Great Southern Bank Will Process Foreign Cheques

Ave Maria on 01/04/2024 - 21:38
Last edited 02/04/2024 - 13:45 by 1 other user

I noticed a lot of people asking about Foreign Cheques (elsewhere) and not getting any usefull answers.

I can only post here so here is my own recent experience late last year.

After weeks of research & getting rejected by every main bank in Australia, Great Southern Bank (Queensland based) was able to help.

Unless you are near a branch, you have to send them the cheque via post & a letter telling them where to deposit the cheque.

The cheque MUST BE in your name & signed on the back (pay to the account of …) to be accepted by their processing partner.

It takes 4 weeks from the day the the cheque is deposied in your account for the credit to clear (although they state it may take 8-12 weeks).

Contact them online via chat for further info & they may event send you a pre-paid envelope to send them the cheque.

They are very helpful and courteous.

Hope that info helps

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  Hybroid on 01/04/2024 - 21:40

  Fees apply of course. $15 generally or $65 over $5,000. On top of currency exchange.

  https://www.greatsouthernbank.com.au/international-services/…

  • 

    Ave Maria on 01/04/2024 - 22:07

    That is correct, but if that is the only way to cash a cheque then it is worth it

    Foreign currency deposit (draft and cheque) $15.00
    Charged when you deposit drafts or cheques drawn on an
    overseas financial institution. Please note that the foreign
    agent may also charge a fee. Where a single cheque or
    draft converts to more than AUD $5,000, and is sent for
    collection, a $65.00 fee will apply.

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  1st-Amendment on 01/04/2024 - 22:49

  -1

  Cheque? What is this 1995?

  • 

    Ave Maria on 01/04/2024 - 23:25

    +2

    A lot of Foreign Investment Companies only pay by cheque and will not pay direct to bank accounts.

    • 

      1st-Amendment on 02/04/2024 - 08:56

      Because they are stuck in 1995?

  • 

    Baysew on 02/04/2024 - 13:42

    No one has a problem, until they do. Here is a 2024 event - Cashing a US Cheque/Check in USA

  • 

    R4 on 03/04/2024 - 19:04

    I got sent a printed cheque from RACWA last week.

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  TimOfEastBNE on 01/04/2024 - 23:20

  A few years back I used to regularly get American dollar checks sent to me. I used to post them to American Express and get them credited to my AMEX card. Exchange rate was pretty good, it night still work but I don't know

  • 

    Ave Maria on 01/04/2024 - 23:33

    +1

    Unfotunately, the cheques I receive are crossed "pay to payee account only" (bank account that is).

    I am thankfull to GSB for still accepting Foreign Cheques as I would otherwise just keep them as momentoes.

    I have one from the UK Inland revenue dated back in 1994 that I never cashed.

    They send me a 5 pound refund as interest payment for a 25 pennie balance in my company tax account.

    I still can't figure what interest rate they used or if the amount was so small that the super computer they used simply applied the wrong math -:)

    • 

      TimOfEastBNE on 01/04/2024 - 23:36

      Funny! I got a payout on the PayPal class action. It was less than $20 and simply not worth depositing.😑

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  silverstone2023 on 02/04/2024 - 15:51

  Over the weekend, my partner received a DHL envelope that contained a cheque from Citibank US for USD$0.05 – ridiculous, I know!

  We recently transferred funds from Citibank US to HSBC US and closed the Citibank US accounts, so perhaps the $0.05 was for accrued interest! Luckily, the HSBC US app has a cheque deposit facility, so we were able to use that feature to deposit the USD cheque. It is showing as a credit on the account today, but it is not yet cleared. I expect it to be cleared tomorrow.

  HSBC offer free real-time global transfers between your accounts in different countries, so once the cheque is cleared, you can transfer the funds back to a HSBC AU USD account or you can transfer to a HSBC AU AUD account. Note, the FX rates offered by HSBC are not great, but this could be offset by not incurring the fees charged by GSB to process a USD cheque.

  If you regularly receive USD cheques, opening an account with HSBC US might be an option for you. You will need to have HSBC Premier status to open accounts in other countries, but that is not hard to achieve – refer to HSBC website.