I have a foreign check from an Australian corporation with the words "not negotiable" on it. My bank won’t deposit it, and the company claims that all of their checks say "not negotiable" on them. Is there an American bank that will cash this check for me? How should I go about getting my money?
In many countries whose banking systems derive from the British system, "Not negotiable" printed across the face of a check means that the check cannot be transferred to a third party. It can only be deposited to an account in the name of the payee. "Not negotiable" in the U.S. means something else altogether.
A bank with foreign branches, Bank of New York is one that comes to mind, or a U.S. office of an Australian bank would accept the check for deposit. However, that requires setting up an account with the bank, and you may not want to do that for a solitary check.
An alternative is to ask the Australian company if it can wire the funds to your U.S. bank account if you return the original check to them. You'll need to give them your bank's wire transfer routing instructions.
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In many countries whose banking systems derive from the British system, "Not negotiable" printed across the face of a check means that the check cannot be transferred to a third party. It can only be deposited to an account in the name of the 