I have a couple of small cheques from a US company totalling $20.00 I tried to cash them in at my bank this morning and they wanted to charge me £10 per cheque. Value of Cheques £9.34 - Cost of Cashing £20.00 Net Profit -£10.66 Anyone know someplace where I can get these cashed?
Barclays used to (possibly still do - not sure as I moved to Abbey about a year ago) charge £4 for foreign currency cheque negotiation totalling less than £100, and £9 for cheques with a total value over £100. You may need an account with them though.
HSBC used to cash my cheques in US$ without any set charge - just a slightly worse interest rate. The money would be available in my account straight away, rather than waiting for weeks for them to clear (the money could be removed a few weeks after though). It has been ages since I cashed a $ cheque so I don't know if this is still the case. JB
Ask them to purchase your cheques. They will do so at a discounted price that would be some % less than the cheque value. That way you can salvage something out of it.
Maybe I'm missing the point here, but why can't you just deposit them? Are you afraid it will take weeks? I know when I lived in places such as Costa Rica and Dominican Republic that I could deposit checks -- they would just put a hold on them. David
bestsoftworks, depositing was what they wanted to charge me for which is why I was thinking a cashing service might be easier / cheaper. Sorry for not making that clear in my first post, I know I used the wrong wording. BigJonnyB, sadly this was HSBC... NatWest used to do them for me for a small percentage but that account has since been transfered to HSBC aspire, I didn't even know that was possible, I might have to ask around about that idea. SD2001-UK, I will also take a look at RBS, I have a dormant account with them so it might be my best bet. Thanks for the responses
Ouch! expensive deposit fees. I guess if you were doing a large check it wouldn't be a big deal.. but in your case, it is. David
Talk to your bank, they will most probably cash it for a fee. I would recommend setting your payout level higher if the program allows for it, then you will pay less fees per $ earned.
Thats a right rip off!! Barclays do not charge for my personal account, so may be you should look into opening an account that does not charge.