RICH

I have BT shares, held since they went public in the 80's. 2 questions:

1. How best to "cash" my dividend cheques, which are in GBP, given I have no UK bank account.
2. How best to cash in the shares. I was told by the registrar (Equiniti) I have to use a US based "broker"?

Thing is, I only have 128 shares, worth only about 500 quid, and I have 2 dividend cheques now, a year's worth. for 3.84 gbp and 8.32 gpb. Bank of America wants $10 ish fee to deposit them in my checking account. Thought I would send them to my old man in UK - same surname different first name - could he deposit them in his account? - I don't think signing the back works in UK as it might here?

Pulaski

You are correct, endorsing a check and handing it to a third party is no longer permissible in the UK. Given their value, you may just have two mementos of your share holding! That said, despite what the UK banking regs now say, there is a good chance that they'd be accepted if deposited into your father's account through an an ATM in the UK because they are so small in value.

You could also transfer the shares directly to your father, by executing a stock transfer form, and then have him sell them. I looked into this a few years ago, to aggregate several small family privatization holdings, and avoid paying about £30 on each sale. You may be able to download a London Stock Exchange stock transfer form directly, though you might need to be creative with your address!

RICH

Cheers!
Stupid thing is, I did nothing with these shares when I left UK 10 years ago, then last year, I decided to update the records with my new address in US etc. I got a check for 10 years worth of dividends (about 100 quid) and deposited it and took the hit from BOA. Now the 6 monthly checks are coming the amounts seem pointless, and liquidating seems too expensive relative to value.

Maybe I can give dad's bank details for future dividends and just hold onto the shares.

Pulaski

Sounds like a good plan to me, for a trivial holding. Maybe one day they'll get taken over, merge or get bought out, and you'll get a check for the value without any brokers fees. You might also look into whether they still offer a dividend reinvestment plan, so they'll send you a few shares twice a year instead of an irritatingly small check.

Yorkieabroad

Don't know about BT, but quite a few of mine cancelled the DRIP nominations once they found I was resident over here.

Other than what has already been suggested, the only other thing i can think of that you could try would be to set up a cheapie brokerage account here, add a global account and get them transferred into that. I know Etrade will do it as that was exactly what I did when Etrade UK closed down. It was a bit of a palaver, and the question is whether it is worth the hassle....

nun

Small investments like this can be a real pain when you move countries. Dealing with their taxation is sometimes just not worth keeping them. I'd advise everyone who moves to the US to move all their non-retirement investments too. You're lucky that these are individual shares as their taxation isn't too bad. If they were UK mutual funds you'd have to file PFIC and that's never worth the effort.

JAJ

You may be able to transfer the shares into your U.S. brokerage account. Many U.S. brokers will allow foreign stock to be held.

Other options are:
- as someone else has said, privately transfer to someone else; or
- donate the shares to Sharegift, http://www.sharegift.co.uk

However, if you decide to donate this way, there will not be a U.S. tax deduction. You may wish to research if there is a U.S. equivalent that can accept foreign stock.

Jerseygirl

We donated our UK shares...seemed the easiest way.

RICH

They did get taken over - mm/O2, and back again...and I had that opportunity, but i ignored it and here we are!

The DRIP option wouldn't work - can't recall why.

RICH

Dad does some trading - I will see if he can buy/ transfer through his channels rather than setting up new ones. thx