How can I cash US dollar cheques in the UK?

[ColinJ]

I'm trying to earn a living selling things on t'interweb and many of the companies I deal with are based in the USA. Now many of them have actually realised that it is 2010 and will therefore arrange to make direct payments into my bank account or - second best - use PayPal to pay me.

There are however still some powerful American Luddites who insist that all payments will be made in US dollar cheques (or as they insist on calling them - 'checks') sent to me by post. Amazon.com is the most obvious example.

I have found companies in the UK who will cash such cheques for a fee but that could cost me quite a lot of money.

The staff at most UK high street banks either don't seem to even know whether they offer this service, or if they do, the banks charge a lot for it and ship the cheques back to the USA to be processed. I could be looking at £10+ per cheque and 6-8 weeks to cash them.

What I'm looking for is the easiest, cheapest and quickest way to do it. I suppose having dollar/sterling accounts with a bank with UK branches would be the best bet. I could then do internal transfers when the exchange rates were most favourable to me.

Is it asking too much to expect to clear a $200 cheque in the UK in a few days for no more than £2 or so?

Any helpful advice? (NB "Get a job!" isn't what I'm looking for! )

 

[Greedo]

Barclays don't charge you.

Other than that have you tried one of those cheque cashing places or do you know anyone with an American bank account?

If none of the above I'd save them up and bank them all at the same time.

 

[thomas]

Barclays don't charge you.

Other than that have you tried one of those cheque cashing places or do you know anyone with an American bank account?

If none of the above I'd save them up and bank them all at the same time.

I never had any problems cashing Google Adsense cheques which used to be in Dollars at Lloyds TSB. No fee, but I guess they do make some money with the exchange rates they use. I can't remember it being unreasonable or anything like that though.

Bit of form filling, but only a couple of things so no biggie.

 

[ChrisKH]

All US generated 'checks' have to be negotiated via New York, so you are going to get stung for handling charges regardless of whether you have a UD dollar bank account or not. Unless you can arrange to hold an account with a US bank, which is unlikely as you have no credit record over there.

Even if you open a US bank account here and demand that they pay electronically, the remitter will use the cheapest form of transfer that takes bank charges out of the amount remitted. So you get stung there as well.

Your expectations are a little high in my opinion. There is always going to be a negotiation delay and at least a £10-£20 charge. I receive US$ cheques and electronic transfers into several business accounts and it is no different for a business than it is for an individual. In fact the cost is probably higher for a business - don't tell the bank you are operating a business (unless they already know) as they may up the charge.

 

[cisamcgu]

These people will do it for 95p per batch of cheques - maybe test them with a couple of small ones to to see how well it works ?
Here

 

[ChrisKH]

Of course there may be other agencies who claim to have 'no fee' and 'immediate payment' but the charge is hidden in the exchange rate as thomas says.

 

[ChrisKH]

These people will do it for 95p per batch of cheques - maybe test them with a couple of small ones to to see how well it works ?
Here

Exchange rate is $1.80 - £1.

 

[ChrisKH]

Final comment, US banking is significantly behind the UK model for a number of reasons and the use of checks and checking accounts is the mode of banking over there. The only way I can see you avoiding this problem, short of taking the hit on charges and exchange rates is to demand GBP payments or up your USD charge for the product to US customers to cover the banking cost.

 

[cisamcgu]

Current rate = $1.60 - £1

So: $100 cheque would get you £62.50p in a bank and £55.50p on the website. £7 per $100 ... you pays your money and you gets your choice...

But yes... not the £2 per $200 you were looking for ...

 

[ColinJ]

Thanks chaps.

Barclays don't charge you.

Other than that have you tried one of those cheque cashing places or do you know anyone with an American bank account?

If none of the above I'd save them up and bank them all at the same time.

We don't have any cheque-cashers round here and I don't want to have to travel to Leeds or Manchester to cash cheques.

The problem with saving up cheques to cash is needing the funds contained within to be able to eat! That's also why I'd prefer to cut down the the delays in cashing the cheques.

Some of the schemes I'm looking at do their accounts on a monthly basis and wait up to 60 days to issue payments. (Say) 2 weeks to update my figures, 60 day delay to issue cheque, 5 days for cheque to arrive, another 5 weeks to process it... You could be talking 3 or 4 months from me selling something to me getting the money in my bank account!

I never had any problems cashing Google Adsense cheques which used to be in Dollars at Lloyds TSB. No fee, but I guess they do make some money with the exchange rates they use. I can't remember it being unreasonable or anything like that though.

Bit of form filling, but only a couple of things so no biggie.

Thanks, I'll check them out.

All US generated 'checks' have to be negotiated via New York, so you are going to get stung for handling charges regardless of whether you have a UD dollar bank account or not. Unless you can arrange to hold an account with a US bank, which is unlikely as you have no credit record over there.

Even if you open a US bank account here and demand that they pay electronically, the remitter will use the cheapest form of transfer that takes bank charges out of the amount remitted. So you get stung there as well.

Your expectations are a little high in my opinion. There is always going to be a negotiation delay and at least a £10-£20 charge. I receive US$ cheques and electronic transfers into several business accounts and it is no different for a business than it is for an individual. In fact the cost is probably higher for a business - don't tell the bank you are operating a business (unless they already know) as they may up the charge.

I don't think that it is unreasonable to expect that a financial system that has made obscene amounts of profits in the past would be making efficient use of modern technology. It might be unrealistic!

These people will do it for 95p per batch of cheques - maybe test them with a couple of small ones to to see how well it works ?
Here

Thanks - Auctionpix is one of the companies that I was considering.

Of course there may be other agencies who claim to have 'no fee' and 'immediate payment' but the charge is hidden in the exchange rate as thomas says.

Yes - Auctionpix explain that on their website. For example, if the exchange rate was £1.00 = $1.60, they might buy at $1.80 = £1.00 and sell at £1.00 = $1.40. They also charge a small batch handling fee of £0.95 - not bad for 1 cheque but nothing much if I cashed a few at a time.

 

[ColinJ]

Final comment, US banking is significantly behind the UK model for a number of reasons and the use of checks and checking accounts is the mode of banking over there. The only way I can see you avoiding this problem, short of taking the hit on charges and exchange rates is to demand GBP payments or up your USD charge for the product to US customers to cover the banking cost.

Amazon set the prices and when I asked for direct payments into a UK account, I got a standard email reply saying basically "We do things our way. You can be paid in dollar checks or you can be paid in Amazon gift vouchers, By the way - they are dollar vouchers and can only be exchanged at Amazon.com." Getting paid in books and CDs shipped from the USA wasn't what I had in mind!

Current rate = $1.60 - £1

So: $100 cheque would get you £62.50p in a bank and £55.50p on the website. £7 per $100 ... you pays your money and you gets your choice...

But yes... not the £2 per $200 you were looking for ...

I think that I'll just walk round to Lloyds, Natwest and Barclays in Hebden Bridge and see what they have to say.

Thanks everyone!

 

[Tollers]

Perhaps talk to Citibank? I believe their USD accounts dont charge at all for paying in USD cheques (see page 7). You could then use any service you chose for converting $ to £. XE.com is usually recommended for having cood exchange rates.

Tollers

 

[ColinJ]

Perhaps talk to Citibank? I believe their USD accounts dont charge at all for paying in USD cheques (see page 7). You could then use any service you chose for converting $ to £. XE.com is usually recommended for having cood exchange rates.

Tollers

That looks interesting! I'll read through their info before going down to the local banks.