Pam, I Need Your Help :)

[daweller]

You're from England?

Actually, maybe you are not the one to ask, but you seem pretty smart...

I have been dealing with a company in England.
When I receive a check from them, they send a US dollar check.

So I get a check for $79 USD. I take it to my bank. They have to send it to Lloyd's Bank in England ($50 processing fee!) then Lloyd's approves it and my account is credited ($20 fee from Lloyd's) and I am left with a whopping $9.

So the next time I get a check from them, can you recommend a better way that I can get the money? I am also going to email the company that is sending me these checks, and ask them to issue them in British pounds, because that would probably eliminate the need for processing fees?

OK, thanks Pam or anyone else who helps

[Pam712]

Hi

Is the company able to send you a different payment method such as Neteller or prepaid ATM or even a wire as the processing fees would be much less expensive.

UK banks are evil and Lloyds is one of the most evil :LOL: However the main processing fees are coming from your bank $50 ouch... that is exorbitant. You are then being hit a double whammy by Lloyds with a further $20 - that is such a scam - i have never been charged by the issuing bank for approving a cheque.

I know there are a lot of Canadian webmasters here who may be able to recommend a different bank with more reasonable fees - or maybe you could try an alternate payment method - the company may be able to work something out for you if you explain what is happening.

In comparison my bank charge me about 12 UKP ($20 USD) for processing a US cheque - this is a flat fee and I dont pay any further charges.

Best wishes in resolving this, try the company and see what they say about an alterative - if not come back and we'll see if we can attack it from a different angle

Best wishes

Pam

[croupier]

What bank do you use Pam?

[Pam712]

I use Nationwide and Bank of Scotland... The charges there are what Nationwide charge me - sorry that should have been UK pounds and they clear most foreign stuff in a week.

[Pam712]

Thats with their Flex account current account. I have a very bad habit of using the dollar instead of pound sign :LOL:

[ALEX777]

Very good information..... Thenks Pam !

[Mary]

On checks for small amounts you might consider taking them to a Thomas Cooks branch to cash. My father receives a pension check from England, and the banks here wanted a huge fee to cash it and wanted to hold the checks for 6 weeks. Now he has everything paid directly into his bank account so it's okay.

Thomas Cooks cashed his checks on the spot for $10. I don't think they will take anything for more than $1000.

Mary

[MrYook]

I'm surprised that their are so many bank fees for processing
checks in other currencies or foreign countries. Here in the U.S,
I have a business account that will allow me to cash just about
anything and get the cash in hand if I need it without any fees.
I know that personal accounts have to wait for the check to clear,
and they charge a small fee to process the checks outside of the U.S.

I don't know about Canada or the UK, but do all of you have business
accounts, and are their different restrictions for each at your banks?

[dallasmisty]

I've never had a problem cashing a check in Canada, of course there is a holding period of about 4 weeks, but no fees!

[chalkoutline]

Barclays Bank charge £9 to pay in upto 3 US$ cheques at one time. I thought that this was quite a lot, but obviously I'm not doing so badly...

I gather they also offer the option to set up a UK based US$ currency account. So in theory you could set up one of these accounts, pay in all you dollars, keep it as dollars in the account and then pay a single commision fee when you transfer the cheques to your main account.

Hope this helps!

chalkoutline