How to pay by check/cheque in dollars from the UK?

June 30, 2017 2:18 AM

I need to make some student loan payments to an American company (ecsi) that annoyingly only accepts payments via direct transfer from a US bank account or by check in dollars. My bank is in the UK. The solution I've found that seems best is from a company called Plastiq - apparently I pay them by credit card and they write and send off a check in dollars but they take a 2.5% cut.

So I'm wondering 1). has anyone used Plastiq and how did it go? 2). Is there a better/cheaper/easier way? Please assume I don't have anyone I can transfer the money to who could then write a check. Thank you.

posted by hazyjane to Work & Money (6 answers total)

Best answer: Can't you just buy a bank draft or money order in US funds and mail it to the American loan company the same way you would with a cheque? Yes, you pay a service fee to purchase the draft, but I'm betting it will be a whole lot less than 2.5%. You'll also have to absorb the cost of the stamp.
posted by sardonyx at 3:14 AM on June 30, 2017

Can you do a wire transfer? It usually costs about $15 per transaction, flat. Is that better than 2.5% for you?
posted by redlines at 3:43 AM on June 30, 2017

Sardonyx is correct. Your bank may also offer a counter cheque, a cheque literally drawn up at the bank to meet the requirements.

Also, remember that a cheque is nothing more than a written instruction for your bank to follow, so you can also literally write a UK cheque made out to "six hundred US dollars / USD$600", and your bank will process that. Best to ask about fees first, though, since it's likely going to get charged with a manual-processing fee which could be $50 or more. And of course you won't know the exchange rate in advance. [Source: worked in cheque design back in the dark ages.]

But for that matter, this is a question best asked at your bank, because they certainly have multiple ways of doing this with various fees and features involved. Walk in.
posted by rokusan at 3:50 AM on June 30, 2017 [1 favorite]

transferwise.com?
posted by yoyo_nyc at 6:00 AM on June 30, 2017

Best answer: In answer to your first question, I did use Plastique for a payment where it was the mandated method and found it okay. If I remember correctly the amount of information they wanted in order to get set up was mildly annoying, but the payment process went smoothly.
posted by scrute at 7:01 AM on June 30, 2017

Response by poster: Thanks all. I found another way - consolidating my loans and going through Navient who let me pay by debit card over the phone. For future reference RBS bank would have let me get bank drafts in dollars from them but only if I was a customer. Writing dollars instead of pounds on a personal cheque wouldn't have worked according to RBS though. The guy I spoke to in the post office suggested I just send cash through the post!
posted by hazyjane at 6:58 AM on July 1, 2017