I searched the money transfer threads, but couldn't find the answer. Is it possible to deposit a personal US check in a Swiss bank? How much would it cost? If you avoid the exchange fees by depositing into a dollar account, can this be a cheap (?) option for US->CH money transfer? Thanks!
Hello!
Usually Swiss banks charge around 20/30 CHF for handling a personal check.
Thanks! So, there are no other fees? (percentage) Flat fee of 30 CHF sounds very good if the amount is large enough. I wonder why this method of money transfer is rarely mentioned.
I'm not sure about avoiding the exchange fee. It has to be exchanged a some point no? You probably have a better exchange rate at your own bank though. You can deposit US personal checks written out to yourself. Be aware it takes a really really long time to clear.
At least this way is more transparent and I'd have some control over the exchange rate (can choose a bank with better rate). "Long time to clear" -- weeks? Also, I wonder if my US bank would allow cashing a large check. It's probably a good idea to talk to them before doing something like that.
It usually takes about 2 weeks and costs about 20$. Make sure you follow all the instructions on the back of the check correctly or it can cause further delays. Better to bring the check to the Swiss bank and have them tell you exactly what to do rather than send it in by post.
I once deposited a cheque here with UBS, it was already in CHFs but from an Australian bank (my grandmother sent it). I don't remember charges, but it did take 5 months to clear (!) and they lost it along the way. Fortunately I had kept all the info and they refunded it to my account. But it was a lot of bother. Certainly I haven't done it again.
If you have a US bank, they may be able to do an International Wire transfer. But I guess it is not cheap, but you would get the money within 3-5 business days.
For Credit-Suisse, it can take up to 4 weeks. The transaction goes through Deutsche Bank (at least ours did). Last time I did it (last summer) - it took 3 weeks. It's a royal pain in the a$$.
I believe you do pay about CHF 20-30 and you might also pay an exchange fee - you'd need to check with the individual bank.
We're cashing in some stuff in the US and we're going to have to deal with these stupid checks again.
For transfers, I transfer money from our Swiss account to our US account monthly. It takes about 3-4 days, and there are charges at both ends. It's not so easy to do it the other way, however.
Why don't you just walk in to your bank and ask !
If your then happy with the answer, go ahead with the transaction, if not, think of some other way like mailing the cheque to the US for deposit.
Any case if you do it here, the cheque will need to go via New York, as with all dollar payments.
as said before just do a money transfer, done in minutes, if your worried about exchange rates then open a dollar account at your current swiss bank, again takes a couple of minutes and your can transfer into it straight away. only down side is you don't get interest on a foreign currency account oh and it costs you 3chf per month (with ubs anyway)
Last time I deposited a large UK check @ UBS earlier this year it cleared in some days, flat fee as I stated.
Exchange rate was OK as I remember, no other charges
Other people say here they have had bad experiences.
I did not do a wire transfer because the charges were extortionate (from a UK bank).
Also UK bank wanted to do multiple wire transfers because the amount was too large to transfer in one transfer (they said)
If the amount is large, make sure you don't answer the door when uncle Sam knocks
When I deposited USD into a Swiss bank CHF account, the bank reported no Forex cost in any statements to me. I discovered by a detailed analysis using my experiences and resources regarding foreign exchange that the resulting CHF was less than the USD value deposited. Therefore, the bank profited from the Forex.
After that discovery, I deposit USD into a CH USD account, there is no foreign exchange cost, only both banks charges and the USD accounts monthly charges.
All USA citizens are required to report any financial transfers, income, etc. to the USA IRS for taxing you plus US Treasury department to monitor your financial accounts.
Yes, weeks. My bank said it would take minimum three weeks. In the end I couldn't wait that long so I never did deposit a US check. You have to deposit into your own account here in CH. You won't get a bank to "cash it" for you.
I don't know what a "large check" is for you. I wanted to send $15,000US and my US bank wouldn't do a wire transfer without me being physically present in the US to do it. They were the ones who suggested I write myself a check and deposit it in CH.
That's interesting. I was sure that depositing a large (>10K) personal check would raise more alerts than a wire transfer. US banks are so paranoid, they block credit cards and checking accounts for any unusual activity. So annoying. Looks like this might be the only way to transfer money then.
AFAIK, any single transfer exceeding US$10K is reported to Treasury, in addition to the FBAR reporting requirement for all US citizens and permanent residents (you report your max balance for all accounts if during the year the sum of the account balance exceeds US$10K).
15K would be big for me. I can't even initiate a smallish transfer from my US bank to here unless I go into the US bank and fill out a paper form. Ugh. As a consequence, we just keep the bare minimum in the US unless we plan to visit because otherwise it's a royal PITA to access the funds.
Yes, I know, but what choice do I have? There is nothing that should interest the Treasury or the IRS in this situation. A person who permanently moves abroad needs to sell some stuff and transfer all his money out of the country.
BTW, splitting the transfer into portions <10K to avoid the automatic reporting is illegal ("structuring").
It seemed rather bizarre to me too. But as edot says you can't make a wire transfer from the US unless you go in and fill out forms yourself. I told them I was out of the country but they didn't care. No other way, except writing a check.
Royal PITA is the only way to describe it!
Now, I use the money from that account through a VISA debit card or for shopping online.
You have no choice. It's simply reported to treasury. If you have a lot of big transfers, you may raise a red flag, but that's simply what happens. WHen we sold our house in the US, the proceeds (more than 10K, but not that big since we only had the house for a few years) were transferred to Switzerland, but it was no big deal. It's more to watch out for money laundering and of course, funding terrorists.