check cashing

do you have a local checking account? i know hubby always has to deposit them and wait for them to clear. this is why i recommend a local account, so you can pay people without them having to wait for a week or more to use the money.
i do not know if there is a check cashing place?

I don't have an account yet.....plan on that just seeing if I could get the money quicker. have been waiting on a paycheck for a month and a half....bills are late

I was in Bank of St. Croix a few weeks ago and there was a person in there begging to have a stateside check cashed. They had no advice or help to offer, unfortunately. For us, it's typically a week from depositing a stateside check to the funds being available in our account.

Do you have someone who will loan you money until it gets cashed? That may be the only way. You could try opening a checking account here with it and seeing if the bank will release some of the funds early to you.

Unfortunately, no-one likes to accept a stateside check if they don't have to.
You'll have to get a checking account (local). Good Luck!

Who's the company giving you a statside payroll check? Why can't they cash it for you?

Do you still have a stateside account? some of them will deposit with a photo of the check. Then you could have the funds wired or such down to the island, or do bill pay through them and get the bills paid

When I opened a new checking account with FirstBank on STX, using a state-side personal check for the initial deposit, the funds were locked up for 30 days.

I'd go with JulieKay's advice and borrow from a friend until your check clears.

Do you still have a stateside account? some of them will deposit with a photo of the check. Then you could have the funds wired or such down to the island, or do bill pay through them and get the bills paid

I did this for a while last year and it worked well. You can also withdraw funds with your debit card here.

Ah yes... welcome to island banking. What everyone has written here is true. Local banks tend to hold stateside check funds for quite a while, 5 business days at least. Your options for getting money out of a stateside check are:

(1) deposit it in a VI bank account and wait 5 business days at best
(2) mail it to a stateside bank for deposit (depending on how fast it can get there, this may still be faster than waiting for a VI bank to clear it)
(3) if your stateside bank offers online deposit via a photo of the check, you may be able to have at least some funds available within 24 hours, depending on the bank

I don't think we have any of those payday loan companies operating here -- at least I hope not. If you absolutely must have money now, you'll have to borrow from someone.

Another fun thing to learn about local banking: If you deposit any check into a local bank on a Saturday, it will be stamped as deposited on the next business day (usually Monday, sometimes Tuesday if Monday is a federal or local bank holiday). It will not be stamped as deposited that day.

And, if you need cash, as someone else mentioned -- don't forget to factor in ATM fees... in most cases you will have to pay a fee from your own bank and a fee from the bank that owns the ATM you're withdrawing from. Also keep in mind that many ATM cards limit how much cash you can withdraw in a 24-hour period.

If you're on STT or STX, you can get cash back on a debit card purchase in some places. I have yet to find anyplace on STJ that will do this, though.

open up an account at bank of st croix-it is most like state side than the others

I know the banks give you access to one or two hundred the next day. The rest you have to wait for. A friend has opened one of those stateside accounts where all she has to do is photograph the check and she has access to it in 15 minutes. I think she uses Wells Fargo.

Agreed. What bank do u have? Almost all big branches have photo deposit now. I even have a small credit union from AZ and have it on my phone. I use cash when I have it and use my debit card when I need to. I get paid mostly in cash but when I do get checks it's a quick photo and it's deposited usually next day. I heard local banks are a nightmare and I noticed some charge or require a hefty amount to always be in your account.

Do you still have a stateside account? some of them will deposit with a photo of the check. Then you could have the funds wired or such down to the island, or do bill pay through them and get the bills paid

I did this for a while last year and it worked well. You can also withdraw funds with your debit card here.

thanks for all the information. FYI most banks only allow a max of 1000 per day deposit and 3000 per month thru mobile deposit. that was a great idea....didn't work for me because of the dollar limit. ended up opening a bank account with first bank. still waiting for the money to clear 🙁 they also charge many many numerous fees. I will be keeping my stateside account!!!!

Agreed. What bank do u have? Almost all big branches have photo deposit now. I even have a small credit union from AZ and have it on my phone. I use cash when I have it and use my debit card when I need to. I get paid mostly in cash but when I do get checks it's a quick photo and it's deposited usually next day. I heard local banks are a nightmare and I noticed some charge or require a hefty amount to always be in your account.

Do you still have a stateside account? some of them will deposit with a photo of the check. Then you could have the funds wired or such down to the island, or do bill pay through them and get the bills paid

I did this for a while last year and it worked well. You can also withdraw funds with your debit card here.

I was using Chase at the time. 🙂

Everything they are saying is true i stayed with USAA they allow $5000 deposit per day and my funds are avaible that day if pay check
and if i use an atm they refund to me any fees charged have used there debit card on all the islands with out any problem