Banking in a US cheque into Singapore Bank
I got into a situation whereby i need to bank in a US cheque into a Singapore bank.
The first thing that puzzles me is that the check, unlike a USD cheque issued by singapore bank, odes not indicate that it is in USD. So that got me abit concern.
However, everything went smoothly.
The thing to note however, is the handling charges for banking in a US cheque issued by a non singapore bank. The bank that i use is DBS.
DBS charges a commission of SGD 10.00 for the transaction. Additionally, there is a SGD4.00 of Postage.
The US agent charges USD 5.00 for the transaction as well.
All in all, if you do not want transaction cost to reach 1% of your amount, your cheque must be valued at least SGD 2500.
The cheaper method is probably to wire money to a Singapore bank or Custom House. Actually, you calclulate the amount it took to clear my cheque, it might not be cheaper after all as Custom House charges around SGD 20 for wire services.
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Comments
hi boss, good to hear from you.
the exchange rate is 1.4435.
the time to clear? a freaking 20 business days.
seriously speaking, after factoring this important criteria, it is wiser to wire money to a singapore bank, as i did before and it takes less than 10 business days (it may be faster than that from what i can remember)
regards.
Hi Drizzt,
Thanks for replying. Do you have any idea if the exchange rate you got was a good one?
I think when I want to send money from US to Singapore, I would use the free wire service from WaMu (a US bank) and not consider using cheques.
Hi shlow,
I have never come across WaMu before. Perhaps you can direct me to it. It would seem if its a bank i will need to create an account to make use of this free service isn’t it?
regards,
Drizzt
After reading your blog, I feel relieved. I am new to all these, I have a few blogs and I am starting to roll in money.
I was afraid that I would have issues with US cheques esp. when the amounts are between 100-200 each.
And I do intend to approach DBS.
Thanks for the info.
Al
Hi again,
I just called up DBS. They charge 1/8 of the check amount and $4.00 postage.
Min is 10.00 max is 100.00 for the fee.
Wow, quite a fair bit.
Albert
Overall, the amount will add up to around S$22 for DBS.
There’s one way to save a bit of money though.
If you bank in a few checks together, you will only be charged the postage once. Put them all in an unsealed envelope and drop it in.
That’s what I usually do.
Hmm i have yet to try that. Perhaps i will do that in the latest cheque.
however, cheques do have a certain validity so you cant really accumulate a few isnt it.
Typically 3 months..so should be able to accumulate a couple. Depends on how many sources you have too.
Found your blog when I was googling for DBS USD cheque charges. 
Last time I specially went down to Travellex, but after they increase their fees, the charges are now comparable to bank’s charges. Thinking of using DBS this time, more convenient too…
Interesting post. Can you tell me the exchange rate you received and the time it takes for the cheque to clear?