Has anyone had any experience of depositing US dollar checks into their Taiwanese bank accounts? If so is it a hassle, what is the charge and which is the best bank to do this (Taiwanese banks as I do not have any other)? Does anyone know if any bank in Taiwan accepts checks in British pounds? And before anyone says why don’t you get the sender to use bank transfer, well yes that would be great but they only do that to American bank accounts and no other. All other countries must be check only. 
Yes, I’ve deposited many US dollar checks into my Taiwan bank account. It’s been years and I don’t handle these things myself but I think you do need to set up a foreign currency account.
As for pounds, I have them deposited by bank transfer so can’t say about checks. But I don’t see why not as my bank (Fubon) has no problem taking them.
Btw, having US dollars in your account does not mean you can withdraw NT. You first need to change the US into NT.
[quote=“Mucha Man”]Yes, I’ve deposited many US dollar checks into my Taiwan bank account. It’s been years and I don’t handle these things myself but I think you do need to set up a foreign currency account.
As for pounds, I have them deposited by bank transfer so can’t say about checks. But I don’t see why not as my bank (Fubon) has no problem taking them.
Btw, having US dollars in your account does not mean you can withdraw NT. You first need to change the US into NT.[/quote]
Hi Mucha Man
Thanks very much for that feedback.
[quote=“fenlander”][quote=“Muzha Man”]Yes, I’ve deposited many US dollar checks into my Taiwan bank account. It’s been years and I don’t handle these things myself but I think you do need to set up a foreign currency account.
As for pounds, I have them deposited by bank transfer so can’t say about checks. But I don’t see why not as my bank (Fubon) has no problem taking them.
Btw, having US dollars in your account does not mean you can withdraw NT. You first need to change the US into NT.[/quote]
Hi Muzha Man
Thanks very much for that feedback. [/quote]
You will need to set up a foreign currency account. You can do that at any bank. You should know that all banks charge a fee for foreign checks ranging from 200 to 700NT: Megabank is the cheapest at 200NT (if it’s a check from a business). Every bank will make you wait a 30 day minimum before it clears. You should ideally have a NTD account at the same bank with internet banking so you can then exchange online.
Yeah, good advice to get an online account so you can do exchanges online. I didn’t do this at the start (well, wasn’t available in the days women wore petticoats) and now have to call to make exchanges. Of course I can set up an online account but that means a trip across town to the bank and struggling with a lot of vocab I don’t know. 
FAIK , you can deposit any currency convertible in Taiwan and may not need a foreign currency account to do so to get your funds in Taiwan dollars. It does take quite a long time though, depending on bank. And banks have different fees per transaction. My mom did this recently and it was something like 300nt per transaction notwithstanding whether you were depositing one million US dollars or 100 US dollars and it took about 3 weeks to see the funds. And of course they made money on the forex transaction as well.
Hey Tommy could you ask your mom which bank that was? Thanks 
Hey Tommy could you ask your mom which bank that was? Thanks [/quote]
ok next time i call her, i will ask. or ask my sister
Hey Tommy could you ask your mom which bank that was? Thanks [/quote]
What you can do at one bank you can do at any other. I’m sure any bank will take your check if you only have a NTD account. The drawback is that you will have no control over the currency conversion. Right now, the US dollar is weak. The date you give them the check is the date they will do the conversion. If you have a foreign account, you can wait until the dollar comes back up. It depends how much the check is for if this is worth it or not. If you have many checks coming, opening a Megabank account is worth it-the other banks will fee you to death.
I have a US$ check issued overseas (a Citibank check) and I have a US$ account at a Taiwanese bank (Union Bank), but can I deposit it? Nope. They want to send the check back to the issuing country for their buddy bank there to process. And they want to charge me NT$1,400 for the privilege. Is there any way around this fucktardery?
Is it a personal check? I’m guessing it is, as I’ve never run into this problem. Bringing personal checks to Taiwan is a really bad idea.
If it’s not a personal check, then it’s a problem with the bank. Go to Megabank.
No it’s a US$ check from a company in the Philippines. It’s a Citibank check and printed on it is a note saying “Instruction to presenting bank: Send this item for clearing through the US Federal Reserve System.”
Union Bank says it needs to be sent back to the originating country and couldn’t explain why. After wasting 20 minutes, filling out 2 forms, and them presenting me a bill for the “service” and for paying for a DHL envelope, I took my check, my Union Bank US dollar passbook, and just walked out.
Would Citibank in Taiwan be able to process it without all the BS? I suppose I could open a US$ account there if necessary.
Do you have a bank account or brokerage account in the US? That’s the easiest way that I can think of. Otherwise, sorry, I have no good idea other than to keep trying other banks
[quote=“monkey”]No it’s a US$ check from a company in the Philippines. It’s a Citibank check and printed on it is a note saying “Instruction to presenting bank: Send this item for clearing through the US Federal Reserve System.”
Union Bank says it needs to be sent back to the originating country and couldn’t explain why. After wasting 20 minutes, filling out 2 forms, and them presenting me a bill for the “service” and for paying for a DHL envelope, I took my check, my Union Bank US dollar passbook, and just walked out.
Would Citibank in Taiwan be able to process it without all the BS? I suppose I could open a US$ account there if necessary.[/quote]
You could certainly try citibank. But I’m wondering why you are confused by why they need to send it back to the US when the instructions on the check say it must be cleared through the US? Seems like they are just following the instructions on the check…or am I missing something?
Also, how much the fee for international checks is depends on the amount of the check. If it’s huge, then I can imagine a 1600NT fee. It it’s not, then I don’t know why they are charging so much. Do you have an account at Union? Could be they are feeing you to death to cash it if you don’t have an account.
My advice: Go to citybank first. You will still have to open an account to avoid huge fees, probably. If not, go to megabank. Their fees are still cheapest for international checks.
Did you read this thread? I asked Citibank the same thing… too expensive. MEGA BANK will do this. Just go there, open an account and deposit it … It’s not fast, but it’s much better than paying $1400 NTD (BTW, citibank quoted me nearly $70 US)
Read the thread, it’s already been well discussed! Perhaps I should write a guide to this process!
[quote=“suiyuan31”][quote=“fenlander”][quote=“Muzha Man”]Yes, I’ve deposited many US dollar checks into my Taiwan bank account. It’s been years and I don’t handle these things myself but I think you do need to set up a foreign currency account.
As for pounds, I have them deposited by bank transfer so can’t say about checks. But I don’t see why not as my bank (Fubon) has no problem taking them.
Btw, having US dollars in your account does not mean you can withdraw NT. You first need to change the US into NT.[/quote]
Hi Muzha Man
Thanks very much for that feedback. [/quote]
You will need to set up a foreign currency account. You can do that at any bank. You should know that all banks charge a fee for foreign checks ranging from 200 to 700NT: Megabank is the cheapest at 200NT (if it’s a check from a business). Every bank will make you wait a 30 day minimum before it clears. You should ideally have a NTD account at the same bank with internet banking so you can then exchange online.[/quote]
[quote=“suiyuan31”][quote=“monkey”]No it’s a US$ check from a company in the Philippines. It’s a Citibank check and printed on it is a note saying “Instruction to presenting bank: Send this item for clearing through the US Federal Reserve System.”
Union Bank says it needs to be sent back to the originating country and couldn’t explain why. After wasting 20 minutes, filling out 2 forms, and them presenting me a bill for the “service” and for paying for a DHL envelope, I took my check, my Union Bank US dollar passbook, and just walked out.
Would Citibank in Taiwan be able to process it without all the BS? I suppose I could open a US$ account there if necessary.[/quote]
You could certainly try citibank. But I’m wondering why you are confused by why they need to send it back to the US when the instructions on the check say it must be cleared through the US? Seems like they are just following the instructions on the check…or am I missing something?
Also, how much the fee for international checks is depends on the amount of the check. If it’s huge, then I can imagine a 1600NT fee. It it’s not, then I don’t know why they are charging so much. Do you have an account at Union? Could be they are feeing you to death to cash it if you don’t have an account.
I think if they had intended to send it to the US, I could see the logic. But they wanted to send it back to the Philippines by DHL at my expense.
Anyway, as this is a Citibank (Philippines) check, does it still need to go through the international clearing system if I present it in Citibank (Taiwan)?
My advice: Go to citybank first. You will still have to open an account to avoid huge fees, probably. If not, go to megabank. Their fees are still cheapest for international checks.[/quote]