US Dollar cheques.

[eldar]

I've a couple of US Dollar cheques, total 30k$. Before I wander off to my UK bank and try and pay them in, what other options do I have? I want the money to end up as £uk, I'm in no rush to get my hands on the cash but don't want to get screwed ion exchange rates and fees...

[The Leaper]

I get US$ cheques quite regularly and pay them into my UK£ account. At my bank I need to use a different paying in form than usual, but it's no problem really. You will get screwed on the exchange wherever you go. Partly for this reason I set up a UK based US$ denominated account some years ago and used to put the US$ cheques in there, from which I have ordered cash for when I go to the USA and also cash for other countries.

R.

[saleen836]

The Leaper said:

I get US$ cheques quite regularly and pay them into my UK£ account. At my bank I need to use a different paying in form than usual, but it's no problem really. You will get screwed on the exchange wherever you go. Partly for this reason I set up a UK based US$ denominated account some years ago and used to put the US$ cheques in there, from which I have ordered cash for when I go to the USA and also cash for other countries.

R.

This ^^^^

You will lose quite a bit by just paying them into a normal UK bank as said, looking online the Post Office (for example) will sell you USD @ $1.49-£1 but will back back @ $1.73-£1 so if you work on your bank being about the same you should get around £17k

[northandy]

The rates wont be as bad as post office rates, but you still lose out.

The charges can be high too, be careful hanging onto them too long as they will go out of date, and because of the way they clear them you can get stiffed if they bounce later (i know as ive been there!).

[davepoth]

If you are going to need lots of dollars then a dollar account probably makes sense.

[mikef]

Resurrecting an old question. I cashed in an investment to take advantage of the post-Brexit decline in sterling. Fidelity would only pay by cheque which I received for $85K. That's where the problems start. My bank reckons that's too high to pay by negotiation so they sent off to their correspondent bank in Chicago who failed to collect from Deutsche Bank Delaware and returned the cheque unpaid.

Any idea on options if my bank can't deal with the cheque, and Fidelity won't pay any other way? Deutsche don't have a retail bank in the UK, and I'm not resident in the US or Germany to open up an account they could pay in to.

I don't mind paying a commission to get my hands on the funds

[Ozzie Osmond]

Presumably Fidelity's cheque was made payable to you. Have you asked them whether they can simply make it payable to someone else? Then all you need to do is find a "someone else" who can do the conversion for you. Deutsche Bank? Hargreaves Lansdown? (HL often advertise their FX services)

[mikef]

Yes, it was.

Thanks for the idea - I called HL and they can't help process a US cheque

Edited by mikef on Monday 14th November 15:21

[AMDBSTony]

Ring moneycorp and maybe set up an account, we have had $ deposits put in our account with them from 3rd parties.

[mikef]

Thanks, I'll check that out

[mcflurry]

Can you open a USD account with someone like Citibank or HSBC ?
(no connection etc)

[The Leaper]

Pretty sure you can open a UK based US$ account with any UK based bank.

R.

[mikef]

You can, but the issue has been negotiating the cheque rather than where it gets paid into

Progress on two fronts, and thanks all for your advice:

1. someone senior in my premier banking team has approved paying the cheque by negotiation an hour ago
2. Deutsche Bank in Brussels have said I can open an account with them if I pop over on Eurostar and will honour the cheque

Failing that, a buddy with an account in Delaware is happy to pay the cheque into his account and remit

It shouldn't be this difficult in 2016