foreign 'bank cheque' advice?

[Star1971]

I wonder if any of you can advise me about how long it is likely to take for a foreign 'Bank Cheque' to clear? It will be paid into the NatWest bank & is for a large sum, as it is for full payment on a house. Is there anything that can be done to speed up the process? Has anyone done this before, if so how long did it take?
The bank account is my solicitor's, and I can't move till the money clears! This situation arose because the Bank of America refused to do a direct transfer, although they had previously told me it would not be a problem. The funds are USD.
Thanks.

[mailmannz]

Do you know the source the cheque is coming from? By that I mean, its not from Nigeria is it?

Last foreign cheque I cashed too around 6 weeks to clear.

The dodgy thing for you to be aware is that the money may show up earlier BUT, especially if its from a dodgy as hell source (Nigeria) that money can also be taken back if its within the clearance period for your bank.

Anyway, best thing would be for you to call your bank and ask (as it could also depend on the country is from) how long it will take to clear.

Mailman

[Star1971]

Thanks for replying.

The cheque was from the Bank of America, funded from my account there.
It was to be paid in to NatWest.
They kept saying it would take 4-9 WEEKS to clear.

On hearing this, the dodgy people selling the house admitted that the house is due to be reposessed at the end of the week! We had guessed as much: they had been acting suspicious all along (long story: the 'garden' turned out not to belong to them at all & we have had to negotiate separately over that. Seems the bank repossessing valued it sans garden, but the Estate Agent valued it with the garden! But that's another topic ...).
Anyway the upshot is I have to fly to Los Angeles to sort this out in person & close my accounts with Bank of America, as they will not allow me to make an electronic transfer unless I turn up in person! My solicitor had to meet me on Saturday to return the bank cheque so I can take it with me (an 8 hour train journey for me), and an attorney in LA is meeting me when I arrive & will take me to the Bank (I hope, but Monday is also a public holiday in America so I'm not counting on him having got my message about flight times etc). The attorney in LA also phoned Bank of America for me on Friday to complain. He was FURIOUS with them. It seems this is not at all usual behaviour, even for American banks.

I am considering the odds on suing the Bank, AND the dodgy vendors.

I am having to spend every last 'red cent' I have in the UK to afford the £1500 plane ticket, plus sundry expenses. If they mess me about AT ALL at the other end I'm screwed. Neither me nor my partner have been able to work until we can move & we're counting on getting that house before it gets reposessed! Yes we could buy it off the bank, but we can't afford more delays (we need to be in the area & the dodgy garden business took months to sort out).

AAAAAARGH.

PS: I should point out that I asked the Bank of America about the best way to go about transferring the money for the house months ago, right at the beginning of the process, and was told that making a direct transfer by phone would be NO PROBLEM.
Also, I AM IN ANOTHER ****ing CONTINENT, in fact this will be a 12,000 mile round trip.

[indebtstudent]

I am very sorry to hear of the lengths you were forced to go to.

As far as I am aware everywhere the situation re foreign cheques is pretty dire. 6-8 weeks is a decent minimum, and there's no telling what rate you will get.