# Bigish Cheque in US Dollars coming in for US held shares



## EddieB (May 13, 2006)

Halo - I used to work at procter and gamble and left nearly a year ago.

I held a number of shares in them and decided to keep a hold of them until a house buying opportunity arose...

Now - I want to sell my shares and i've been informed that I will get the cheque in US $. (They are quoted on the NYSE)

I've queried the transaction with P&G and this was the response:

Your sale check will be issued in U.S. dollars drawn on a U.S. bank

Ok so I guess I am getting a cheque made to me in US $. But what does the U.S. bank thing mean?

Also - How am I going to get this into my bank a/c and at a descent rate? I currently bank with Lloyds.

Any feedback will be greatly appreciated.


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## BoroDave74 (May 16, 2009)

I'm assuming it's enough money to be concerned about the exchange rate?

Having had issues withdrawing large sums of money from US poker sites there were a limited number of places to withdraw to: credit/debit card used to despoit, moneybookers, paypal, cheque. I took a US Bank cheque once and paid it into Nationwide BS. I took about 28 days to clear, after eventually arrriving by post, and I got the exchange rate on the day of cashing. I've had a few thousand paid directly onto credit cards and the rate was better, much depends on which card it is, like Nationwide CC used to be conversion fee free and the rate wasn't too bad. 

It seems likely you will be limited to the same: a bank/building society account in your name, or a credit card. Have a word with your bank manager and by all means ask a card provider. hth

AFAIK the drawn against a US bank means issued by.


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## EddieB (May 13, 2006)

Thanks - wish id just sold them when I had the chance and got the cheque in £. However the $ was too strong against the £ and the shares were on a low. 

This is going to be more hassle that its worth - I have family in the states and am going out there in 2 months fingers crossed. Might ask them if there is anything I can do... like cash it into their a/c and then get them to buy my flights etc for me.


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## kirkn99 (Aug 23, 2006)

I have in the past paid USD cheques (or should that be checks ) into a UK Barclays account and also Intelligent Finance i.e Halifax accounts

For very small amounts there is sometimes no charge but for bigger amounts they will charge a fee and may also do you on the exchange rate

You could open a USD account with someone like CitiBank or one of the international divisions of our uk banks 

In the past I’ve had Lloyds offshore and Nationwide international accounts

Once you have a USD account you can pay your USD cheque in (need to check how long it takes to clear) then transfer to a UK account in GBP but again you need to watch out for fees and the exchange rate as sometimes they don’t give you that good a rate 

Last few transfers I made were from a Nationwide international account in USD to a UK account but I used WorldFirst as there rates were much better than letting Nationwide do the transfer

Do P&G give you the option to have the money electronically transferred ? Don’t know who administers their employee share scheme but you could ask

If they do then it’s quite likely it will only be to USD accounts but you might be able to have them pay to WorldFirst’s USD account then they will put GBP into your account at an agreed exchange rate 

I am surprised P&G themselves don’t offer some sort of service or discounted access to this sort of thing to their non US employees

Ps – you could look on some of the moneysaving forums for anyone with the same problem


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## EddieB (May 13, 2006)

Capita used to administer the scheme in the UK - and as I thought i'd be going through Capita it'd be ok - but it looks like my shares are handled in the US now. I will continue pushing P&G though and see if I can get it made to me in GBP. 

Fricks sake - I'll go and see the bank on Saturday as well.


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## EddieB (May 13, 2006)

Thinking about it - I might be able to move the shares into Lloyds management... using an investment ISA -

http://www.lloydstsb.com/investments/investment_isas.asp

defo a meeting with the bank now.


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## kirkn99 (Aug 23, 2006)

Your bank should have details of how much they charge on their web site somewhere in the terms and conditions maybe

On moneysavingexpert site there is a mention of Auctionchex who sound like they do what you want i.e. USD to GBP cheques but you’d need to do a bit of research to see if its legit

As you have family in the US it’s definitely worth having them make enquires at their bank as maybe you can just endorse the check and pay it into their account after which you can then do an electronic transfer getting the best rate you can – I’ve done this too with WorldFisrt when I had a US bank account 

Good luck as whatever way you do it they are all going to take money off you so all you can try and do is minimise how much


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## EddieB (May 13, 2006)

Cheers bud - I've seen that auctionchex website - not keen on it if I'm honest. 

I can't find anything on the Lloyds website regarding banking of foreign checks


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## kirkn99 (Aug 23, 2006)

There is reference in their banking_charges_brocure.pdf (page 10) that says 0.25% of sterling value with minimum 8 GBP and max 80 GBP 

It says look at the web site for more info but it’s not obvious where 

If you’re already a Lloyds customer you should be able to open an Lloyds International USD account and pay your cheque into that for a small fee then once it’s cleared move it out into sterling however you want to get the best rate then close it again


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