brad@looking.on.ca (Brad Templeton) (11/17/90)
Recently I renewed my membership in Usenix. I paid using my $U.S. checking (chequing) account at Canada Trust, a Canadian bank-like object. All Canadian financial institutions offer accounts in U.S. funds, often with chequing, for the many Canadian firms like mine that do lots of business in the USA. But USENIX sent my cheque back to me -- they are one of many U.S. outfits that say "check drawn in U.S. dollars on a U.S. bank." I had the former but not the latter. Most outfits that put on that warning take cheques drawn in U.S. dollars on CDN banks, but Usenix is not one. (So I paid on credit card.) Why is this? Usenix must have enough Canadian (and other non-U.S.) members to warrant more courtesy to them in this area. If Usenix's bank is the one being a pain (which I suspect) then there are many U.S. banks that *will* take such cheques (I write them all the time to send to the USA) and Usenix should consider switching, or at least opening a 2nd account at a nicer bank for such drafts. Or, if USENIX has enough CDN members, it could take the step of opening a CDN$ account somewhere, and accepting membership fees for some reasonable amount of CDN$. This is nice, but not as necessary, since many Canadians are quite used to paying for US things in US currency. -- Brad Templeton, ClariNet Communications Corp. -- Waterloo, Ontario 519/884-7473
arnold@audiofax.com (Arnold Robbins) (11/19/90)
In article <1990Nov17.082513.9367@looking.on.ca> brad@looking.on.ca (Brad Templeton) writes: >But USENIX sent my cheque back to me -- they are one of many U.S. outfits >that say "check drawn in U.S. dollars on a U.S. bank." Well, clearly, had you sent them a "check" instead of a "cheque" there wouldn't have been a problem!! :-) :-) :-) -- Arnold Robbins AudioFAX, Inc. | Laundry increases 2000 Powers Ferry Road, #200 / Marietta, GA. 30067 | exponentially in the INTERNET: arnold@audiofax.com Phone: +1 404 933 7612 | number of children. UUCP: emory!audfax!arnold Fax-box: +1 404 618 4581 | -- Miriam Robbins
paul@taniwha.UUCP (Paul Campbell) (11/20/90)
In article <1990Nov17.082513.9367@looking.on.ca> brad@looking.on.ca (Brad Templeton) writes: >But USENIX sent my cheque back to me -- they are one of many U.S. outfits >that say "check drawn in U.S. dollars on a U.S. bank." I had the former >but not the latter. Most outfits that put on that warning take cheques >drawn in U.S. dollars on CDN banks, but Usenix is not one. (So I paid >on credit card.) Probably depends on their bank, mine (Wells Fargo) charges me $50 to cash a US$ check on a foreign bank, it also takes about 2 months to clear. Paul -- Paul Campbell UUCP: ..!mtxinu!taniwha!paul AppleLink: CAMPBELL.P What most people don't realize is that those plastic cover slips that your 3 inch floppies come in are actually condoms for protecting your computer from harmfull computer viruses - practice safe computing ..... :-)
berry@lll-crg.llnl.gov (Berry Kercheval) (11/21/90)
In article <742@taniwha.UUCP> paul@taniwha.UUCP (Paul Campbell) writes: >Probably depends on their bank, mine (Wells Fargo) charges me $50 to cash >a US$ check on a foreign bank, it also takes about 2 months to clear. It MUST depend on the bank. I recently had occaision to deposit a draft (NOT a check) drawn in US $ on the UK Midland Bank. My credit union charged me nothing and the draft cleared in less than a week. --berry -- bERRY Kercheval :: berry@lll-crg.llnl.gov "When I had no wings to fly, you flew to me..."
brad@looking.on.ca (Brad Templeton) (11/21/90)
In article <742@taniwha.UUCP> paul@taniwha.UUCP (Paul Campbell) writes: > >Probably depends on their bank, mine (Wells Fargo) charges me $50 to cash >a US$ check on a foreign bank, it also takes about 2 months to clear. > > Paul So get another bank, or at least an account at a nice bank. Canadian banks and institutions are huge -- far larger than the average U.S. bank that these people will take a check from. Some U.S. banks must take them, if B of A and Wells Fargo won't. I think it's quite annoying when, if foreigners go to the trouble of getting accounts in your currency, the banks still cause trouble. -- Brad Templeton, ClariNet Communications Corp. -- Waterloo, Ontario 519/884-7473
henry@garp.mit.edu (Henry Mensch) (11/21/90)
brad@looking.on.ca (Brad Templeton) wrote: ->I think it's quite annoying when, if foreigners ->go to the trouble of getting accounts in your currency, the banks still cause ->trouble. getting an account denominated in USD isn't the issue (you could get a chequing account denominated in ECUs ... you can still write checks on that account in any freely-traded currency provided your recipient can process it). the issue is that your cheques probably have words on them that indicate canadian origin. bank tellers aren't very bright (they're paid to be surly, you see), and their most immediate management was likely behind the teller's window in the not-too-distant past (and suffer from similar stupidity) and they just don't know if their bank has arrangements to process canadian cheques drawn in USD. you can avoid the issue by avoiding the use of cheques. wire transfers (pricey for the amount of money involved, but certainly quick) and credit cards are good alternatives. # Henry Mensch / <henry@garp.mit.edu> / E40-379 MIT, Cambridge, MA # <hmensch@uk.ac.nsfnet-relay> / <henry@tts.lth.se> / <mensch@munnari.oz.au> # via X.400: S=mensch; OU=informatik; P=tu-muenchen; A=dbp; C=de
rick@uunet.UU.NET (Rick Adams) (11/23/90)
The real issue is that US banks like to process their checks through the US Federal Reserve System. That happens "overnight" for US banks. For non-US banks, they actually US MAIL the check to a clearing house which eventually electronically transfers the money into the US banks account. Not surprisingly, this is a major nuisance and most US banks charge a special handling fee to discourage the practice. UUNET processes dozens of Canadian checks in US$ per month. Its a non-trivial hassle. Fortunately our bank doesnt surcharge, but we often go a month before getting the money (or finding that the check has bounced). The US$ doesn't make life any easier. All it does is make the currency conversion simple (i.e. there isnt one). If you want to do the businesses you deal with a big favor, get a check in US$ on a US bank. There are lots Canadian banks that can offer that (We get 2/3 of our Canadian payments in US$ on a US bank with a Canadian Bank name on the check). UUNET currently chooses to go through the hassle of the "collection item" checks, however once you've done it, it's not surprising that smaller business won't do it. ---rick