Can residents of Canada cash/deposit American checks sent to them?

[lchang25000]

Sorry if this is a silly question. I have no idea what the answer is. Thanks!

[MontrealMum]

Yes.

If it's a regular check, written on your personal account, they must go to the teller to deposit (not the ATM) and the bank will hold the funds for 28 days (which may or may not be a PITA depending on how soon you want them to have the $).

Alternatively, you can get a money order or cashier's check at YOUR bank which will go through right away on the Canadian end. Again, must be deposited at teller. What you get depends on the amount, IIRC the cashier's check is for over $100. If you worry about mailing either type of check you could do a wire transfer... but it takes some time to go through (5 days maybe, changed after 9/11), and costs $$$. I haven't done wire transfers in quite some time so I'm not too up on all the time/particulars. You do need the routing numbers for both ends which you can get off your check and their check (Can. routing numbers are in a diff. order than US ones though).

And finally, if you have paypal, and they have paypal, you might send it that way, but fewer Canadians have PP linked to their bank accounts.

Can you tell my parents and I go through this frequently? :)

[mom2binsd]

I can tell you that the reverse it awful...my dad sent me check for 1000.00 , my US bank wanted to charge me 80.00 and hold it for 6 weeks, we've now gone to Money Orders. I would personally do a money order.

[Piglet]

My credit union was SUPER about a US check - they just gave me US cash, which was awesome. Not bothering with exchange rates, not dealing with any fees, just cold hard cash in the exact amount of the check (which we spent when we went to the US on vacation).

[codex57]

Some banks are better than others. You can also look into how much it would cost to wire money directly from bank to bank.

[jess_g]

I think you can goto a us post office and get an international money order in Canadian dollars. I did this once a few years ago and it worked great.


Jessica

[mikeys_mom]

In short, yes you can.
I am super lazy with regards to going into a bank . If we get a cheque from someone in the US for a smaller amount - usually less than $100, I just deposit it at the ATM like a regular Cdn cheque and then I wait and within a few days the bank realizes it's a US$ cheque and adjusts my account for the difference in the f/x. They also then put a hold on the funds for about 10 days. Did I mention I am lazy and have little time to go to a bank when a US relative sends one of my DC a random cheque :bag? I wouldn't do it with a larger amount but for me, the small f/x difference is not worth the effort of actually going to the teller.