Cheque Clearing

[nonthaburial]

Anyone tell me how long it takes to clear a government cheque from UK in a local bank here in Thailand.

Reason I ask is because my military pension is paid by cheque monthly, but into my account in Manila and the bank there says between 45 -60 days to clear. Surely in this electronic age this is ridiculous and I get the feeling they are sitting on the money earning themselves interest

[nidge]

I used to have foreign currency cheques paid into my account and they always took around 50 days. Yes it is ridiculous but it's just one of those things that is not going to change so there is no point losing sleep over it.

Nidge.

[lopburi3]

I very seldom do but last year did cash a check just to test and was told 4 weeks: deposit made on 25/10 and credit to account at Bangkok Bank on 19/11.

[PeaceBlondie]

I just deposited about 10,000 baht of US IRS income tax refund. 45 days they said. There may be some magical method by which the US treasury notifies the foreign bank the check has cleared. Or Somchai just thinks if it was good enough in 1969, it is still a valid holding period.

[Tafia]

I very seldom do but last year did cash a check just to test and was told 4 weeks: deposit made on 25/10 and credit to account at Bangkok Bank on 19/11.

Is cheque depositing a cheaper option than SWIFT?

If so just covering for those initial 40-50 days and regular monthly or bi-monthly deposits by cheque will ensure a regular income...or have I completly misread the sitution??

[lopburi3]

This was a little over $12k check. There was a $10 fee charge at Bangkok Bank to submit (converted to baht at local rate) and a 1,000 hold on account. There was another $22 taken from the 12k amount before conversion into baht at TT rate. So cost was $32 for one check and a hold of 1,000 baht for a month. To me SWIFT next day availability is worth the extra cost (if pay high fee like I do) as have more control of when the exchange will take place (and rate).

Edit - I have seen many posts that check deposit is much cheaper than this but question if they are checking the exchange amount they receive carefully - in this case it would appear to be $10 if you did not account for the extra $22 taken out before exchange made.

[nidge]

It used to cost me around $30 with Siam Commercial.

[Boater]

i have just encountered the same issue.... i have a chq in Euro and the bank explained 45 - 60 days!!

in the UK, an international chq takes 2 weeks max!, also they will check to see if the funds are also available from the other bank in 48 hrs!

But TIT, what can we do

[Scott]

Just had a cashier's check clear. It took 1 month.

[silverhawk_usa]

I wrote a personal check at BKK Bank in the amount of $6,000 to myself. The bank told me it would take 30 days to clear and be put in my account here. There was a $10 fee up front. Today was day 30 exactly and to my surprise, there it was.

[A_Traveller]

In formal cheque clearing the cheque itself has to physically return to the point of origin for payment clearance {in some systems that's a mutually agreed clearing house [hence the name]}, which is the key element in the transactional process.

In brief the cheque goes in to the local clearance process, if international, then it becomes an exception, goes to international department, they then clarify which clearing method is available for them for this specific bank, and action it {just add up the days so far and you can see why even a local cheque, especially from another bank, is a time consuming process}. If there is no agreement, which in Thailand is the normal case, the cheque will be physically sent back to the issuing bank for clearance and authorisation. [Note this may not be direct but through a correspondent bank who is charged with representing the Thai bank in the locale]. Often this then requires, you've guessed, the cheque to physically return to Thailand, finally ending up at the international credit desk who will then authorise a payment from the USD account associated with this clearance to issue funds. In some cases this issuance involves both the international and transfer departments so the well travelled cheque, now with it's own Teddy Bear {frequent traveller bonus} from the couriers, bounces between the two departments until the issuer credit is confirmed and the transfer to the recipient account can occur, usually the next banking day {or so}.

Regards

[Gary A]

When I get a check and it's an amount worth spending 600 baht on, I EMS the check to my US bank branch. I endorse the check as "deposit only". The money shows up in my US account within a week. I have never had a problem with Thai EMS mail.

[Thanyaburi Mac]

Anyone tell me how long it takes to clear a government cheque from UK in a local bank here in Thailand.

Reason I ask is because my military pension is paid by cheque monthly, but into my account in Manila and the bank there says between 45 -60 days to clear. Surely in this electronic age this is ridiculous and I get the feeling they are sitting on the money earning themselves interest

There's TWO (2) timelines involved with your Q.  First is how long it actually takes your check to clear your foreign bank, U.S. in my case, and second is how long your Thai bank restricts access to the funds.

I write a check monthly on my U.S. bank for deposit in baht to my SCB account here.  The $$ check normally clears my U.S. bank within 7-10 days, easy to check this via my U.S. bank's web site.  

However, SCB restricts access to the baht funds for 45 days, working days, I think.  This I expect to protect them in case of delays or possible problems with a foreign check. Not a real problem if I plan ahead.  If funds needed sooner, I might do a wire transfer.

BTW, SCB's charge for depositing a foreign personal check is baht 200, plus baht 3 for a tax stamp.

I haven't tried depositing a 3rd party check made out to me before.  Perhaps when I receive George Bush the Younger's election year "stimulus" "vote for us" check I'll ask about it.

As to exchange rate received, it's normally right up there with the traveller's check rate and wire transfer.  Again, easy to check online with SCB's daily/hourly updates:  

http://www.scb.co.th/exchange/bk-pvsexchange.htm

Looks like 32.82 today.

I often also do an ATM drawdown so I can compare three rates in the same time frame, the rate on my personal check deposit, the ATM drawdown, and SCB's current rate.

Mac