question for anyone with banking expertise

[faithinkarma]

Hi,

Earlier this week I got some helpful answers about a problem with a bank account. Well, wouldn't you know it, another problem has reared up.

I receive a check in Canadian funds twice monthly. Direct deposit is not an option. I deposited the check into a joint checking account I share with my husband here in the US.

Now I know it can take a while for the check to clear and the funds to be released. I have no problem with that whatsoever.

However, as soon as the check was deposited, the bank debited our account almost $500, which was the exchange rate on the Canadian check.

In other words they charged the exchange rate before clearing the check.

I spent over an hour being tossed back and forth from person to person this afternoon, and no one really gave me a satisfactory answer.

I asked what would have happened had we not had the $500 in the account to cover the charge and was told we would be in overdraft.

Hardly seems fair when I am DEPOSITING ! Is this standard practice?

 

[CdnDisneyNut]

Does your bank or any bank in the States have a Canadian Dollar Accounts?
I have an US Dollar account from my Canadian bank account. I keep leftover money from past trips. If I have some extra savings I transfer over to the account for my next trip.

 

[faithinkarma]

I asked the exact same thing....they had never heard of a Canadian dollar account.

 

[danacara]

Can I ask you to elaborate a little bit on what happened? I have some background in FX (foreign exchange). Am I right in guessing that this is a very, very large check, perhaps special rules apply?

 

[RUDisney]

I know that we send our foreign items through a large NY bank for collection. We've never charged an exchange rate prior to a check clearing... we may just extend the hold on the account to allow for the foreign item to clear... that depends on the customer, too. If you have a history of not having Canadian items returned to you and we know you, we'd probably give you the benefit of the doubt and only hold the funds for 5 days.

I'm interested in what others have to say.

 

[pixiemomma]

First the tip thing now this? You are having a really strange banking week aren't you?!?!

 

[faithinkarma]

First the tip thing now this? You are having a really strange banking week aren't you?!?!

I sure am LOL and BTW, the tip money has yet to be returned to our account.





RUDisney,

The check is a Quebec government check, so they should be reasonable confident it is going to clear. As I said, I have absolutely no problem with them holding it for as long as it takes to clear.

What did annoy me was that when my husband's paycheck was deposited automatically today, they grabbed the exchange fee from that money. And then to have them tell me I would be in overdraft if I deposited the check without the money to cover the exchange......in other words, that I have to maintain a minimum balance of $500 in order to deposit a check that they are going to hold for a week anyway......sure sounds wrong to me.

 

[RUDisney]

Are you dealing with a community bank or a large, regional or super-regional bank? You may be better off developing a relationship with a smaller bank for these transactions. We're (community banks) much more forgiving because we want to serve our customers well.

I don't know what Reg CC says about foreign government and cashiers checks, so take this FWIW. If you are depositing a US cashiers check that is drawn on, let's say, a CA bank, since you are in NY... you can ask the teller for a special deposit ticket that will give you immediate availability to the funds instead of placing a 5-day hold on it. This is because a cashiers check is as good as cash. Do a lookup on Regulation CC and scan for rulings on deposits of foreign checks. If you find that you can use the reg to get around having them place holds on the funds, copy that section and take it to the bank with you. You may have to ask for the branch manager, but it could benefit you for the time it takes to look it up.

Good luck!

 

[faithinkarma]

Thanks RUDisney


You sure set me off on a reading spree. I haven't come across anything that pertains to my particular situation yet, but I was led to a directory of other places to look. I will persist.