Us Shares & Medallion Signature Guarantee

smokey2

I have shares with a U.S. Company which are in my maiden name. I am told I can not cash the dividend cheques in my maiden name or sell my shares, as the account the money is transferred to has to be in the same name as the shares. I have been trying to change these to my married name as currently

I am told that the only way I can change my name on the shares is by completing a Stock Power form which requires a Medallion Signature Guarantee, which is where I must have my signature guaranteed by a member of a Medallion Stamp Program. When I enquired about how I do this being based in the UK I am told that a stamp from a bank that has a New York office is possible. I contacted HSBC that seem to meet this requirement but I was told it was against their procedure to verify or stamp any paperwork that is not generated by them. When I contacted the share company again they said that there are some companies that now do Medallion Signature Guarantees that they can see by searching the Internet, when I look at these, they appear to be all law firms and charging large amounts of money for this service. The share company could not give me any alternative solution to this problem.

Has anyone experienced this issue before or know how I can resolve it?

xylophone

Open an account in your maiden name?

https://www.savvywoman.co.uk/4010/married-and-maiden-names-on-your-bank-accounts-can-you-do-this/

http://www.lesteraldridge.com/medallion-signature/ - as you say, there's a charge.

AnotherJoe

I think xylophone has nailed it, opening a bank account in your maiden name shoudl be straightforward and free.
You should investigate who to open one with since i recall that some banks, if you supply a number of foreign checks for encashing, will only make one charge for the foreign transaction, and others will have one charge per check. As the charge could be £10-£20 this is a non trivial difference.