I can’t find any banks in Australia which still accept depositing foreign cheques. I have a cheque from Hong Kong I need deposited or cashed but I can’t seem to find any way to do it. I hate the idea of throwing the money away. And I sometimes get USD checks too which need taken care of. Any advice is appreciated! Of course if there is such a place I need to have a local branch to visit. I am in Tweed-heads on the border of QLD and NSW.
Banking with Depositing International Cheques!
Sunshines bright on 05/02/2022 - 17:12
Last edited 07/02/2022 - 08:03
Last edited 07/02/2022 - 08:03
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Thanks for the link I will give them a call tomorrow and see what the requirements are to make this happen.
nope from Westpac
I've deposited cheques from USA in my Westpac account, last time 3 years ago.
The fees are exorbitant though. The Branch Manager was so embarrassed that they waived their fees on 1 occasion as the fees were more than the value of the cheque.
3 years ago things were very different… the changes have occurred since then. I will call Westpac but not sure if there is a branch near me atm… will check into it.
If you bank with Westpac and can't get to a branch, you maybe able to deposit the cheque in their cheque deposit ATM. Although, their fees may be exorbitant. Another option worth trying could be money exchangers like Travellex.
that's a no for westpac
I banked foreign cheques at Macquarie regularly. But I’ve just gone to their site and they stopped during Covid apparently. Pretty sure NAB should do it, as that’s whose branches I used for Macquarie.
online nab say they do so I set up an account and when I went to deposit the check they said the web site was out of date and they no longer accept them and when they did you had to have an account for 6 months before they would accept a foreign check.
What banks have you asked?
ANZ, Suncorp, NAB, Heritage to name the few I recall.
So 2 out of the biggest 4.. Suggest the other 2 and then the #5 and then the local banks/building societies/credit unions.
So, did ANZ tell you something that directly contradicted this?
https://www.commbank.com.au/international/foreign-cheques-an…And searching their site also shows that the branch at Kingscliff specifically takes foreign cheques.
And looking a little deeper I came across this -
"From 1 June 2021 cheques are longer be accepted for deposit into your ANZ account and you will not be able to use ANZ cheques as a way to make payments into other bank accounts.
Foreign cheques in Australian Dollars (AUD), Canadian Dollars (CAD), Great British Pounds (GBP) and United States Dollars (USD) will still be able to be deposited until further notice. No other currencies of foreign cheques are able to be deposited."
Checks
Checks in 2022? 😭
I know right???? But it is what it is.
According to their website CBA do, but it is expensive at $25 a pop.
https://www.commbank.com.au/international/foreign-cheques-an…
Bills Negotiated – Foreign cheques, drafts etc payable overseas for immediate credit of funds $25.00 per cheque/bill
I used to get a bunch of USD cheques. If this is the case for you, where you will be receiving regular cheques (although for the life of me I can't understand why USA doesn't update their banking systems), your best bet is to talk to a manager at a local branch, explain that you will be getting X amount of cheques worth X amount over X period. Is there anything they can do to make it easier such as waive fees if you deposit multiple cheques at once. I had a setup where they would only charge 1 fee for multiple cheques, however I still had to have the month waiting period so none of the cheques bounced, but I had to talk to multiple banks, since some wanted $10-$20 per cheque no matter what, others wouldn't take them at all, and eventually CommBank settled on a batch of cheques for the fee of one.
*Note: this was roughly a 10-20 years ago with a large amount of cheques coming through. The cost per batch back then for me was $15 if I remember correctly, $15 each for everyone else.
Citibank. Open a Citibank Plus transaction account online, and then send in the international cheques. It’s free to process international cheques(unlike other banks) and the forex rates are better than the big 4.
I used to deposit all my foreign dividend cheques this way until I set up a dividend reinvestment plan for them.
Seems this is the way. Have to mail the check to Sydney once my new account is activated but it is better then nothing for sure.
Certain Cba branches still do it but need to be customers and yes $25 fee.
Cheque with a few other banks to see if they will accept checks.
Yes you can…. I've done it…. they simply convert the amount into AUD and skim off a % for their trouble.
Nothing unusual with foreign checks. Unless they are drawn in an unusual currency.
For those in USD it is a common event.
However you'll need to wait up to 4 weeks to access those funds to be deposited. And show proper Australian issued IDs. And, of course, have an account with them.Suncorp(?) does it all the time for US pension checks drawn in USD. Funds to depository account that is. And after clearing.
HSBC does it as well with a $20 ($25?) fee. But will need to wait those up to 4 weeks for the check and funds to clear.
Good luck and please keep us posted so we all learn more.
Suncorp does not do it!!! I have begged to no avail.
When I saw the heading: "Banking with Depositing International Checks", I immediately thought "what are they checking?"
What you should have written was: "Banking with Depositing International CHEQUES"
This is not America, in Australia we spell words correctly.
If you are, in fact, American, then embrace the local culture and get educated.I had a similar thought - perhaps the bank doesn't understand what a "check" is.
Vocally both spellings sound the same when asking you don’t spell it out!
I hear what you are saying, Sonchynes bryte.
Smart arse!!!
This is not America
Do you mean the United States of America? As that big country in North America?
Or is it America, the continent expanding from Alaska to Patagonia ??
Embrace culture and get educated
I think they are correct in both cases
Maybe open an account with Citibank, and see if their multi-currency will allow you to have the overseas cheques deposited directly in your overseas Citibank account number.
Yes seems citi is my only option.
Did you try HSBC?
Something like their EveryDay Global account in USD (or GB, AUD, etc etc etc)
Bankwest does.
I used them before for an EURO cheque
If all of you took the time to call rather then google you will find out in the last 6 months all “local” AU banks have stopped accepting international cheques/checks.
It is going to be extremely difficult to find a web forum where people will make telephone calls on your behalf to sort out your problems.
This is true, I suppose my poit was that the internet/banks web sites are not up to date. I was fooled a few times using mr google and did not really expect so many to do for me what I can do myself as in use mr google. I was actually hoping for recent experiences or individuals banks personal recent experience. Not last year or mr google or guessing. But I know expect the worst, right.
I would be surprised if HSBC did not accept your Hong Kong issued cheques. As mentioned above try some of the banks with an international presence. (Citibank etc)
They probably would but citi was more convenient for me. Thanks 😊!
westpac say they accept foreign cheques: https://www.westpac.com.au/business-banking/business-help/st…
From memory the charges were high, $30 or $40? In my case, years ago, it was a one off for a cheque for over $1000, so I just copped it.