[Question to Indians] Which Bank is best for $ checks?

I am in India. I get dollar checks from valueclick, azoogle and casale. These checks take 21 working days to get cleared (credited in my account) after depositing. In reality, the 21 working days becomes 30-31 days. I have observed this for last 4 months.

My account is in UTI bank. I have made enquiries in HDFC bank and Standard Chartered bank. Both of them said it will take a month.

Can anyone suggest me a bank where this can get done faster? Any other ideas?

Thanks in advance.

 

If the check in $ then it would take atleast 15 days to withdraw the money.

 

go for citybank

 

1 month is pretty much correct for a US$ check drawn in the US because the check needs to be sent back to the US for clearing before you get your money.

 

I know that from experience. But I am looking for faster solutions if any foreign bank in India provides it.

About citibank, if someone can specify that their azoogle/vclick/casale/or any other $ check, gets cleared in xx days, please post. It will be a great help.

 

If the check is drawn in the US, it needs to be sent back to the US for clearing, it does not matter if it is a US bank operating in India.

However if the check is drawn on the same bank you deposit the check in, they may be able to speed up the transfer so you need to find out the name of the bank which azoogle or vclick uses. I never heard of them before so I cannot say.

The fastest way you can get the sponsors to send you the money is via wire transfer or a debit card option (if they have one).

 

I really don't think changing banks will make much difference. If it is an overseas check, it will take minimum three weeks to clear.

 

I have many friends from India and they have accounts in different banks and almost all banks take almost same time for cashing a US$ checks. Thats because the check has to go back to US which takes time.

 

When i get adsense checks in dollars it got credited to mu a/c within 3 days. I dont know about azoogle . CJ check also take time atleast 30 days in reality.

 

changing banks would not make a difference coz clearing takes minimum 2-3 weeks for foreign checks.

btw how long does it take in icici any idea ?

 

ICICI takes less than 15 days to clear the check.

 

You can ask them to pay in paypal. Paypal sends money in local currency, which will be credited on the next day once you receive the check from those companies. But again it will take a max of 10 days for the paypal check to reach you.

 

yes citibanks are really faster...

 

HDFC Bank Charges 300 Rs. per check and it takes atleast 24 days to credit the amount.

And the case is same for UTI also but the charges for check collection is very low. They charge only 0.25% of the amount + a Courier charge of 112 Rs. So that 112 Rs. remains same. so you have to give only 50 Rs. for a 20,000 Rs. check.

Also if you want immediate credit of the check then UTI do that but ur account has to be some 6 months old. In that case they will discount the check at an interest rate of 16% for 15 days.
So a 20,000 Rs. check will attract an interest of around 130 Rs. + the courier charge of 112 Rs. but still its best as the amount is credited the next day.

Or you have another option. Bank of Baroda have a Super Savings Account which needs a Minimum Balance of 25,000 in Cities and 15,000 in Rural and Semi Urbans. For that account they give immediate credit for the check and the charges is almost same as UTI.

Hope this helps

 

The 300 Rs. fee is for checks upto 50,000 Rs. (if am not wrong) and its the minimum charge. They charge addittional fee something like Rs. 3 for every 1000s. Am not sure about the fees for addittional 1000s

 

i have deposited a 12$ check some 3 months back[SBI], it is still not cleared! i have deposited another 25$ check of textlinkads, which is also not credited yet! though it was just a week back!

but then citibank checks get cleared in SBI pretty fast! in about 3-4 days

 

Well, you got to be mindful as to where the checks are drawn on. If the checks are drawn on a local bank, it will clear fast as if it is a local check. If they are drawn on a US bank in the US, it will take time to clear and would most probably come with a service charge.

Next time when you receive the checks, see if your home country is stated anywhere on the checks. If not, then it is a foreign checks.

I personally would advice against taking checks of less than US$50 because your bank charges for clearing a foreign check may be more than the value of the check and if that is the case, you get nothing.

If I am not wrong, here in Singapore, the clearing of a US drawn check has two layers of charges, SGD$15 + US$10 which is roughly US$20 to clear any US$ checks here.

So it is likely that your US$12 check has been cleared but the service charges eaten up the entire amount so you did not get the money.

 

Actually there is something called check discounting or purchasing. I do it all the time for Adsense and Dating Gold USD checks at SBI and get them cleared within hours.

But this option is solely dependent on your reputation as a customer at the bank. What happens here is the bank actually purchases the check from you and deposits the converted money to your account immediately. Then they sent the check to the foreign bank for clearance and wait for weeks for it's processing. In this way, they are actually taking a big risk because incase the check doesn't pass at the foreign bank, the Indian bank manager will be in trouble.

Therefore banks do this discounting only if they know you personally, either as a long term active customer or as someone introduced by a very reputed customer (or an employee) of theirs.