Cheapest place to cash foreign cheques

oatey

Where is the cheapest place to cash a foreign cheque??

glider3560

Probably at your bank. I don't think there are any online services that offer this service.

If you are receiving foreign cheques often, then a foreign currency account could be useful.

stoneo

Interesting. I guess the value of the answer is proportional to the value of the cheque! I want to cash a Canadian $ denominated cheque ($20,000) and my bank (NatWest) BUY rate is horrible... Is this my only option? Interestingly, on this amount, the difference between GnatWests BUY and SELL rates equates to £400! Oh, and their BUY rate would take me back about 3 years on the 5 year gain of the CAD vs GBP. Anyway, enough ranting about tight-wad NatWest ... any ideas anyone? Will send 10% of any incremental vaue to the charity of your choice!

dzug1

How much is the cheque?

For small amounts https://auctionchex.com/?file=mwelcome.html are fine. Their fee is minimal but the exchange rate not overly good.

Most banks charge a flat fee of £20 plus per cheque

scottishblondie

Halifax was ok, I've paid in an American cheque and a Canadian cheque over the last 2 years, both had a value of ~£900. They charged a small fee (I think it was about £10) and used their advertised exchange rate at the time I paid them in. They even told me how much I would get before the transaction, and asked if I was ok with that. The funds cleared quickly too.

I'd recommend just asking at your normal bank(s).

rb10

scottishblondie wrote: »

Halifax was ok, I've paid in an American cheque and a Canadian cheque over the last 2 years, both had a value of ~£900. They charged a small fee (I think it was about £10) and used their advertised exchange rate at the time I paid them in. They even told me how much I would get before the transaction, and asked if I was ok with that. The funds cleared quickly too.

I'd recommend just asking at your normal bank(s).

Their charges vary depending on the Sterling value of the cheque. For low value cheques, there's no charge, others are charged £10 or £20 and the very high value cheques (i.e. many £'000s) are charged up to £30, if I remember correctly.

pierre94

dun kno.. maybe u can help me with that.. i m looking for the same thng.. must be aco-incidence....

jtimble

there is a company, islandresponse.com, that cashes foreign cheques. They send you the funds in 5 days and their fee is a small percentage.

jrusso

Co-op Bank used to charge either £6 or £8 when you paid a foreign cheque in. It's not expensive and last I checked they were the cheapest.

The other option is to open an account in the currency of the cheque. CitiBank do a whole load of accounts different currencies. Including Canadian Dollars.

PasturesNew

One thing about cashing foreign cheques, that makes it harder, is they aren't fully guaranteed/cleared for up to 8 weeks. After putting it into an account and it looking clear, and you being able to draw money against it, there's still the chance that when the bank double-check there's no problem that it might be clawed back. e.g. if they went out of business a week after you banked it maybe.

I stick mine in the Co-Op. About £8/time or so .... bit annoying when I get sent low value US$ cheques. I've been known to just bin them before as sometimes the cost is greater than the cheque value.

preable

Yea i hada foreign cheque and halifax charged me £10