Paying in USA cheques in uk bank account?

steveOooo

I have three cheques from USA based companies (royalties for web advertising) totalling around $600

I have a rbs and santander current account and a Isa with Barclays

I've never paid in a USA cheque before, is it the same process as uk cheques? Ay form filling and any fees?

Any guides outthere on this?

agrinnall

If you search this forum you'll find many threads asking exactly the same thing, generally for USD or Euro cheques. A USD cheque can take many weeks to clear as it may have to be returned to the issuing bank, and it's likely to cost a fair bit - ask your banks what their charges are for doing this.

Ultimately the best solution is to get the companies in the USA to pay you electronically rather than by cheque, it'll still cost (although probably not as much) but will be much quicker. Unfortunately many US companies are still in the banking dark ages and you may struggle to get them to abandon cheques.

msallen

I paid a USD cheque into a Santander account a few years ago. From what I remember there was a charge of about £8 but I'm not sure whether it was a flat fee or a percentage. I can't remember how long it took to clear but it was certainly longer than a standard UK cheque.

steveOooo

My local rbs branch closed a month ago so just used santander - £10p cheque fee but the exchange was slightly low - ie one cheque was £2 short based on a random currency search on my phone

Will defineatly opt for electronic transfers in future despite the $25 or so fees per transfer