Best way to cash $$$ cheques ('checks'!) in the UK?

**Ragster** · 24-08-07

I've started to get USD cheques from Clickbank for my first affiliate campaign

and I'm wondering what is the best way to cash them?

My personal account at Halifax have a minimum of £15 per cheque

My biz account at A+L wants £10 per cheque

One of the cheques is only for $97 - I don't really want to lose that much on bank fees.

I have since raised the cheque issuing limit to $500 so it won't be quite so painful next time - I still have 2 low value payments to deposit - just wondering if anyone here has come across a good solution...

**Paul Wright** · 24-08-07

I remember when I used to get lots of small US cheques and fell foul of the very same situation. The bank charge shouldn't apply to each cheque but per doposit. Therefore what I did was simply collected several months worth of small cheques together, pay them all in at once and only pay one fee.

I was with LloydsTSB but I don't think that should matter.

Hope that helps.

Paul.

**Ragster** · 25-08-07

Originally Posted by Paul Wright

I The bank charge shouldn't apply to each cheque but per doposit. Therefore what I did was simply collected several months worth of small cheques together, pay them all in at once and only pay one fee.

Paul.

OK - I'll 'check' (groan

) to see if my banks will process a batch for one fee.

Cheers

**morleymouse** · 26-08-07

I remember when I used to get them from google, had to pop down the Halifax and try and pay them in, every month I got asked "was it from a relative" yes... my great uncle Google. Anyway...

Same as Paul I used to save them up and do it all at once, I never got chraged £15 though from memory it was a sliding scale depending on how much you were paying in. Min was about a fiver and I usually ended up paying about £10 for deposits of a few hundred $'s.

**John Jupp** · 28-08-07

If you have a business account you can request a Dollar Account, if you know you will receive a number of regular dollar cheques. The charges are only slightly more than for a Sterling Account.

**Mogga** · 28-08-07

Originally Posted by John Jupp

If you have a business account you can request a Dollar Account, if you know you will receive a number of regular dollar cheques. The charges are only slightly more than for a Sterling Account.

Norra chance with the BOS. They charged me £5 to put a $ cheque into a $ account - and on discussion with them agreed to let me put a bunch of them into my proper account for £10 max charge...

Discuss with your bank. Stockpile them until you've got a few or set payouts high so you might have to wait for a check a while but makes the charges less...

**Ragster** · 28-08-07

Turns out that A&L want their £15 per cheque - so they can get lost!
Asked A&L about a business account - no problem as long as you turn over £15 million annually!

I discovered that Barclays allow you to pay in $$ cheques into a normal account with the following charges (plus exchange rate):

Under £50 - free
£50-£100 - £4
over £100 - £9

AND they allow consolidating the cheques into 'clumps' (probably not the correct banking term I know) - meaning that they will count 5 x £100 cheques as 1 deposit ie £9 charge

All small cheques can be paid in individually for free (or added to a 'clump')

Looks like the best deal so far....

**John Jupp** · 28-08-07

When I last checked (couple of years back) Natwest had a slightly better deal than Lloyds for both internet merchant accounts and dollar or other foreign currency accounts. There was a monthly fee but the cheque processing was the same as for UK currency. Don't know what it's like now but I would be interested in hearing what the current rates are.

I do know that if you specify you will receive a specific volume of $ transactions every month they will slash the rates further.

**Darren M** · 28-08-07

Originally Posted by Ragster

Turns out that A&L want their £15 per cheque - so they can get lost!
Asked A&L about a business account - no problem as long as you turn over £15 million annually!

I discovered that Barclays allow you to pay in $$ cheques into a normal account with the following charges (plus exchange rate):

Under £50 - free
£50-£100 - £4
over £100 - £9

AND they allow consolidating the cheques into 'clumps' (probably not the correct banking term I know) - meaning that they will count 5 x £100 cheques as 1 deposit ie £9 charge

All small cheques can be paid in individually for free (or added to a 'clump')

Looks like the best deal so far....

I was using Lloyds for my US dollar cheques, they charge £8 for any number of cheques submitted together. I also have a Barclays account now, so I'll be using them in future

**freetimer** · 11-09-07

if its a clickbank cheque dont forget they are only valid for 90 days before you need to request a new one

I use nationwide for my cheques .. cant remember the rate but very good

**Gavinio** · 12-09-07

Originally Posted by Ragster

Asked A&L about a business account - no problem as long as you turn over £15 million annually!

Really?
https://www.alliance-leicestercommer...t/SB010002.asp is their product for up to £1m
They even do accounts for startups - https://www.alliance-leicestercommer...t/SU010031.asp
I'm surprised you were told you had to do over £15m! (It's good for everyone to have an ambition though, when you hit £15m you can finally walk into that branch with your head held high!)

I know this as we run the A&L Commercial bank affiliate programme.