Hi one of my girlfriends family have sent us a U.S. cheque as a wedding gift. When we tried to cash it here in the UK we were told by the time the bank had taken there charges there was less than half of it left!
Were coming over to California for our honeymoon so can we just call in to a branch of the bank with some I.D. and have it cashed? Would a passport be ok?
Thanks in advance, Allan & Louise

Yes, within reason.
If you are at the same branch of the bank that the friend opened the account, the signature card will be on file and the check can be cashed on site.
If you are at another branch of the bank that is printed on the check, they will need to have the signature card faxed to them. This will extend your wait.
Passport will be fine.

Hello allmoo, it does not sound like your girlfriends family opened an account in the US for you and your girlfriend but merely wrote you a check payable from their US checking account.

If this is the case I believe (per the banks that I do business with) since you are not a customer of your girfriends family bank that you may possibly be required to give a fingerprint to the bank for ID purposes. And there will possibly be a charge by the bank to cash the check for you. In that all banks have computer access to each customers checking account you should not have a problem.

Okay. Thanks for your help
Al

Lovie, it looks to me like the check was drawn from an account opened in a US bank, not necessarily located in CA. Allmoo doesn't have to split the check with the UK bank if he cashes it in the US. Any branch can cash it if Allmoo has proper ID. Only the branch where the account was opened will have the signature card on file --- the signature of the "girlfriends family" person. All the other branches will ask Allmoo to wait until their telephoned/emailed request for the signature card facsimile is fulfilled by the bank.
Some banks grant all branches access to an electronically stored image of that signature card which is compared to the signature on the check once it has been electronically scanned into the system.

Posting at the same time.
Allmoo, is the check drawn on a US bank by a member of your girlfriend's family?

Yes its a personal cheque from her auntys account with Washington mutual.

Allmoo

Here is the web site for Washington Mutual www.wamu.com

A quick search indicated branches in California. You may want to e-mail them ahead of time about your situation. Good luck and let us know how it all turns out.

Sandy

Would the aunt consider gifting the money in a different form if you asked nicely and politely - I am sure she did not intend to give half the gift to your bank and half to you.

you could sign the check over to another family member in the states, whom you might be visiting or know better, and they can give you the cash, as their bank will not charge them for depositing it in to their account.

Hi Allmoo, Washington Mutual is in California. Have a beautiful honeymoon!

Everyone is making this seem much more complicated than it is. All you have to do is take the check to any Washington Mutual bank and cash it. Quite simple. A passport will be adaquate identification. I would be REALLY surprised if the teller actually called another branch to have the signature card faxed over unless the check is for many thousands of dollars.

Awhile back my checkbook was stolen and a check that I didn't write was cashed at the bank for over $1000. The signature looked nothing like mine and the bank cashed the check no problem. Banks are pretty lax about that stuff.

And there are many, many Washington Mutual branches in California so you shouldn't have any trouble finding one.

I work for a bank and many years ago even worked in numerous branches as a teller, and for a small dollar check (say, under $500) there was never a check of the signature cards. At most we verified ID and checked the account balance.

I agree with J Correa and bet you'll have no problem at any WaMu branch. Now if they gave you a really big check, you may have a bit more trouble, but then that's a good problem to have, no?

ARe you all sure they will cash the check. I have had problems over the years getting a check cashed if you don't have an account with that particular back.

I would agree to check the website to see if their check cashing rules might be stated.

I would agree with the poster who said turn it over to a 3rd party for deposit it would probably be easiest to cash that way.

Have a wonderful trip.

I can't believe how complicated some of you are making this.

I called Washington Mutual. You will have no trouble cashing the cheque in any of their branches if you have two forms of ID -your passport and one other, which does not have to have a picture.

Good luck!

Yes - listen to the calmer, cooler posters. Wash. Mutual is all over and your itinerary has you going to several places you will have absolutely no problem cahsing it. Since you will have your pass ports and drivers licenses you will have the two forms of ID if they require it. If it is a very large check they might call the other branch - but this will only take minutes so no bother.

Have a GREAT trip!

(I AM a bit concerned about the girlfriend's family tho'. Did they think the UK uses $ - wouldn't be the first)

As a former internationally-recognized bank employee, I can tell you that this will ultimately fall onto the teller and the mgr's discretion. If this check were taken to 100 branches, more often than not, the sig card will be faxed over to the branch -OR- the electronic method I described above.

And, Barbara, calling WaMu and discussing this over the phone is a completley different experience than walking into a branch to perform the transaction. Surely, you've experienced dissonance within a corporation in the past.

TripleSec, of course, but it has to be closer to what will actually happen than some of the stuff here.

Maybe I am being dense, is the concern because Allmoo resides in the UK and is not a resident of the US?

I ask because I have sent a lot of checks to family members around the country (young ones) and they have always been able to cash them (cash them not deposit them). Our local banks here seem to all have signs at the tellers counter stating that if you are not a customer of their bank that you will need to give a fingerprint and some banks (think Wells Fargo is one) charge $5.00 to cash a noncustomers check. But maybe there is something I am missing...the valley heat does seem to fry ones brains, LOL.