Is your bank wank?

I am a postgraduate at University of York and I picked up my Sallie Mae loan checks on October 20 and deposited them into my Nationwide account on October 22. The bank (and the university) told me it would be 6 weeks maximum for the funds to clear because they would have to sent the check back to the US because it was made out in US dollars, change the amount to Sterling, and send it back to Nationwide to deposit in my account. Has anyone else had this problem? Does it REALLY have to take this long to cash a check? Is there any other way around this? It has been nearly four weeks and still nothing, I know I have two weeks more to wait before I really panic, but this just seems ridiculous that in 2009 two industrialized, western nations cannot cash a check in less than six weeks. Someone please help...

Yes, many banks state it will take several weeks to clear foreign checks as part of their terms and conditions.

My bank (Natwest) told me it would take 28 days to cash a foreign (US dollar) cheque last year. However, it only took a few days in the end and the money was in my account by the end of the next week, so maybe it also depends on the bank.

My uni does the depositing, but it only takes them about a week. It may be that they have a USD account, making it easier for them to deposit loan money. I go in and sign the checks, wait about 2 weeks, and return to pick up an excess cheque in GBP (and yes, I am aware that I used check and cheque in the same sentence).

HSBC also says it takes 6-8 weeks, but it doesn't always. I've been depositing loan checks for the last couple years and sometimes it takes a week or two, sometimes indeed six weeks. I talked to a guy at my branch once and he said sometimes it depends on the status of your account -- if you already have a decent amount of money in your account, they will deposit the funds sooner (before they arrive from the US) knowing they can get some money back if the check bounces or something. But I don't think this is true because I have never had a lot of money in my account when I deposited my checks, and the time to clear still varies by a lot.

Anyway, I agree it's BS. From my own experience, I think UK banks are way behind the US when it comes to customer service and timeliness, not just on this but lots of other things.

Thanks everyone for the information. Although everyone seems to have had a slightly different experience it has allowed me to conclude that my bank is indeed wank.