aktchi

Check? I guess you have no choice to deposit it with your bank (where you have an account) and pay whatever commission/fee they charge. If you have accounts at several banks, you could ask around what those fees would be.

jackal

Do you have (or can you open) an account at a UK bank and deposit the check (cheque?) by mail?

I used to bank with a bank in Southern California and would deposit checks by mail while away.

TataTata07

Just a bit FYI, All checks & ACH(ex. Direct Deposit) drawn in USD are routed through the Federal Reserve (US Central Bank) unless its interbank So it makes sense at they would do foreign also and they do but...

Your local banks can do it, but is a long process. The Fed has page for it for them. Last time I heard, 2 months.

http://www.frbservices.org/operation...eck_guide.html

mrpickles

Send the check back to UK with a message to wire the funds to your account in US Dollars and have them pay all associated fees. They will need the routing number and account number and your banks "Swift" code if they have one for inbound international wires. It will take about 1 week but you will habe all of your cash and no exchange fees.

CAPTVOY

Well for Telegraphic Transfers or what you call "Wire Transfers", there are fees involved for sending for the sender and for receiving for the recipient, the latter will depend how much the reciving bank will take as "processing fee", ring them up for more details. Also the UK bank will tell the sender what the exchange rate will be on that day for that particular transaction.

Alongside the swift code, routing and account number, ensure you have the full address for the local branch of the bank too. That way, when your bank HQ receives the money they will know where to forward your money on, in case the electronic system happens to be down.

It will take about 2 days for the money to leave the UK then further 5-8 working days for the money to be credited into your deposit account, again depending how quickly the recieving bank processes the transfer.

Jaimito Cartero

I wire funds to Asia regularly, and the funds are delivered in 1-2 business days. Why would it take over 1 week from UK-US?

CAPTVOY

Most UK banks have to use a "clearing bank" for transmission which takes a day or so, then are screened for anti-terrorism and anti-money laundering purposes. That's why it takes so long, British banks are very thorough and very strict.