UK cheques, US banks
 

OK, this is not strictly a travel question, but related issues do come up often when, for instance, trying to place a cash deposit in sterling on a room in the UK from the US. Last week I received a check (i.e., "cheque") on NatWest for 30 pounds (for a chapter I wrote last year for a UK book) and my bank told me that processing it would take 2 to 3 weeks (they have to send it back to the UK) and entail a $35 fee -- which would, of course, leave very little left of the 30 pounds! There must be some way around this; if I could even get the 30 pounds in cash and set it aside for my next visit, that would be preferable to this insanity. Is there some way, for instance, to make the cheque over to a UK friend and send it to him to cash? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

If I was in your situation, I would walk two blocks to the Accu-Rate office, who would take the cheque and, after it cleared, would deposit the value in my bank account charging $1 plus 1.5% exchange.

From their website, www.accurate.ca, it looks like you could mail them the cheque and get the same service. Click on "Doing Business" and then on "Selling to Accu-Rate"

Hmm, tricky problem. Cheques aren't transferrable, so that cuts out your friend, I'm afraid. I'm not sure how you can get round this without having a UK bank account to cash the cheque in.

There are companies around (like porn brokers) who will cash the cheque for a small fee, but I'm not sure if they'll ask for proof of residency. One such company is cashconverters.co.uk

However, you'll need to cash the cheque within 3 months of its issue date or it'll expire, so unless you plan on visiting the UK soon this may not be an option for you anyway.

Can anyone else come up with anything better than this?

well, Ron beat me to it and gave a MUCH better answer.

wouldnt that be a "pawn" broker Kate.. as opposed to somewhere you might go to pick up the evening DVD rental?

Dr D :)

You can cash it at NatWest.

And cheques ARE transferable, unless it has "A/C Payee Only" written on it.

As a former foreign exchange dealer, I recommend you send it to the bank it is drawn on in the UK (the address should be on the check) and ask for a check in return payable to you in US dollars. This is what a US bank would do if they they took your check on "collection"--only they would charge you a hefty fee to do it! Just be sure to keep a photo copy of the letter and the check for your records and be prepared to wait a few weeks. Natwest will then send you a check drawn on a US Bank in US dollars which you can deposit to your bank account. Natwest will make the GPB/US $ exchange at the time they issue the new check-usually it's an OK rate.

Judy and bear

I would contact whoever wrote the check and ask if it could be made out to your friend who could then cash it and send you the money. I have an account with Natwest and know that they too will charg you a fee for sending you a dollar check.

If you can do a check swap with your friend, as highledge mention, this is the easiest way and the cheapest. Yes, Natwest would charge a fee to collect the check... You may find that the company will not issue a check to another payee, after all it is a business expense for the firm and you are their "account payable". But they may issue another check to you, withhout any restrictions on further endorcing to another party. You can tell if the check is restricted to payee only by the parallel lines in the middle of the checks. Some checks have these lines already printed on them (mine did when I lived in the UK) others are added by the issuer when printing or writing the check.

Judy

>Last week I received a check (i.e., "cheque") on NatWest for 30 pounds ...<

I am appalled at the arrogance and provinicialism of these imperialists.

Don't they realize that not all countries use the all mighty pound as currency!!!!








:)

Cuttle,
The only thing I can recommend is to return the cheque and tell them that you accept payment in US dollars only. Better yet, have them deposit the funds directly into your bank account. They can do that with a simple funds transfer at minimum cost.

Many thanks, everybody! "Collections" is exactly the word my local bank officer used to describe what they planned to do. I'm going to try Judy's first suggestion: mail it back to NatWest and ask them to re-issue it dollars on a U.S. bank. This way I won't have to importune any of my UK friends...

The reason I don't want to go back to the issuer is that it took this publisher over a year to get around to sending me any check at all, and just as long, and several imploring emails, to send me my one lousy free paperback copy of the book!

Next time I'll know to stipulate in advance, in the contract, that payment should be made into my U.S. bank account, and so with any luck skip all this nonsense.

Thanks so much for your help -- this Fodor's crowd is the best.

Cuttle:

My suspicion is that NatWest will tell you to take a running jump. You have no relationship with them, and presumably originally agreed a contract with their customer for you to be paid in sterling. If you now find the consequences of that inconvenient, that'a a matter between you and the publisher. NatWest can't "reissue" a cheque: your publisher issued it, and only he can provide you with anything else.

I'll make a small wager your choice is:

1. "instruct" NatWest to do something. Some weeks later you;'ll receive a "get stuffed" letter. If you're really, really lucky you'll get a "Dear Sir: we've sent your request on to our customer" letter.
2. Ask the publisher to reissue the cheque in a foreign currency, or electronically transmit you the funds in USD. Why should he? It'll cost him £20 or so, plus extra management time, and he'll almost certainly deduct this from your payment. British banks typically charge slightly less than US banks for this, but the fact, presumably, is that your contract is made under English law and you didn't specify special terms. If you now choose to be paid in foreign currency, he's going to expect you to bear the costs of this.
3. Endorse the cheque to a friend. Which, of course you can do unless, as Ann41 says, it's endorsed "A/C Payee only"
4. Write it off to experience.

I may be wrong. But it'd be interesting if you came back to this board in a couple of weeks relating your experiences.

Cuttle--I doubt you'll have much luck getting the cheque reissued. I've worked on both the editorial and finance sides of the publishing world, and any decent publisher would have paid you within 30 days of your invoice, particularly such a tiny amount (can't argue that cash flow wouldn't allow them to pay 30 pounds straight away).

If you want to continue banging your head against the wall, you could ask that they pay you electronically, but there's no point in asking for a cheque in US$. We always paid our overseas freelancers electronically, as we only had standard US$ accounts, and no way to issue cheques in other currencies.

Transfer the cheque to your friends, and collect the cash from them next time you visit, and buy them a drink.

For years now, I have received cheques from the U.K. and I simply walk into my bank - the Toronto Dominion Bank in London, Ontario - where they punch out the exchange rate and deposit the cheque in my account. In fact, when my aged mother came to visit me from the U.K., she simply brought her cheque book and wrote me a cheque when she needed some money and the bank did the rest. Try another bank or move to Canada.