USA Check in Singapore

[athard]

I just moved to Singapore. I will receive a check for my 401K from USA. Is there a way to cash that check in Singapore? I just moved last week and haven't had the chance to talk to a banker yet. Any advice would be appreciated.

thanks in advance.

[beppi]

You can cash a US cheque at any bank where you have an account.
Fees are high and it takes about a month until the money is in your account.

[athard]

Cool. Thank you for letting me know. I'll check the rates with the bank. I just moved here, so have to open a bank account still.

[sundaymorningstaple]

Another alternative is depositing it in your US account, if you have an AMEX card, and then writing a check on the US account and cashing it at the AMEX office in the Concourse on Beach Road. Been a few years since I've done it, but used to do it once or twice a year. I think there are limitations on the amount and I believe you need at least a Gold Card.

[traderwu]

Isn't opening an account at HSBC is a better solution? They have branches all over world.

Google maps listed many HSBC branches in Singapore.

[zzm9980]

Heh, I just moved here from the US last month and had an HSBC account... Also had a 401k cash out I dealt with!

HSBC branches in each country are considered seperate banks, e.g., HSBC USA, HSBC Singapore, etc. The only benefit you get is the ability to use any HSBC ATM with *no* fee for currency conversion; that is an extremely useful benefit though.

For HSBC to work the way you assume, you need an HSBC Premier account. In Singapore, that requires a minimum deposit of S$200,000 in order to not pay hefty fees.

Anyway, my solution was to have my cash out deposited directly to my HSBC US account, and then just hit up the ATM for S$1200 every day (daily ATM limit of US$1000), and walk over to the DBS ATM and deposit it. Took a while I also charged as much as I could to my US Amex card and paid the bill directly with the account.