Cashing a British cheque with paypal app in Russia

[jwsim]

How do I use the  Cash a Check service in the PayPal app in Russia? Is it available for Russia? As I need to cash cheques sent to me from my tax office in UK. They are HMRC government Tax office cheques. Here is an international Paypal link, but is it OK to use in Russia? They say Europe is OK and Euro checks can be cashed. No mention of UK cheques in GBP currency unfortuantely, Thus the link, and it works only in browsers that doesn't remember Russian Paypal passwords. https://www.paypal.com/us/smarthelp/article/how-do-i-use-ingo-money-cash-a-check-in-the-paypal-app-f...

[jwsim]

This is a better link. My suspicions are it doesn't work in Russia. Banks in Russia including international ones do not accept the depositing or cashing of cheques.  https://www.paypal.com/us/smarthelp/article/what-is-the-ingo-money-cash-a-check-service-in-the-paypa...

[nevadasmith]

why not ask the British consulate for help,they must have seen cases like this before?

[jwsim]

I can now confirm that the cash a check service is not available in Paypal Russia, not even with American checks. As for the British consulate I have received an answer. He explains that not even the international banks are international and are a law unto themselves. The cashing of cheques is not available in Russia. The only option is to get a person you can trust or a professional with a British bank account to cash it for you and wire it to your bank in Russia. What a shame, so be disappointed if your tax office gives you a nice big cheque as a tax rebate and you can't cash it 😞 . And no, they refuse to wire it to you instead. We have at least wo British banks in Russia, Barclays and HSBC but they don't provide services direct to the individual customer.

[jwsim]

Problem solved I think. So it may be useful to British expats or it may apply to all cheques. In my case I contacted Barclay's in Facebook and got this answer.

Hi John, thanks for your message. The easiest thing to do would be to post it to us in the UK, along with a covering letter detailing what account to post it to. I’d recommend sending it by courier, so you know it has definitely been received by us and including your address too, just in case they need to write back to you. You can send the cheque and letter to Barclays Bank UK PLC, OS&D Dept, 51 Saffron Road, South Wigston, Leicester, LE18 4US​. –Amiee

This may be useful information for all expats who have received cheques (checks) overseas.