oshel

Can anyone answer this question for me? I have looked on a couple of american bank websites and can't find the answer.

I have sent a sterling banker's draft to a rental company in New York for some accommodation as they said they can't accept UK Credit cards? The rental company said a UK Bankers draft will take 5 weeks to clear, however the UK bank have advised the draft was cleared after 2 weeks and the rental company are saying the cheque still hasn't cleared.

Is this the norm? or are we being fobbed off?

Manc

what type of UK credit card?
surely visa is visa and mastercard is mastercard, it makes no difference where it is issued??

dbj1000

My guess is that you've been had. There is no difference between a UK and a US credit card, that I'm aware of, and if you pay on a credit card then they receive payment in dollars. However, if you're dealing with a dishonest company then they don't want a credit card payment, because then you can query a fraudulent charge with the card company and they will refund you and chase the company for repayment. With a banker's draft, you've effectively sent them cash. If they have cashed it after two weeks, but deny that it's cleared, I would be concerned that the company is fraudulent.

Do you know the company well? Is it a national company with a reputation? Have you done business with them before? Have you checked their record with the Better Business Bureau? What was the payment for - a service already rendered or something they will do for you in the future?

Eskimo

youre being messed around - first I dont believe the Credit Card Story as Manc said a cards a card - I have lived here 8 months and because I cant get a US card I still use my UK card daily..
Second a draft takes about 10 days but the last time I did this with Abbey it only took five days and that included going through clearing with Citibank in NY

Big D

The issue with credit cards may be due to the billing address - and the fact that you are moving. I have been caught out on this once trying to pay for something with my UK card on the internet. Its the only suggestion I can think of - otherwise as everyone says - a credit card is accepted the world over!! Maybe they just don't want to pay merchant fees.

Can you get in contact with the bank in question and confirm the 5 weeks story?

Bob

There isn't a difference, but some places have policy to not allow it, certainly for internet transactions, there easy way of stopping credit card fraud...

Manc

that's right, call a spade a spade.

DaxUS

They may have quoted 5 weeks because that is what their bank told them - and that wouldn't be unusual. Generally the US banks quote a worst case scenario and then flag the transaction not to clear until a certain date. Some offer fast clearance for an extra fee.

They might not have wanted to accept non-US credit cards because they do address verification which generally works in the US for US addresses *however* it is worth remembering that merchants who advertise that they take Mastercard or Visa *may* be breaking their merchant agreement if they refuse to take a good card because of some internal fraud prevention precautions.