What to do with a cheque made out in $$?

[ChristieK0310]

Hi,

thought I'd posted this a few days ago but can't find it!

Last xmas my dd was unwell in florida and we had a cheque sent to us by centra care (think insurance company sent them the money instead of us!) but it is made out to my dh in dollars - about $350.

I thought I'd lost it but I found it when I was clearing out and just am not sure of the best way to get the money out of it.

Anyone have any ideas? We are off to disney in 3 weeks and it would be great to have a bit of extra cash. Its a bit late to open a citibank account and if I just put it into the bank then Santander charge and it takes ages (I think!!)

Thanks,

Christie

 

[2Tiggies]

I've had a few of those as gifts from friends. I just put it into my normal bank account. There is a small charge for it, but they convert it to pounds for you - so ideally deposit when the pound is weak. I am assuming it is made out to the payee (your DH) in his name, so there is little else you can do with it

 

[catherine]

When you say last Christmas do you mean 2010 or 2009? If it's 2009 then the cheque will be no longer valid. If it's 2010 then I would just deposit it in your bank account here. We get lots of US cheques and it doesn't take that long for them to clear. You pay a £5 charge up to a certain amount (can't remember off hand what it is) if it's a larger amount you pay 10%.

 

[wayneg]

I found it very difficult to get a precise figure from any bank, the problem is the UK bank charges a fee but the clearing bank in the US could also charge a fee, I have done it twice both times with my Halifax account, I tried to get info to clear in my Santander account but they were not interested at all, just said they had no info to give me(I don't think the girl I saw had a clue)
Halifax I can't remember exact amount(last one was 18 months ago) but it was round £10-12 fees on a cheque for around $370.

 

[2Tiggies]

I found it very difficult to get a precise figure from any bank, the problem is the UK bank charges a fee but the clearing bank in the US could also charge a fee, I have done it twice both times with my Halifax account, I tried to get info to clear in my Santander account but they were not interested at all, just said they had no info to give me(I don't think the girl I saw had a clue)
Halifax I can't remember exact amount(last one was 18 months ago) but it was round £10-12 fees on a cheque for around $370.

Same. Also Halifax, I banked one for circa $1000 about 2 years ago and it was £12 fees if I recall correctly. I had no problem doing it. They told me the rate at the counter and I told them to go for it. I didn't want to have to keep running back to the bank. It cleared as any other UK cheque would in the usual 3 working days

 

[mrshappy]

When you say last Christmas do you mean 2010 or 2009? If it's 2009 then the cheque will be no longer valid. If it's 2010 then I would just deposit it in your bank account here. We get lots of US cheques and it doesn't take that long for them to clear. You pay a £5 charge up to a certain amount (can't remember off hand what it is) if it's a larger amount you pay 10%.

can i ask why it would be out of date?, i banked a cheque in december that i got in dec 09.

 

[2Tiggies]

can i ask why it would be out of date?, i banked a cheque in december that i got in dec 09.

Cheques usually have to be cashed within 6 months of the date thereon

 

[ChristieK0310]

The check is dated Oct 10 (the treatment was Dec 09) and made out to DH. Its for around $350 - will just put it into my Santander account then - was just worried about losing most of it in charges!

Just out of interest - can you cash a cheque made out to you in USA if you had your passport with you? Eg could dh go to suntrust at DTD and cash it?

Christie

 

[catherine]

can i ask why it would be out of date?, i banked a cheque in december that i got in dec 09.

Banks won't usually cash cheques that are older then 6 months old. A couple of times we've forgotten to take US cheques to the bank and they wouldn't handle them. One of them was actually within the 6 month period but because it would be over the 6 month mark by the time it would be processed we had it returned to us.

 

[2Tiggies]

The check is dated Oct 10 (the treatment was Dec 09) and made out to DH. Its for around $350 - will just put it into my Santander account then - was just worried about losing most of it in charges!

Just out of interest - can you cash a cheque made out to you in USA if you had your passport with you? Eg could dh go to suntrust at DTD and cash it?

Christie

It's not the treatment date - that is irrelevant. The bank is only interested in the date at the top of the cheque, which is when it is valid from. So you are still within the timeframe.

I couldn't remember when I posted whether you can cash a cheque over the counter. However, in countries where you are able to do this, the only way to cash it that way is if the cheque is made out with the payee as "Cash" and it is not crossed. We are not allowed to do that in Britain.

I would think, based on the fact that the cheque is made out to a payee, it needs to be processed through a bank account.

 

[Brandis]

I have a Suntrust account to pay my DVC dues. Paypal offers a free cheque scanning option if the Paypal account is tied to a US bank account. So I just opened another Paypal account.

No when I get those $0.75 cent checks from my Disney shares, I can just take a picture of both sides of the check with the Paypal iPhone app and a few days later, the money is credited to my account. Very convenient.

As for the expiration date. I recently found some really old Disney checks which I just kept for fun, since with that small amount, it wasn't worth the hassle to try and cash them at home. They were from 2006, 2007 and 2008. Paypal credited them to my account without any problems.

 

[wayneg]

Just done a bit of searching and Yahoo answers gave this reply

In the UK, the general time that the bank is accepted by the bank is 6 months.

However, in certain cases the bank will put the cheque through for up to 6 years after the date on the cheque, and can do this legally. This is entirely down to the banks discression though, and they usually won't allow you to pay a cheque into your account if its been 6 months after the expiry date.