Bank accounts

Thought I would ask the hive mind:

I am about to liquidate some US assets (small trust fund and some stocks). As the US is still pretty much a third world country (haha), they will be sending a cheque to my parents' address... To complicate matters further, these funds are held in my old name so the cheques will be too.

When I got married, I changed my name to: middle maiden married (instead of first middle maiden).

I haven't had a US account in Years, nevermind an account in that name.

So my conundrum: what sort of account do I try to open solely for the purpose of depositing these cheques and then transferring the money to the UK? I reckon this is actually more straghtforward than my parents sending me a cheque in the wrong name here (as cheques cannot be endorsed over to anyone else). Would I be able to transfer money using a simple savings account (ie to transferwise or through a straight bank transfer)? Would I need a checking account??

I have changed my name on all UK accounts over 6 years ago.

Any and all ideas on this conundrum welcome!!

Not sure about the transfer part, but I can tell you that having a check in your "old" name might be problematic. I had a similar situation, and  ended up having to go back to the originator of the check with a copy of the official name change document to have them issue me a second check in the new name. My bank (BofA) would not accept the original check in the old name.

Again, not positive, but I think it'd need to be a checking account to do a transfer with Transferwise.... Sorry I can't be more definite for you! Would absolutely recommend trying to get them to issue the check in your correct name if at all possible.

It probably doesn’t matter now anyway, we’ve just been gazumped... for what is probably a couple thousand pounds. Don’t trust the seller now and so won’t be increasing the offer (even though it’s totally dream home material).


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It probably doesn’t matter now anyway, we’ve just been gazumped... for what is probably a couple thousand pounds. Don’t trust the seller now and so won’t be increasing the offer (even though it’s totally dream home material).

I'm sorry, that's awful.. I can't believe they still allow that sort of thing in this day and age.

I know. And we’d been accepted at full asking price. We were told that ones or twos would exceed this new offer, but 5 might. So for 5 sodding grand they’ve become amoral scum of the Earth.


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And I’m full of pregnancy rage hormones. They may be getting a brick or rock or something unpleasant through their window tonight. Maybe flaming excrement on the drive... I feel my creative juices flowing.


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Karma will get them if you don't get there first! 

But seriously, I am so sorry.

I know. And we’d been accepted at full asking price. We were told that ones or twos would exceed this new offer, but 5 might. So for 5 sodding grand they’ve become amoral scum of the Earth.


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  I know you are really mad right now, but I've got a bit of insight into the other side of the story.  First, there is no morals in the UK housing market.  Anything goes and everything is fair.  Agreements mean nothing until the final day of the sale.  Both sides should know this.  The good news is that gazundering is also a thing and maybe one day you will be able to do that to somebody.  I have been a part of ripping off my buyers for thousands of pounds and then been ripped off for roughly the same thousands of pounds by my sellers without either of them being aware of each other. 
Please don't think I engineered all this ripping off and underhanded stuff, that was all the real estate agents.  At some point, you have to turn over the mechanics of the pricing and negotiating to the agents and you can't micro manage what they do, even if it is scumbaggery.  It's possible that the sellers may have only been a little bit aware of what actually happened so don't blame them too much. 

The other good news is that you never know what's around the corner.  Looking back, I can think of houses that we missed out on and were gutted, only to find a better house that we eventually bought.  Also, now that the agents know you are an actual buyer and not a time waster, you will get first dibs on the good houses and they will push for you to get it. 

And one last thing, be SUPER careful when transferring the deposit if you do buy a house.  It's a thing now for hackers to monitor emails about deposit transfers and change the account details when they are sent.  That means the buyer loses their entire deposit and the bank says "nothing to do with us, and no we can't tell you who has your money because of data protection"

I get it: but it kills me that someone totally *bleep*ed a pregnant woman over like £2,000. If they want more than full asking, they should have put it on for more. They agreed to it. A person’s word should be their bond. Call me naive and old-fashioned.

Nothing is coming on the market and we already lost out on our other ‘dream house’ because they pulled it off the market a week before ours sold. And no, they didn’t accept our offer that we put through the letter box after our house sold.

Things are flying off the market round here and not many half decent places are coming on. I’d hoped we could buy our forever home...

We are thinking of increasing our offer and then gazundering. I would have no qualms about that in this one instance.


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We are thinking of increasing our offer and then gazundering. I would have no qualms about that in this one instance.

  That does sound like fun, but I'd be worried that you are also screwing over the estate agents.  Word might get around and they will tell others not to accept your offers.  Good luck.  I hate the whole prcoess and I am not moving again.