Foreign Money

[ErinHill226]

Does anyone know if cashing a check from another country will cause a significant delay in payment? I know it might vary by bank, but has anyone done it? I work for a company located in Canada now, and I got my first two checks from them. My bank usually gives instant access to funds if it's a business check as long as it's not like... a zillion dollars. But do they have to still do the calculations to figure out the difference in the two dollars, or would the company have done that? I'm not sure how it works... and I wonder if I'll have to wait around for access to my funds...

[CurlyJoe]

When I get a cheque in US funds, I just take it to the bank and they look after converting it to Canadian funds for me. I can access the funds right away as long as it's not over a certain amount.

[ErinHill226]

Unfortunately, my bank can't even TAKE it. So I guess the wait would have been very long. lol. Since their bank is owned by TD Bank, though, the manager said I could open an account with them tomorrow and won't have to wait very long to get the money after depositing the checks since it's essentially the same bank...

[anng]

Originally Posted by ErinHill226

Unfortunately, my bank can't even TAKE it. So I guess the wait would have been very long. lol. Since their bank is owned by TD Bank, though, the manager said I could open an account with them tomorrow and won't have to wait very long to get the money after depositing the checks since it's essentially the same bank...

I don't know how drastically TD Bank has changed policies, but if the check you need to cash is from one of their banks, you should be able to walk into their bank with a photo ID and ask them to cash it. My mom worked there for 10 years before they laid off everyone in the check processing dept. and sent the jobs off elsewhere.

[karmicwindows]

You might want to consider opening a money market account. As a rule money market accounts are more diversified allowing you deposit funds from any country. You can write checks off of them, get an ATM card, and they usually have a better structure than regular checking accounts. I have a couple because of international clients. The one main thing I like the most is that I can have a percentage of every deposit siphoned off and dropped into a 401k managed through the same bank.

Just a thought, if you are going to be getting payed in funds other that US dollars.

[writepro]

I highly recommend using PayPal. I get paid by clients from all over the world and PayPal works like a charm. They deal with any conversion issues, and the money just appears!

Occasionally, they ask if I want to accept money in certain currencies, and if I say "yes" all is fine.

Also, if you get a PayPal debit card, you can access the money instantly.

[ErinHill226]

Originally Posted by writepro

I highly recommend using PayPal. I get paid by clients from all over the world and PayPal works like a charm. They deal with any conversion issues, and the money just appears!

Occasionally, they ask if I want to accept money in certain currencies, and if I say "yes" all is fine.

Also, if you get a PayPal debit card, you can access the money instantly.

I do have Paypal also, but this company doesn't use it. They're a marketing firm and add their small team of contractor's payroll and issue checks just like all other employees. Paypal charges too many fees. Or, so I've been told by another company I worked with for many years who stopped using Paypal for that reason.

The TD manager was really nice. It's a bank owned by them this company uses, but since it's not EXACTLY the same as if it was actually TD bank (they use Canada Trust), I couldn't go in and cash it (or so he said). I just went ahead and started an account since this is an ongoing contract for the foreseeable future. I hadn't considered a money market account, though. I might have to look into that. But, since they are owned by the same bank, they were able to verify the checks quickly and I have access to my money already (I just started the account yesterday). They were also able to print a debit card on site, so I don't have to wait for that either.

It could get confusing having so many debit cards, though. This makes three for me, plus my husband has a separate bank account from me, so we have cards for that too. I thought about just closing my other bank account, but I have them linked to so many other things already (Paypal, oDesk for the occasional client there, my Amazon account where I buy a trillion books a month...) I may be too lazy to actually switch everything over. lol Ah well.