Question about passport renewal by mail

Hi, I'm disabled and need to renew my US passport by mail, but they changed things now and don't allow a credit card for payment. There are only 2 payment options: International Money Order (which our bank doesn't do and is hard to find anywhere) and a Banker's Draft. The US Embassy site states that a Banker's Draft must be able to be drawn on US branches of the bank. My bank account isn't with a US bank over here in the UK. I know HSBC is in the USA, but their website says they don't do Banker's Drafts anymore. Anyone else experience this problem?   I wrote to the Embassy to ask about my bank, since it has one branch in New York, but the Embassy will not say if it's okay for me to use that bank. It just tells me to submit the renewal with the Banker's Draft and if it's denied they will explain further.  I don't know why they couldn't just say yes or no about my bank. I'm frustrated and hate paying to send this out without knowing if my bank will be approved or not.  Anyone experience this already and  know which banks are okay to use?

I have read elsewhere that Santander, Barclays and Lloyds are acceptable banks.

Thank you so much!  My bank is Barclays, so I will go ahead now and get the Banker's Draft done this week. I really appreciate your reply.  What a relief to me! Have a great week!

You're welcome. I'm trying to open an account with Barclays so I can renew by mail. Our bank formerly had a presence in the US, but now - nope. We have banked with them wince the early 90s and DH is reluctant to change banks.

I don't want to trek to London or Edinburgh to present a CC, so opening an account seems the only option at this point. Really bummed out.

Gosh, I know what you mean!  I do hope you're able to get your new bank account. I didn't have a problem opening one with Barclays, but that was 9 years ago. One thing about them, though... don't go in there on a Saturday to do anything out of the ordinary. Twice, they refused certain services until a weekday (one was writing a Banker's Draft. The other was doing an international wire transfer of money overseas). Their employees are poorly trained and only handle very basic stuff on Saturdays. Now that's our branch, so perhaps the branch in your area is better.

I didn't want to go into London, either. I doubt I could walk the distance from the train station to the Embassy, then wait around for 2 hours. Much easier doing things by mail, except they demand you only use DX as a courier service, and you have to get to DX by the link on their page, because if you phone up DX they will claim they don't do "one off" delivery services and mention you need a yearly contract.  So just a "heads up" for you. Only use the link to DX from their US Embassy in London page. Good luck!

Hi.  Reading some of the threads on this topic and having tried the Post Office and HSBC, I was starting to despair (don't really have anyone to ask to send me a bankers draft in the U.S.).  However, my bank, The Halifax, has been able to sort out the International Money Order for a £20 charge.  I ordered it on Monday and received it to my home address by Wednesday.  I don't know if you need to have an account with them, but at least it works!  Phew.  Best of luck to all after this incomprehensible change.  (Non-US citizens applying for a Visa don't have to go through this stress...)

Hi.  Reading some of the threads on this topic and having tried the Post Office and HSBC, I was starting to despair (don't really have anyone to ask to send me a bankers draft in the U.S.).  However, my bank, The Halifax, has been able to sort out the International Money Order for a £20 charge.  I ordered it on Monday and received it to my home address by Wednesday.  I don't know if you need to have an account with them, but at least it works!  Phew.  Best of luck to all after this incomprehensible change.  (Non-US citizens applying for a Visa don't have to go through this stress...)

Call me cynical, but of course they can figure it out if they can make a profit off of it!   

Hi.  Reading some of the threads on this topic and having tried the Post Office and HSBC, I was starting to despair (don't really have anyone to ask to send me a bankers draft in the U.S.).  However, my bank, The Halifax, has been able to sort out the International Money Order for a £20 charge.  I ordered it on Monday and received it to my home address by Wednesday.  I don't know if you need to have an account with them, but at least it works!  Phew.  Best of luck to all after this incomprehensible change.  (Non-US citizens applying for a Visa don't have to go through this stress...)

Hi Bert, welcome! 

That's really good to know, thank you for sharing!

Hi.  Reading some of the threads on this topic and having tried the Post Office and HSBC, I was starting to despair (don't really have anyone to ask to send me a bankers draft in the U.S.).  However, my bank, The Halifax, has been able to sort out the International Money Order for a £20 charge.  I ordered it on Monday and received it to my home address by Wednesday.  I don't know if you need to have an account with them, but at least it works!  Phew.  Best of luck to all after this incomprehensible change.  (Non-US citizens applying for a Visa don't have to go through this stress...)

Thanks for your input, Bert!  I finally managed to get an International Draft from Barclays. They were very prompt in mailing it to me, too. Woohoo!  I'm all set now.