Paying in a US Cheque

choosewisely

Can anyone see any difficulties in paying a US cheque in US dollars into a UK current account or do all banks accept them?

grumbler

No difficulties, but huge fee and clearing time. Ask your bank.

choosewisely

Why does the word 'bank' always go with the words 'huge fee' ???

Thanks, I'll check it out tomorrow and let you know what their huge fee is!

realaledrinker

If you are going to make a habit of this then you and the other party should set up Paypal accounts which get round the problem for a modest fee & the money is in your bank as cleared funds in a few days.

MissSunshine

Spotty youth in Nationwide said it would take 6wks to 'negotiate' a US$ chq we wanted to pay into a/c cos there 'a building society, not a bank'

We were only over for 4 wks :rolleyes: , so went to HSBC where we didn't have an a/c and the US $ chq was changed into sterling cash at reasonable exch rate and we weren't charged a bean :j The chq was from HSBC Middle East so whether that made a diff i don't know

For their helpfulness we opened an a/c with them :beer: and haven't deposited any money in Nationwide a/c since

WSO

MissSunshine wrote:

Spotty youth in Nationwide said it would take 6wks to 'negotiate' a US$ chq we wanted to pay into a/c cos there 'a building society, not a bank'

We were only over for 4 wks :rolleyes: , so went to HSBC where we didn't have an a/c and the US $ chq was changed into sterling cash at reasonable exch rate and we weren't charged a bean :j The chq was from HSBC Middle East so whether that made a diff i don't know

For their helpfulness we opened an a/c with them :beer: and haven't deposited any money in Nationwide a/c since

You were lucky! I've just been charged £15 to pay in a $218 (£121 at the time)... and that was into the current account I have with them!!!

Having said that it really depends who you get (I've had several occasions when the cashier forgot about the charge, which is nice when it happens). Not sure if the origin made a difference in your case, you could have just picked the right cashier to go to...

They used to be quite competitive but now charge a set fee dependant on the value of each cheque! :eek: It is no longer worthwhile to collect them together and pay them in all at once like it used to be (I'm affliated with a few US$ paying sites)... fortunately Google offer direct bank payments, Amazon aren't likely to offer an alternative to cheques anytime soon :mad:

Next time I'm due a cheque from them I'll be trying AuctionPix (thanks to someone on this site), if it works out then I could possibly get rid of the current account once and for all! (Assuming it won't affect the status of my graduate mortgage)...

MissSunshine

They used to be quite competitive but now charge a set fee dependant on the value of each cheque!

The cheque was just over $3000, so would that have made a diff then for not being charged?? That's the only time we've done $, after that stress we've brought over £ cheques since

grumbler

I remember somebody recommended http://www.auctionpix.co.uk/misc/money.html

deemy2004

I use autopix for my small amazon cheques, roughly your paying about 5%, but its quick and hassel free.

adycooney1

If you can, get the payee to send you the money via PAYPAL, the charge is way cheaper than cashing a cheque with any bank.

MarkyMarkD

Autopix are the best I've found for small value USD cheques - very good service and not an unreasonable charge on small cheques compared to other people's minimum charges.