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My wife is due to receive an inheritance from the USA
Unfortunately it can only be issued as a USD cheque - no option for GBP and/or bank transfer
We know the bank will sting us on the exchange rate/fees
But Natwest are saying it could take at least 12 weeks to clear
Any other options people can recommend even including switching banks or opening an extra account with someone else?
NW do foreign currency UK accounts, or at least business accounts. Worth asking if we're talking big money, much cheaper to pay into there and then transfer to a sterling account
I used to do this regularly and paid £5 fee on each cheque. It certainly didn't take 12 weeks for funds to appear in my account and I don't think the exchange rates were any different from the published ones on the day That was Bank of Scotland.
I used to get USD cheques and try and pay them into HSBC (y'know, the world's bank). It was a massive pita. I now just get wire transfers and use TransferWise
Get a USD account with a UK bank first (I have a HSBC one) and pay it into there. I then get an exchange rate very close to the official exchange rate. Then USD cheques often take up to 12-14wks to clear.
My wife does this on a regular basis as she get's dividend payments from her company share scheme in USD. With Natwest. Takes a while - but only a week or so. It can be disputed upto a month after that. There is a charge of around £10.
This will be on a fairy standard current account. The reward one.
USD paper checks have to be physically sent transatlantic which is what takes the time and can be challenged up to 5years after clearing. They are a PITA in many ways. Electronic transfer is much more straight forward!
Is there no one in the US who can accept the cheque (or check to them) and then they transfer the money to you?
Really no option for wire transfer using eg TransferWise?
Get a transferwise account, you can then get various currency bank accounts within your transferwise account. GBP, USD, Euro,
So then the USD account is actually a US bank account its in New York, deposit there, do internal transfer in TW account to your GBP account. Then transfer from your TW GBP to your normal account.
If its lots of money I suggest chatting to them first, on bigger transfers you can get better rates, I think tis over 100k.
Thanks all
It's cheque only - no alternative
So Transferwise won't work other wise I would be using TorFX who I've used in the past for electronic payments from USD
why won't transferwise work? Deposit the cheque at the US branch?
EDIT:
I am talking bollocks.
No cheques allowed.
https://transferwise.com/help/articles/2898124/how-do-i-receive-money
Their website says no cash or cheque deposits permitted?
The reality is the entity where this money is coming from in the US are being very intransigent - almost like they're stuck in the 1970s
almost like they’re stuck in the 1970s
I have an idea that's actually the case with the whole of the US banking service, e.g. cheques are still a huge thing over there and have to be physically sent between branches, no BACS system etc. Not sure how I know that, must have read it somewhere, (likely here!)