Help! How do I send a cheque in dollars, or money order?

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ZealousidealPlate241@reddit

A cheque? The yanks are so backward with money aren't they.

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bpbill@reddit

I do t know, where not that far behind. Had a reason to send something to Companies House recently, and gad to include a cheque for £15, no other option available.

Making tax digital, except when it isn't lol.

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I mean, I had to send a cheque to DVLA for my driving license. It's not as if Americans are just going round paying with them with any regularity. I know one person that writes them, and she's about 85ish.

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Superspark76@reddit

Matches their healthcare and gun laws 😂

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Mr_Bumcrest@reddit

And education. And religion etc etc

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ItsIllak@reddit

Very often organisations in the US will accept, "e-checks". To be honest, the best way I can describe that is a one-off direct debit, or a reverse BACS bank transfer. You give them your account details (routing and account numbers) and they can take the money from your account. See if that's an option, it looks like it is, but that does heavily depend on who you're paying. Even state tax collection is weird in the US (a tax collector gets elected, sets up a non-government portal to pay etc..)

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darrenjames8282@reddit (OP)

E-check search just tells me this is a digital version of a cheque that can’t be printed out so idk what this is to be honest.

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ItsIllak@reddit

As I say, it's basically you giving the routing and account numbers to the recipient and they can take the money from your account. If they support that, you typically don't need anything physical, but you will need an US account (which you can get with Wise or someone similar)

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JonTravel@reddit

It might not work, a routing number (9 digits in my case) is different from a sort code (6 digits) and their system might not accept the smaller number and might not recognize it as it's not a US bank.

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ItsIllak@reddit

Yeah, it has to be a US bank - but Wise, for example, provides accounts with valid US routing and account numbers. And they're spectacularly easy to move money between, with decent enough exchange rates...

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khan800@reddit

Money orders are everywhere in the US, grocery stores, 7-11's, post office, drug stores.

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avalanchefan95@reddit

You have no relatives or anyone who can help with this? That's really crap. I had to send a cheque to London to the US embassy in US dollars and it was a pain in the ass.

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L9GTX@reddit

Kind of crazy how you can get cash, or do a digital transfer, but international money orders or banker's drafts seem to be pretty much impossible to get (I see Santander stopped doing them literally last week: https://www.santander.co.uk/business/support/payments/making-international-payments/). I get that it's niche, but you'd think someone would offer it, but my Googling has drawn a blank.

For OP, I would suggest trying to find an American (however distant, friend of a work colleague or whatever) to help by writing a cheque from their US account which you could reimburse. Alternatively, if you know anyone travelling to the US in the near future, they could get a USD money order at any US post office.

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LopsidedLegs@reddit

You bank should be able to issues a bankers draft made out in US Dollars. I did it a few years ago except for Canadian Loonies.

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darrenjames8282@reddit (OP)

Which bank was that please.

My bank HSBC say that stopped doing this when I asked them today.

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LopsidedLegs@reddit

It was Halifax but I don't know if they still do it. There is this post from several years ago:

https://www.reddit.com/r/UKPersonalFinance/comments/14jaywz/where_to_get_a_bankers_draft_in_us_dollars/

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Physical-Incident553@reddit

I’m in Michigan. It sounds like the OP needs to get a birth/dearth certificate for a relative. I had to pay the same exact amount recently for my deceased mother’s birth certificate for an official purpose. I had to send a form in the mail so I ended up sending a check (last time I wrote one was about 15 years ago)

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darrenjames8282@reddit (OP)

Exactly!

This is what I need except I don’t have the date of death (which VitalCheck requires for you to be able to apply for it online).

So I’m first having to manually send that form to the department to find out the date of death before I can proceed to use the online death cert order from Vital Check.

Only I can’t get a cheque in dollars to send to them to get the information I need. Oh man!

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Physical-Incident553@reddit

Can’t you find the date of death online? obit, Ancestry, etc?

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darrenjames8282@reddit (OP)

I don’t think an obituary was done. That’s where they put it in the paper right?

I did search a couple of those websites but nothing showed up

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Physical-Incident553@reddit

Obits are either in the newspaper or a lot of times, the funeral home has the announcement on their website. I would search for name of deceased+city, state and see what you get b

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spike31875@reddit

I'm in the US, so I don't know about how to get a money order for USD in the UK (maybe a UK branch of a bank that also does business in the US?). But I'm curious about what kind of information request from Michigan would require paying a fee?

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darrenjames8282@reddit (OP)

I’m trying to obtain info from the Vital Records Office for a family member. And it requires a fee

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spike31875@reddit

I went to the Michigan web site & they use VitalChek for online orders of vital records.

Michigan State Government Vital Records Page: https://www.michigan.gov/mdhhs/doing-business/vitalrecords

On that page, it says:

VitalChek is the ONLY Michigan Vital Records authorized online service provider.

VitalChek says they do accept credit card payments on their FAQ page: https://www.vitalchek.com/v/faqs

So, I'm a wee bit suspicious of the site that says you need to send a check or money order when VitalChek says it will accept credit cards (Visa, Mastercard or American Express).

And as a side note for all of y'all saying how backward the US is: almost everywhere accepts credit card payments now. Usually, you can only pay by check for services when you go there in person. For any government service that has online ordering/payments, of course it's done by debit or credit card.

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darrenjames8282@reddit (OP)

Vital Check requires date of death to order a death certificate. But I don’t have this info.

So I am first trying to search and find this date from MDHHS - it’s basically a form you fill out and send to them with a cheque.

But I can’t seem to get a cheque that’s made out in Dollars - so I’m pretty screwed at this point.

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Dry_Understanding545@reddit

I’m not sure of your situation, but I had the same problem a few weeks ago. I managed to transfer the money to my lawyers and had them pay on my behalf.

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ImmediatePiano6690@reddit

are you sure it's all legit?

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darrenjames8282@reddit (OP)

It’s the MDHHS so all above board 👍🏻

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neilm1000@reddit

Almost certainly the case, they're so backwards over there.

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ImmediatePiano6690@reddit

That's fair enough then, I'm just to paranoid about scammers these days.

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neilm1000@reddit

Fair.

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ElectronUK@reddit

Do you know someone in the US that could do it for you? You can then send it to them. That’s going to be the easiest way. I don’t know of any bank that still does money orders.

Other option, contact the payments / teller team for the state of Michigan, explain your situation… it’s probably not the first time they will have come across this.

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darrenjames8282@reddit (OP)

I’ve sent them another email. It’s the Michigan Vital Records Office. Will see what they say

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stealth941@reddit

Are you doing a bank transfer or what's the situation maybe there's an easier solution?

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darrenjames8282@reddit (OP)

They don’t accept bank transfer. Only cheque made out for 48 dollars. Or a money order - but I don’t really know what this is or where to get one.

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stealth941@reddit

Western Union is the beSt bet

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darrenjames8282@reddit (OP)

I’ll give them a try - I always thought they did “transfers” as opposed to producing a physical cheque or money order. Idk

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Ryledra@reddit

Yeah, a direct bank transfer with an IBAN (International Bank Account Number) is likely easier and more secure than sending a cheque

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mronion82@reddit

The Post Office version of a money order is a postal order but they can't be issued in dollars. For international orders they use Western Union. Not all of them have that facility so check before you go.

https://www.postoffice.co.uk/international-money-transfer/western-union-branch

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Affectionate_You7621@reddit

If this is health related don't pay.

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Koda614@reddit

Unless you have a bank account that natively does USD as it's currency, you're not sending a cheque for it. It would have to be in GBP with an overpayment that covers fees and exchange rates - But that's up to the state department in question if they will even attempt to cash this or not. I can't speak for MI, but I know it's a 50-50 chance in the state of Florida.

For a money order, there's not really a direct equivalent here in the UK. There's wiring services like Moneygram and Western Union but it's highly unlikely that they'll accept this. The bankers drafts you're talking about wouldn't have been suitable either.

Try contacting the department in question. See if they have a bank account you can transfer into. You'll have to do some work to change that into an international bank account number so you can pay it, but that will ultimately work. Otherwise you'd have to have a friend or family member over there pay on your behalf, or travel over yourself to settle the balance in person.

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neilm1000@reddit

but I know it's a 50-50 chance in the state of Florida.

Having dealt with the State of Florida in a previous job, I am simultaneously both not remotely surprised, and gobsmacked they won't take the money.

Do they really not bank cheques?

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