Forum Moderators: martinibuster
After you present the check to the bank, Google's bank must authentificte the transaction :(
I hope they will be fast!
3-6 months is a very long time to encash a check drawn from a US bank account, looks like Spain has the slowest banking system in the world.
to: iThink
I don't know if Spain has the slowest bank systems, but in many countries are payment with checks not very normal. I had also in holland big problems with collecting the check.
Is there nobody else from Spain, who cashes his checks at La Caixa?
Thanks,
--
globay
I'm currently tryign to open accounts with a citibank in europe and perhaps in lforida if I can at PubCon6.
It will be cheaper for me to pay and fly to UK, germany or even the US and cash the check in person, then to wait as long as I have to (I also wait aroudn 4 weeks for the cehcks to get here by mail).
Can't wait for hte new payment options. It's a joke that a company like Google sends paper slips via snail mail to pay it's publishers. I'd like a pice of that pie they accumulate with money liaing around waiting to be cleared...
SN
HSBC do charge a sliding scale of fees (depending on the amount) for paying in foreign currency cheques - but IMHO it's worth it (because of the lost interest if they're taking that long to clear). Which bank in Spain took so long to clear your cheque then?
Oh - and don't bother trying to open a US bank account. I've heard that it's extremely difficult to open a US bank account if you're a foreigner - they ask for social security number etc (which you won't have).
The HSBC UK cash cheques on trust that they will not be returned. That is why they will cash the same day. If one is returned they will come looking for the money.
Other secure places to open bank accounts are
Latvia. Bank accounts available in USD Euro GBP. 2 to 3 weeks for US cheque to clear
St Vincent. USD accounts
Then there are your Swiss accounts but they are not guaranteed private and are expensive to run.
Just do a search on Google and you will find a host of people who will guide you through the opening procedure. Or sticky me for the URL of a British firm that helped me sort things out.
it's extremely difficult to open a US bank account if you're a foreigner
Very true - you need a Driver's License and SSN - then they check you through ChexSystems.
Almost everybank uses them. You may not TECHNICALLY need a SSN if it is a non interest bearing account. However, I doubt any bank manager would make an exception.
My advice would be to call the US Embassy in Spain and ask if there are any banks in Spain that are friendly to US Citizens (many of their employees would need a Bank Account I would presume). Chances are these banks would have better a relationship with the US Banking System as they would need to cater to these clients.
Just a suggestion.
<added>Hadn't read Sense_able's post when I posted this - that is some good info</added>
Banca March
Where is this bank from?
SN
PS: I'll try HSBC, that's the only international bank in this country...
Where is this bank from?
What part of Spain is this bank from? :p
It would seem by their site, islas Baleares?
What a wonderfully non-functional site! (the bank, that is..)
Monus,
have you tried to cash an adsense check in Spain yet? If so, at what banks?
[edited by: mipapage at 12:34 am (utc) on Dec. 21, 2003]
SN
(PS: Before you get any wrong ideas, I have VERY modest living expenses)
They have to mail the cheque to the US for clearing.
TJ
In the UK, I have hsbc account and they put it into my account the day it arrived by post at their branch...so I don't understand previous post about weeks and weeks and having to post it to the states. I could draw on mine the same day! I have had a Midland Bank/HSBC account for about12 years and posted it direct to my branch.
In Italy, I use an online bank called Fineco. They usually clear it all in about 10 days after I have given the cheques to my "personal banker". One time though, Google told me they had paid out and yet, 15 days later, Fineco were telling me they hadn't got the cash. My italian friends told me that italian banks liked to sit on the cash from foreign cheques for weeks for the interest. I though, "i am not having that!" and rang and broke their balls continually for three days until they released the cash. You just need to be on top of these things really.
In the UK, I have hsbc account and they put it into my account the day it arrived by post at their branch...
Are you a large customer? Sounds to me like a special arrangement.
We have a seperate business account for AdSense, so not larges amounts going through.
They may take a view given that the payor is google. I haven't asked. But the cheques do end up being cleared back in the States.
TJ
JVB_Mktg
I have been to the BBVA in Malaga. That was one of the banks who say it can take 3-6 months (note, I thit not give them the check, so I don't know how it is in real, I only know what they have told me). The other bank that I have try is Unicaja (thats the bank I use here).
If they pay you in 4 hours then they pay probely in advandce. What they do also in holland (Rabobank).
and I'm slowly starving, both literally and in the business sense... very frustrating...
On this moment I send the checks to my mother so that she can cash it in holland. And I get my money in 2 days. But this is not a option that I like.
I had also in holland big problems with collecting the check.
In msg#25 you say:
On this moment I send the checks to my mother so that she can cash it in holland. And I get my money in 2 days.
Seems these postings are not very consistent, right? ;-)
I can't believe this garbage. I think I'd way rather roll my measly adsense revenue into adwords then give 15-17 Euros to the bank! That and the exchange rate is horrible!
Blech. <leaves room disgusted...>
no way! it is a current account! no personal arrangements, no business account. run-of-the-mill personal account! maybe because yours IS a business account, they pay more attention to these cheques. Mine was treated as if it was a cheque from my brother!
Was under a grand too...so not big figures, but nothing tiny either. My cheque came through their letter box LITERALLY as i was enquiring as to why it had taken so long to arrive there by post from Italy. So I was a tad happy...
so I then asked the bloke, "I imagine it will be three working days till it clears now?" and he replied, "no, it will go in today." I checked my online balance the following eve and it was there!
odd...
Monus, in msg#5 of this thread you say:
I had also in holland big problems with collecting the check.
In msg#25 you say:
On this moment I send the checks to my mother so that she can cash it in holland. And I get my money in 2 days.
Seems these postings are not very consistent, right? ;-)
right? ;-)
