ANOTHER Arrrrgh!

When I filled out my California state income tax forms I requested direct deposit of the refund I was due. The same as for every other year I've filed.

Today in the post I got a paper check. That I'll now have to mail back to California to have put in that same bank account.

WTF??!!!!

When I filled out my California state income tax forms I requested direct deposit of the refund I was due. The same as for every other year I've filed.

Today in the post I got a paper check. That I'll now have to mail back to California to have put in that same bank account.

WTF??!!!!

I think most USA banks have apps now where you take a picture of the check and it's done.  But that's just a rumor.  I haven't tried it.   (no one gives me money).   

I think most USA banks have apps now where you take a picture of the check and it's done.  But that's just a rumor.  I haven't tried it.   (no one gives me money).   

Yeah, I know someone said that's what they do. Handy! 

I use that for all my checks! RDC is the technical name. I know you don't have a smart phone, but if you have a tablet you can probably find the bank's app.

No, no tablet (well, not a working one, anyway). And the Daughter says she was advised by more than one "IT Guy" to NEVER use those aps, as they are not secure and there can be problems with proving the deposit later on.

My issue is more that the CA Franchise Tax Board ignored the entire section I filled in on the form (properly, from looking at my PDF of the paperwork) that gave the routing and account number and elected direct deposit.

So, 11pounds to mail it back to Bank By Mail at BofA in Georgia, then 10 pounds to transfer it back over here as pounds. Which is still cheaper than using RBS to deal with it all. It just wastes more time....

Can you not just cash the cheque with RBS?

It says on their website that they will cash a foreign cheque worth up to £100 for a £5 fee, or if it's worth between £100.01 and £5,000, it's a £10 fee.

https://personal.rbs.co.uk/personal/ways-to-bank-with-us/do-more-with-digital-banking/handling-drafts-and-cheques.html

Can you not just cash the cheque with RBS?

It says on their website that they will cash a foreign cheque worth up to £100 for a £5 fee, or if it's worth between £100.01 and £5,000, it's a £10 fee.

https://personal.rbs.co.uk/personal/ways-to-bank-with-us/do-more-with-digital-banking/handling-drafts-and-cheques.html

That sounds like a better deal, but check the exchange rate too!

Hmmm, that's not what their online chat guy said. I'll pop into the bank to see before I send it off. That web page you sent me to looks incomplete - it has a "signposting" place holder at the bottom left of the page! Not exactly confidence-inspiring, that!  Goodness!

This is what I was referred to by the bank (assuming they'd do payment by negotiation, collection costs more):


Payment by negotiation
Cheque by negotiation

A foreign currency cheque issued by an overseas account holder is paid into a UK bank account. In order to obtain payment, the cheque must be physically sent to the bank and country of its issue. Negotiated cheques are placed into the paying countries general clearing system. Cheques can be returned unpaid up to seven years later for reasons associated with fraud.  Negotiation of the item allows funds to be advanced to you, subject to recourse which in the event of fraudulent activity can be up to seven years. Negotiation is available for certain currency types, cheque values and is subject to credit criteria. Every time you pay in a cheque, we will charge you 0.25% of the value of the pay-in. (Minimum £7, maximum £45). There is also a 50p postage fee.

My CAFTB fee would cost the £7 (about $10, assuming the info the bank told me is correct and they took it as a deposit for negotiation) and then there's the exchange rate issue.  But it's faster.

In double-checking, I over-estimated the costs to "bank by mail". If I mail it to BofA it would be the cost of a "signed for/tracked" letter to the USA and then the exchange rate that Transferwise will give me on the flip side, with about a  £4.50 transmission fee. Transferwise gives very good rates.

[Edit: Bank's exchange rate is $1.46 per pound, plus the handling fee. Transferwise is around $1.33, plus the handling fee, plus the postage. So it'd cost me at close to  £60 to cash the CAFTB check at RBS and about  £15(?) to mail it. I still want to know why the heck CAFTB mailed the check instead of direct depositing it!]

When I filled out my California state income tax forms I requested direct deposit of the refund I was due. The same as for every other year I've filed.

Today in the post I got a paper check. That I'll now have to mail back to California to have put in that same bank account.

WTF??!!!!

Louisiana State does the same with me. Really annoying.

I do have a US bank account and do use mobile deposit with my bank app, have done for many years.

Thankfully, it's the last I'll be dealing with the State of California tax people. We haven't heard diddly about the Daughter's refund yet, tho.

Today in the post I got a paper check. That I'll now have to mail back to California to have put in that same bank account.

WTF??!!!!

So annoying!  I had a check for $1 sent to me in the UK. Had to let it go, the stamp would have cost more than that to send it back!

Don't you just HATE that?

Don't you just HATE that?

I still haven't got over it! 

When we were sorting out my final pay at my ex-employer, they miscalculated something. So they had to cut another check. Which they also botched. I got a check for  eight cents. Seriously. Eight sense. And they freaking mailed it overseas.

So, Royal Mail tracking's last entry for my CAFTB check going to the Bank of America in Atlanta was on 12 June, when it was handed over to USPS. There are no entries on the USPS site for it. {wimper...oh...nooooooo}

I sent a message to Royal Mail two days ago asking for a trace, and their auto-back-atcha  message was they'd reply within two days. So, nothing today, maybe on Monday. Granted, it's only been 21 days since I mailed it first class with tracking, and I've had mail take longer than that to reach me from the USA, but I would have thought there'd be SOME kind of tracking update on it from the USPS side.

You cannot reach a live body at USPS. I tried to call (using my USA voip phone, so it cost very little) and the wait time was "approximately 1 hour and 57 minutes....thank you for phoning your US Postal Service...." Not waiting 1 hour 57 minutes to hear they can't see anything in their system.

So, just so I'd know my options, I called the CAFTB and they said that when it got to be long enough that I was sure it was lost, to phone and they'd stop payment. And send me paperwork to get it re-issued. And then they'd re-issue the check. It should take about 8 weeks from the time they get my paperwork back. And then they'll send another check. So, I'd get it in my bank account maybe by late October, if it goes well.

And this time I will use FedEx. Thank goodness I was not absolutely depending on getting my hands on that money right away! 

I did finally find out why they sent a check, though. I had made a calculation error of a dollar and some change, and so they had to "amend" my return to add that amount to my refund. And once a return is different from what the taxpayer submits, they have to issue the refund as a check.

WTF?

Oh, well. Maybe next week.