cheque charges

bank takes all my money

[colinf]

I hope i am allowed to disclose this here.

I received 2 cheques (in Germany) from Google for $175 & $250 The cheques had to be cashed with Citibank Germany who in turn sent them to Google citybank Delaware, and they charged me $150 to cash the cheques!

Surely that cannot be right?

I don`t want to know how much you earn through Adsense, but i would be grateful to find out the general amounts you pay per cashed cheque.

Thanks

cf

[dmorison]

That sounds ridiculous, I would get that checked.

For US Dollar cheques, NatWest Direct Business Banking in the UK charge £5 for a sterling value of up to £100, and £10 for a sterling value of up to £20,000.

That is for paying in at a NatWest branch. The amount clears in 4 to 6 days.

[justageek]

Ridiculous? Almost criminal. Geezez, I know a guy down the street that will cash those checks for only $149.00! Seriously though. You definitely need to check around for other options.

JAG

[Yidaki]

My $US cheques in germany cost somewhat around 2% (Sparkasse). You should change your bank. ;)

[Marketing Guy]

Bank of Scotland / Halifax plc only charge £5 per cheque - the other day I put 2 in and they only charged me once because I put both in at the same time.

Colinf, you may consider getting a different bank account for the purposes of cheque cashing! ;)

Scott

Edit: Bank of Scotland, not the Royal Bank of Scotland! :) My mistake!

[edited by: Marketing_Guy at 6:46 pm (utc) on Jan. 17, 2004]

[onfire]

HI colinf

Call the police, you have been robbed by the bank mate, thought it was meant to be the other was round ;)

anyway like Yidaki says, use the Sparkasse.

When i chuck my cheque in at my Sparkasse, and later the same day i check online, i see its already been cleared and credited to my account, no posting of the cheque back to the US. The charge for this great service is very reasonable considering the time it takes.

its costs nowhere near what you was robbed by the citi bank robbers

[edited by: onfire at 4:14 pm (utc) on Jan. 17, 2004]

[Mauricio]

6 euros here (Spain).

[loanuniverse]

Wow, I want to work for that bank and get in the "profit sharing" plan :)

I would:

1- Change banks.

2- Take a holiday to Switzerland and open an account there. I read in another thread that they have good fees.

3- Accumulate 4 checks and use this as an excuse to travel to the US. {fares from several German cities to NY are less than US$300 when booked a month or two in advance}

Wathever you do, leave that bank.

[killroy]

hmm my bank also claimed that citibank charged tehm $75 on the check in addition to their own $20 charge. this is on a $480 check.

I thougght they had to be kidding and was planning to take legal action against them once I got the confirmation from citibank that this was false, but I haven't been able to get through to them yet.

now that you say $150 for two checks that's also $75 for each check, can this be a coincidence?

SN

[Jettie]

Yes, criminal!
In holland they ask a % of 2 till 5 I think ...

[jomaxx]

I agree that kind of charge is nuts.

Slightly OT, but I recently went through a nightmarish process of trying to get paid by a certain sponsor in Europe via bank transfer to North America. I can vouch that banks on both sides do not really have a clue how to deal with their counterparts overseas. After a couple of failed attempts and several phone calls to both banks, I finally caved and allowed the sponsor to send me the fairly substantial sum of money via Paypal.

[FromRocky]

Here is in Canada. No charge for deposit at main branch and $5 CAD for one time deposit at any local branch in a Canadian account. If I deposit it in my US account, no charge. It seems too good to be true!

[colinf]

Killroy,
thats correct, $75 per cheque. I have just found out that the cheques were paid into the sparkasse (who charge 14 EUR for each transaction- regardless of how many cheques at a time are paid in) and the corresponding bank which i assume is the citibank USA charged $150. i have to wait until next week to sort it all out.

cf

[onfire]

I just had a quick look, and i see that the Sparkasse charged me a flat €9 each time i got them to cash my monthly google cheque of various amounts.

[UKFord]

Lloyds (England) is 8 pounds per US cheque. Takes two days to get into account.

[GrantNZ]

In New Zealand, my bank charges you 5 cents and the cheque is exchanged for whatever the current exchange rate is. Funds are cleared and available to you after 21 days.

[danny]

In Australia I'm paying AU$10 per cheque (that's with the National bank) - not enough to make me bother hunting down a cheaper alternative.

[Sunflux]

I find all this global banking information quite interesting. Like a previous poster mentioned, for me in Canada, USD, GBP or Euro cheques count as a "transaction", just like writing a cheque, cashing a CDN cheque, making an Interac payment, transfers, etc., and what you pay depends on what service plan you have... all way under $1.

I had a wire transfer from a European country, the local bank charged $10 flat (although some other "fees" did come off along the way).

[creepychris]

In Asia, I'm paying about $10.00 per check.

$150.00 ... ouch!

[freitasm]

In New Zealand, my bank charges you 5 cents and the cheque is exchanged for whatever the current exchange rate is. Funds are cleared and available to you after 21 days.

This is almost criminal as the German bank then... Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) charges me nothing and the funds are available in three days :)

[jomaxx]

The bank might release the funds to you after three days, or even immediately, if you are a good customer and/or maintain a reasonable balance. But I doubt it's possible for the check to actually clear that quickly. Even here in Canada you have to allow up to 10-15 business days.

[philr]

I am also in Australia, I am using a Credit Union and paying between $1 and $2 to cash foreign cheques.

[pashenG]

In Poland I can choose two options.
1. Bank will buy my check. (In Citibank it costs about 4$ and I receive money in 10 days).
2. Bank will collect my check. It costs about 75$ and I receive money in 36 days).

Maybe for your bank default is second option.

Regards.

[adfree]

How 'bout incorporating in the US, have a virtual office address, open a US bank account and meet the folks there. You could have the checks sent to you, clear them, send back to the bank and deposit onto your bank account in the US.

Of course you would have to pay US taxes (federal and state plus income) but if you deal with US related and targeted sites only it might be the better way anyway.

Imagine earning 4 or 5 digit, taxes could be much lower in the US if done properly and professionally.

Cheers, Jens

[nacho_man]

UK lloyds.. Charges £8 as UKFORD says, cheques clear in two days unless they are over a $1000 in which case they take 14 -21 days. The first instance is because the bank reckons they'll get the money so they give it you because it is a small sum. Over the $1000 mark they actually wait to get the funds from the US bank.

This is what the nice lady at the bank says .. not that I'll have to wait 21 days ever :(

[panicbutton]

Wow, that's extortion. In Oz I pay a flat fee of $10, no matter how many cheques I bank.

Germany does seem to be expensive when you try to do anything that involves another country. I remember a couple of years ago telephoning my girlfriend in Korea from where I was staying at the Munich Hilton. I talked for 5-10 minutes and when I checked out the charge for *that* phone call was 400DM (about US$100). Sheesh.

[runboard]

Anyone knows a good bank in France to cash Google checks in?

I am using Credit Lyonnais, it can take up to 2 months for the check to be cleared, sometimes even longer (!) and they take 17 euros per check to cash as a fee.

Would openining an account with Citibank France be a good idea?

[devlin]

Also Bank of Scotland in the UK -£5.00 for multiple overseas cheques (checks?)

I now bank them once per month so that the charge is just a flat 5 UKP for the lot.

Anyone who gets hit with a 150 USD is just getting ripped off (IMHO!)

+++

devlin

[tombola]

Before you switch to another bank, you must bear in mind that bank charges are tax deductible expenses.

[WobMaster]

Here We Charge not even half of the Dollar$

But. take 30 days to be cashed :S