American consulting for UK company - they want to pay via wire transfer

(American here) -- I've worked with many companies outside the U.S., on 3 other continents. They've always only paid by wire transfer. Different firms have their own reasons but mainly:

• Scheduling a wire transfer is "easier" than cutting a check and mailing it
• Mailed check has issues: "lost in the mail", takes 2-4 weeks sometimes (seriously), sometimes people lose or forget to cash checks (yes these both happen), sometimes banks refuse an international check. If the wire transfer is set up correctly on both sides, it just works
• Payer can "prove" (via bank records) it has paid
• no chance of check falling into somebody else's hands

And also -- even though a foreign company isn't responsible for your tax payments, it's easier to hide income if you receive a check & just cash it (instead of depositing it) and most firms don't want to be anywhere near any investigation like that. So it's "safer" for them. (Note that I am not saying you would hide income, but I've talked with many, many companies).

In summary, it's just better for the company, and 99% of the time the company / client has leverage over the freelancer, you can take it or leave it, as harsh as that sounds.

Very few British banks still issue cheque books. They started to die out in the '90s.

I am treasurer of a couple of organisations and charities and haven't written a cheque in 10 years.

Transfers are performed by phone or laptop. That includes international transfers. Just provide the company with your IBAN mumber - simple as that.

I used to live in the US and now live in the UK. Cheques are not standard in the UK, and you will be hard-pressed to find any legitimate company in the UK that won't want to either pay by direct bank transfer or credit card.

Direct debits in the UK travel on the BACs payment rails system, and newly, the FPS system (not yet in the US), whereas wire transfer in the US travels on the ACH payment rails system.

What all that means is your options are:

1. Make sure you have a bank account that accepts international payments (not all of them do). If they do, you will sadly be charged fees by your US bank to receive a wire transfer, in my experience.
2. Use a third party platform like Stripe or Bill.com to invoice and accept payment through. You could also look at Wise.com - this is another standard way of moving money around between countries with low fees, in the UK.