that day and the rate I got was only 1.6%.