Help with cashing a large cheque in us $

Blitzmiz

Hi, can anyone help? I'm a financial eejit! Following the death of my Dad in the USA recently, I will be getting a cheque from the estate in dollars. Whats the best way to lodge this over here in the UK? How can I get the best exchange rate and do the banks charge even if you put it in your current account?? Gawd knows what I'm going to do with it after that but that's another story.... Thanks for your help.

Thrugelmir

You'll need to get your own bank to present and clear the cheque. If it is drawn on a regional US bank this may take several weeks.

The exchange rate will be determined by the rate at the date of clearance.

NFH

If it's a large amount, then I'd open a USD account in the UK, for example with Citibank. You can then keep at least some of the USD for spending on trips to the US, and if you need it converted, use one of the many available methods of changing the USD into GBP, for example CurrencyFair.

chanz4

$ dollar accounts cost more to run than the exchange rate

NFH

chanz4 wrote: »

$ dollar accounts cost more to run than the exchange rate

Absolute rubbish. They cost nothing to run. Look at Citibank's USD account for example. Can you explain your misleading comment?

Blitzmiz

Thanks for the advice guys - the british banks seem unable to tell me even vaguely what they might charge me - seems very uncompetitive - surely it should be Ex rate plus a standard charge, but seemingly not. Will look at Citibank

Blitzmiz

Hi guys, Just been to the RBS who would offer me a staggering £10,000 less than the current exchange rates listed today which is much more than I can afford - is there any mileage in opening an offshore account?

Thrugelmir

Blitzmiz wrote: »

Hi guys, Just been to the RBS who would offer me a staggering £10,000 less than the current exchange rates listed today which is much more than I can afford - is there any mileage in opening an offshore account?

Why are you getting a cheque? The money can be wired.

NFH

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Why are you getting a cheque? The money can be wired.

The US still relies on cheques far more than any other industrialised country. With US banks, when you make a payment to a third party by online banking, your bank sends a cheque in the post to the payee.

Wire transfers are very much the exception, and would incur similar charges and an FX markup. The best option is to receive the money in USD and keep at least some of it in USD.

Mikhail

deffo citibank!

NFH

Blitzmiz wrote: »

Hi guys, Just been to the RBS who would offer me a staggering £10,000 less than the current exchange rates listed today which is much more than I can afford - is there any mileage in opening an offshore account?

Offshore accounts tend to be more expensive to run because offshore banks (including offshore subsidiaries of UK banks) don't have the usual economies of scale. Your best bet is a Citibank UK USD account. There are plenty of ways you can then convert your USD to GBP at close to the interbank rate.