Can I send a personal cheque to US?

Question

Can I send a personal cheque from my Uk current account to someone in America. How would that work. Would I convert dollars to pound for the amount.
Thanks in advance for any advice

Answer 1

No you can not send a personal cheque to the US unless of course if you have a bank account there.

Some of the options available are bank draft, bank transfer, paypal, western union, and international money order. When you send it with any of these options you will convert the money into USD at the point of transacting

Answer 2

I don't think you can write out a UK cheque, drawn on a sterling account, for a dollar amount.

You could translate the dollar amount first (ie divide it by two, roughly) and send a cheque in pounds, but the recipient would probably have to pay high bank charges.

The easiest way is to go to your bank and fill in a form and gthey will transfer the money direct to the other bank account if you know all the details

Answer 3

You would have to send the cheque made out in Pounds sterling.

The beneficiary would pay it into their american account and the american bank would negotiate with your Bank to clear the cheque and convert it into us$.

The process will incur charges and could take up to 6 weeks to clear the cheque so may not be the best option.

Answer 4

The conversion of that check between the UK's and USA's banking systems is rather complex and costly.

If you were to write that check, the recipient would not deposit it to their account directly but rather take it to the bank's collection department who would begin the conversion process. If that bank doesn't have an "International Department" they would then have to forward it to a correspondent bank that does.

The paypal option is a valid one as is Western Union. They will convert the pounds to dollars and since they do large volumes of these transactions, receive a better conversion rate. You will find that the time for your cheque to make its journey across the Atlantic to take considerable time.

Answer 5

You can send a cheque written in USD, but the charges will be more than sending a banker's draft or transferring money electronically through a bank.Which of the last two methods is cheapest will depend on the amount etc. so ask at your bank.

Answer 6

Hi >
We, as a club, sent a UK cheque in sterling as support to the New York Fire Dept. following the 9/11 disaster, as our Charman is a senior fireman.
It was never encashed.
It should of been OK after conversion to USD by their bank.
Perhaps a handling charge.
But there you go.
Bob.

Answer 7

you send the cheque in sterling and the bank who clears the cheque converts to usd, use a convertor site to calculate how much sterling you have to send, there is normally a charge for the recipiant to convert it to thier currency but in the uk it is only £1.50.Alternatively you can se paypal which is free of charge and converts the currency for you.

try this converter site to help you out

http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/currency

Answer 8

You can, however, it will take the recipient a long time to cash it, up to 6 weeks. best bet would be to send it by telegraphic transfer, from bank to bank. That takes 3-5 days, and wont get lost in the post.

Answer 9

I would suggest sending a check in USD, as many banks stupidly have a problem with cashing checks in foreign currencies.