Check from the bank of England.

[TrustingSoul]

Clearing up some items for my elderly mother, I came across some old currency issued in £ sterling. I found online that they are no longer accepted in the UK unless you send them to the Bank of England for new currency. I sent them in. They sent me a check for £130.00 ($168).
Santander, Sunderland is the bank on the upper left corner of the check, but the Bank of England is clearly issuing the funds, listed across the top of the check. It was my understanding the money would be paid in US dollars but that didn’t happen.
Obviously, I would like to change this into American currency. We don’t have any international banks here in my town, possibly none in my state. I am going to France next month, but not to Great Britain. What would be the best way to exchange this with the least amount of fees. I know it’s not a lot of money. I like to do things like this just for the experience and enjoyment.

[RudyS]

Santander is a global company. If a USA branch isn't helpful, you could try to contact santander.co.uk and ask for advice.
I have no experience but this thought occurred to me as potentially helpful.

[Walkure]

I once got a good rate buying GBP with an American credit card from the ripoff exchange kiosk in St. Mark’s Square during an early morning Acqua Alta event, but only because she charged me the euro-pound rate and my card rang it up in dollars.

[Thesaints]

Problem is BoE was simply exchanging old notes for new ones.
The check must be cashed in GBP and then you can exchange GPB for USD.

If the check is transferrable, you could give it to someone who has an account in GPB somewhere.

[go140point6]

But you have a US bank of some kind? I get a dividend check four times a year drawn on Canadian dollars. I can't deposit it in the ATM so our Ally Bank account is not an option, but our Bank of America branch (we have an account there as well) takes it, converts it to USD and deposits the results. There are no direct fees and the exchange rate is whatever is current at that moment. It's my twice a year ritual when I actually step into a bank branch (the checks are good for six month so I wait to get two before heading in).

[MGBMartin]

Do you have a regular US bank account.
I’ve had several checks from the UK for various reasons and the local branch of my accept them and even tell me the amount in US$ that would be deposited. They didn’t charge a fee but made a few % or so on the exchange rate.
Just be careful that they get the conversion the correct way around, £1 should get around $1.20-$1.30.
My bank had a bad habit of trying to do it the wrong way by taking the $ to £ instead of £ to $.
First time it happened was when my wife took a check for £5000 and the bank told her it was about $3500; fortunately she figured that didn’t sound right so called me. That didn’t stop the bank from trying it again next time and the next and so on.

My bank was a large regional bank known for being customer unfriendly but took the checks with fuss except for getting the exchange rate the wrong way around.

[Valuethinker]

Santander is a global company. If a USA branch isn't helpful, you could try to contact santander.co.uk and ask for advice.
I have no experience but this thought occurred to me as potentially helpful.

Unfortunately for most banks that I have dealt with, their UK subsidiaries are quite independent from their US subsidiaries, say. So this may not help.

(Santander is indeed a very important bank in Spain, and they bought a UK mortgage bank - Abbey National).

[TrustingSoul]

Thanks for all of the above information. The check didn’t come in until late last night so I didn’t do my own legwork. I just asked Boglehead experts. I did call my local Visa credit card company and they weren’t able to help.
I’ll follow up on some of the other suggestions. I’m learning a lot and I will let you know what I learn and how this problem gets solved.
Thanks again

[MGBMartin]

I should of added to my post above…

Too late now but it might be useful for others in the future.
I also had some out of circulation UK bank notes, about the same amount as you.
My wife dropped them in the mail to the BoE while on a trip to the UK. On the form we indicated to deposit the proceeds to our US bank account which worked well except our bank hit us with a $30 incoming wire fee.

[BrooklynInvest]

I may be missing something.

You have a check from a bank. It's made out to you, but the amount is in pounds?

Deposit it into your bank account at the branch. ATMs and apps probably won't grasp the foreign currency. It will take a little longer than usual to clear but that's it.

[TrustingSoul]

I should of added to my post above…

Too late now but it might be useful for others in the future.
I also had some out of circulation UK bank notes, about the same amount as you.
My wife dropped them in the mail to the BoE while on a trip to the UK. On the form we indicated to deposit the proceeds to our US bank account which worked well except our bank hit us with a $30 incoming wire fee.

I may have not communicated this, mostly because it wasn’t central to my question. Yes I did exactly as you said. But the check was not in US dollars it was British Pounds. Living in a rural state with few banking options I asked here.
I was able to deposit the check into my credit union account today. I didn’t ask about the exchange rate or any fees, I’m getting $165 for my efforts. Even with a $30 fee I’d be happy.
There were other things, the local coin dealer said he would give $10 for the £130 face value notes. The Federal Reserve bank (yes we have one here) only does commercial, USAA Visa said no can do. Santander requires you open an account as does Wells Fargo. I didn’t try currency exchange like you see in an airport and there’s always Western Union. The further down the list the less likely you will succeed and more likely expensive.
Bottom line is Boglehead blog is your friend.

[MGBMartin]

I should of added to my post above…

Too late now but it might be useful for others in the future.
I also had some out of circulation UK bank notes, about the same amount as you.
My wife dropped them in the mail to the BoE while on a trip to the UK. On the form we indicated to deposit the proceeds to our US bank account which worked well except our bank hit us with a $30 incoming wire fee.

I may have not communicated this, mostly because it wasn’t central to my question. Yes I did exactly as you said. But the check was not in US dollars it was British Pounds. Living in a rural state with few banking options I asked here.
I was able to deposit the check into my credit union account today. I didn’t ask about the exchange rate or any fees, I’m getting $165 for my efforts. Even with a $30 fee I’d be happy.
There were other things, the local coin dealer said he would give $10 for the £130 face value notes. The Federal Reserve bank (yes we have one here) only does commercial, USAA Visa said no can do. Santander requires you open an account as does Wells Fargo. I didn’t try currency exchange like you see in an airport and there’s always Western Union. The further down the list the less likely you will succeed and more likely expensive.
Bottom line is Boglehead blog is your friend.

I understood the fact you were sent a check in British Pounds.
My point was…
If anyone asks the BoE to exchange out of circulation notes via mail in service they have the option to do an electronic transfer of the funds rather than mailing a check; I believe this is still an option.
As I said this maybe of use to others who end up in the same situation. Also, if anyone does end up with out of circulation UK notes but are planning another trip to the UK then some UK Post Office branches will change them to new bank notes I believe, you can search for which branches offer this service.
There are others methods of exchanging out of circulation UK bank notes as well.

[TrustingSoul]

To paraphrase Winston Churchill “Trusting Soul will do the right thing after all other possible avenues have been explored.”