Taking Money to the USA PROBLEMS
 

Hi All
Just emigrated from the Uk to Tennessee just wanted to tell everyone although i took a bankers draft cheque i had to wait 6 weeks for my money and to be honest they really didnt have a clue what to do with it although i went to a international bank in Memphis they still had to post t back to my Uk bank incurring more bank charges.:thumbdown:

Re: Taking Money to the USA PROBLEMS
 

Why not use a currency broker like XE Trade or Forex ?

Re: Taking Money to the USA PROBLEMS
 

Welcome to the US and a banking system with its roots in the 1930's ... :huh:

There really wasn't any point in getting a banker's draft - you could have just as well written a personal cheque (sorry - "check") on the back of a paper napkin and given it to them - it probably wouldn't have taken any longer (you have to understand that the US is a big country and it can take a long time for a guy on horseback to ride to a port and then wait for a ship to take that piece of paper back to England ...)

Re: Taking Money to the USA PROBLEMS
 

Did you have an account here in the US?

Re: Taking Money to the USA PROBLEMS
 

i did have a bank account here in the USA

Re: Taking Money to the USA PROBLEMS
 

Then there were plenty of currency exchangers you could have used, quickly and with better rates...of quick are talked about on BE, a lot.

Oh well, hindsight and all that :)

Re: Taking Money to the USA PROBLEMS
 

Just out of curiosity, why did you get a bankers draft rather than do a wire transfer from your UK bank or go through a currency exchange like xe.com?

Re: Taking Money to the USA PROBLEMS
 

That's what I was originally thinking when I asked if they had a bank account here. We had our money wired from our UK account to our US account, it was there before we even left the UK.

Re: Taking Money to the USA PROBLEMS
 

i didnt have a USA Bank account until i arrived in the USA

Re: Taking Money to the USA PROBLEMS
 

Yes - clearing a check (cheque!) internationally is painful and unpredictable.

We used high denomination travelers checks (travellers cheques!) to open our bank account (think they were $500 checks), then XETrade after that - was a pretty painless process.

Note that both the UK and USA have limits above which you must declare cash or any negiotable instrument (e.g. checks) when entering/leaving the country (didn't apply to us).

Re: Taking Money to the USA PROBLEMS
 

Back in 2008 when my DH immigrated on a K-1, we attempted a wire transfer to my CU about a month before I was to fly out there and accompany him back. The wire transfer didn't work with our small CU so we ended up getting a Cashier's check (I think what you call a Banker's cheque) made in US dollars to bring with us on the flight. (His account was with Barclays--still is!) The check was made out to me (the USC) since I was the only name on the account when he came over. Of course, this was before we were hip to all these new ways to send money. The check probably took less than two weeks to clear in my CU.

Re: Taking Money to the USA PROBLEMS
 

You are correct. Prior to 1992 commercial banks could not cross state lines so each state had it's own banking system with slow batch transactions through the federal reserve clearing house at night and then more batch operations would occur the following two nights to notify the bank that a check was drawn on and the bank that is cashing the check. Since the 1990s that system was modified slightly but the banks still use slow land lines to accomplish the operations. Until all banks get high speed lines to the federal reserve (the federal reserve doesn't trust the internet) and the federal reserve and banks have enough computer power to clear checks instantaneously, the minimum three day clearing will be the norm (much longer to verify that the check is valid since clearing doesn't determine that) unless you pay extra for wire transfers.

I think the US banking system is similar to the Euro zone banking system where each countries banking system is still very independent of a central banking system. However I think that each country in the Euro zone has their own central bank so the process is likely to be slower than even the US.

I think US credit card networks also have a similar system since accounts are not usually updated until about 3 days following the transaction. I don't believe that credit card transactions need to go through a clearing house since there is no exchange of money at that time but obviously they must go through a central point (probably visa, master card, discover, etc.) prior to updating the accounts at the different banks.