A friend has a US check made out to him which he has been unable to cash. It was his 401k settlement from his time with Schlumberger. Any suggestions on how he can cash the check. He is not a US citizen.

27 minutes ago, mackayae said:

A friend has a US check made out to him which he has been unable to cash. It was his 401k settlement from his time with Schlumberger. Any suggestions on how he can cash the check. He is not a US citizen.

Ouch that sounds tricky.

I assume if he has a Thai bank account he already asked them

I used to contract with Schlumberger in the US and most staff weren't US citizens.

Sounds remote but maybe he can beg to them to cancel the check and to send the money western union.

Deposit it into a Thai bank, pay the fee, wait 30 days for it to clear. 

 

Have a friend deposit it into their US account, wait for it to clear and get the money.

Banks here do accept checks, but they take a very long time to clear it. Done it a couple of times, and the best time was 16 days, otherwise as @mogandave posted up to around a month.

Yes banks do cash U.S. checks but I think they're much more likely to do that when the payee has an account with them.

I can imagine them not liking anything different. 

It helps that it's not a personal check but from a corporation.

As far as getting help from a U.S. national, if it's a big check, they might be concerned about remittance tax implications.

1 hour ago, mogandave said:

Deposit it into a Thai bank, pay the fee, wait 30 days for it to clear. 

 

Have a friend deposit it into their US account, wait for it to clear and get the money.

Simplest solutions are the easiest.

1 hour ago, Jingthing said:

Yes banks do cash U.S. checks but I think they're much more likely to do that when the payee has an account with them.

I can imagine them not liking anything different. 

It helps that it's not a personal check but from a corporation.

As far as getting help from a U.S. national, if it's a big check, they might be concerned about remittance tax implications.

Have not done it lately, but I’ve cashed other people’s checks, they just take a long time to clear.

The last time we did that it was a payment to my wife where the record was important. I think it took 6 weeks to get the money. Thai banks can do it but it is weird. There are no personal checking accounts here.

Best solution he has come up with so far. On his way home (NZ) from Thailand, stop in HNL, open an account at BOH, wait 1 week, transfer money from BOH to his NZ bank. He's on a 60 day VOA in Thailand.

On 1/26/2025 at 12:40 PM, mackayae said:

Any suggestions on how he can cash the check.

Contact the issuing bank and ask if they offer can offer any assistance.

Checks lol, the fact they still exist should be illegal to start with lol. USA stuck in the past big time on banking.

One month to clear minimum    can take 3 months ,, I have had to do a few over the years ...

13 hours ago, ChaiyaTH said:

Checks lol, the fact they still exist should be illegal to start with lol. USA stuck in the past big time on banking.

No more checks in OZ as far as I know.

13 hours ago, still kicking said:

No more checks in OZ as far as I know.

I think we stopped using them like 2 decades ago in my country lol.