Great info on how to cash an international check for a
Brazil expat, people planning to travel to Brazil, or just looking for Brazil
information in general. Here’s what to
do if you get paid in a foreign currency and you live or travel in Brazil.
How to Cash an International Check the Hard Way
As for me, I learned the hard way but I use my blog here to
share my experience with all you great readers out there so that you don’t have
to make the same mistakes I did. I didn’t
think cashing an international check would be a big deal since I have more than
one Brazilian bank account. I even have
a corporate account with the central bank here (Banco do Brasil) so I figured
this would be an easy thing to do.
Boy was
I wrong!
I make money online and one of my payment methods is through
ClickBank (yes ClickBank really pays out!). With a US bank account you
can just get direct deposit, no worries.
However if you receive physical checks in the mail in Brazil, like I did
then cashing the check becomes a little more tricky. I first attempted to cash the international
check at one of my personal Brazilian bank accounts with Banco Itau. That did not work. I couldn’t even deposit the check! Noone seemed to have any idea what to
do. One of the employees had a senior
bank manager come to help me.
I was told to try the mesa do cambio (foreign exchange desk)
at the main bank for Itau in the commercial district. I went all the way to the other side of town
to no avail. They were not able to cash
my international check or deposit it into my checking account. I left feeling disappointed but not before getting
the runaround from bank employees. They
told me that Banco do Brasil down the street would be able to do it com certeza
(with certainty).
I then went to Banco do Brasil thinking they could handle
the transaction but was told by an employee that I would need to go to the branch
located on the other side of town (closer to my house). Before I went to the other bank location I
tried at least 8 different foreign exchange shops. None of them could cash my check.
I finally went to the other Banco do Brasil closer to my
house and was again told that they could not cash my international check. However I was told that they could deposit
the check. The wait for the check to
clear could take a month or more though because they have to mail the check to
the US and wait for it to clear and be returned (or something along those
lines). The bank employee who I spoke
with was very helpful though because he actually sent me to the place that was
able to cash my international check!
Take notes, because this type of banking Brazil information
could prove invaluable to any Brazil expat or people looking to travel in
Brazil. How to cash an international
check in Brazil was like the million dollar question that day for me. I asked nearly a hundred people and only one
knew the answer. These weren’t just
random people off the street either, I was talking to bank employees and people
who exchange foreign currencies every day (cambios) and nobody knew the answer.
How to Cash an International Check the Easy Way
So the place I went to cash my
Clickbank check (drumroll
please) was a loja (store) called
Confidence Câmbio. That’s it!
That is how you cash an international check in Brazil. As far as I know of Confidence is the only
place that will do this. You can also go
there to exchange cash as well.
The one I went to was in Salvador, Bahia – Brasil. It was in a small shopping center at the
bottom of a skyscraper called "ondonto" something… I think it was filled with dentists’ offices. The neighborhood it was in is called Itagaira.
How lucky was I to finally talk to the banker
at the last branch I visited who pointed me in the right direction? I don’t really believe in luck or
chance. In actuality my first thought
was to go to that bank before I spent a whole day and a half searching around
the city for a place to cash my check.
If I would have listened to my inner voice I would have
saved myself a lot of hassle but eventually I came around and the answer to my
predicament found me.
I think things have changed recently with Confidence
though. I was able to take my checks to
them and get them cashed right there on the spot. It usually took about 30 minutes or so for
the check to clear and then they would cash it for me. Things went a little differently the last
time I went though. Instead of cashing
my checks they took my checking account info so they could deposit the money
straight into my account. They said that
they stopped giving cash on the spot for the checks.
It took a while almost two weeks for the transaction to go
through. Also, you may be
required to have a Brazilian bank account now.
I’m not sure because I used my Brazilian checking account.
That’s my experience if anyone knows any differently or has
any questions feel free to comment below.
Sharif
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