Euro Cheques from Other EU countries?

[JJ]

We have just had a deposit from an Irish client in the form of as cheque from an Irish Bank for 80 euros. Our bank CA, charged us 16 euros for the privelige. What does everyone else do with euro cheques from other EU countries. Some friends of ours even had a Spanish Bank euro cheque refused. So much for the single currency!

[Quillan]

If you can't get a credit card machine you can use one of the many companies that allows you to take credit cards over the internet. My personal favorite is PayPal because it is owned by Ebay and can be considered safe (well safer than most).

The only methods of payment I will take are French cheques (thats a cheque drawn on a French bank account), cash, Euro Travellers Cheque or bank transfer. The latter are always done at the clients expence. Euro Travellers cheques cost nothing to cash as the client pays the fee when they buy the cheques and in the case of transfer you must tell them to tick the box to say that they will pay the charges. With PayPal I add 5% to cover my costs.

I have had one or two who whinge about having to pay to transfer money but it's just tough, if they don't like it then they can go elsewhere and to be honest if they whinge it's a good indication of the type of client you will be dealing with when they arrive.

[Coco]

16€ doesn't sound too bad - last year I paid 23€ on a German euro cheque.  My reaction was much the same as yours James - what's the point of a single currency if there is still a charge between countries??!!

Whenever possible I get people to do a bank transfer but for this summer with the Americans and Canadians I'm going to use Paypal too.

[JJ]

Quillan and Coco

Many thanks for your help and advice.

Jim JAMES

[Clair]

This is what I have gathered from reading some boring EU banking websites...!

Cheques are not used by many countries (apparently France handles 70% of all cheques transactions within the EU).

Countries do not have the same regulations regarding cheques: in France, it's illegal to write a cheque if the funds aren't in the bank, but this is not the case in other countries, which is why some banks refuse to accept a cheque not drawn on a French bank account.

When they do accept them, there is no other way to bank them than to actually send them to the originating bank, and all that follows in case the funds aren't there...

all this incurs costs, which is why banks within the Eurozone have agreed to leave cheques out of any international agreement.

So far, all the Euro cheques I have received from England have been issued by English banks from French banks accounts and I have never incurred charges, as the cheques have been deemed to have originated within France.

I have not yet received a cheque in Euros from outside France, but I do mention in my T&C that any banking cost incurred by me will be deducted from the cash security deposit received on arrival.

From what I have been able to read so far in the EU banking websites, all the banks within the Eurozone have agreed to harmonise their international transfer charges with their internal ones.

So I give "Eurozone" clients my IBAN and BIC numbers to enable them to make international bank transfers, as the costs will not exceed those they would pay within their own country. Again, I specify that any cost incuured will be deducted... to ensure they carry all the costs.

I also accept payments via moneybookers.

Hope this helps to explain why and how to avoid it!

[Quillan]

[quote]This is what I have gathered from reading some boring EU banking websites...!Cheques are not used by many countries (apparently France handles 70% of all cheques transactions within the EU). Countries...[/quote]

It's illegal to issue a check in most countries (including the UK) if you don't have funds to cover it, it's classed as fraud. It's just that some countries like France are more strict than others.

E.U. law states that bank to bank transfers withing the 'Euro Zone' must cost the same between countries as it would to transfer money with said country. What this means in reality is that for the Euro it cost typically 5€ to transfer Euro's but if you are outside the scheme, like the UK it can cost about 30€ (£25) plus the commision for changing it in to Euro's.

[Clair]

 if you are outside the scheme, like the UK it can cost about 30€ (£25) plus the commision for changing it in to Euro's.

I believe the original question referred to Eurozone cheques, so my reply was only relevant to that.

I recommend moneybookers to clients outside the Eurozone.

 

[Quillan]

[quote]if you are outside the scheme, like the UK it can cost about 30€ (£25) plus the commision for changing it in to Euro's. I believe the original question referred to Eurozone cheques, so my reply was...[/quote]

"in France, it's illegal to write a cheque if the funds aren't in the bank, but this is not the case in other countries,"

My comments were about cheques in general INCLUDING those both in side and outside the Euro Zone. I was pointing out that it is up to the individual countries how they deal with 'bouncing' cheques. As a side issue the bouncing of a French cheque or direct debit does not involve any legal penalty providing the funds are in the bank the second time the cheque is sent for cashing or an agreement has been reached between both parties.

[Ian Hoare<br>All the best<br>Ian<br>La Souvigne Corrèze<br>http:www.souvigne.com]

[quote]We have just had a deposit from an Irish client in the form of as cheque from an Irish Bank for 80 euros. Our bank CA, charged us 16 euros for the privelige. What does everyone else do with euro chequ...[/quote]

Hi,

This is a very contentious issue, as your replies have shown. I know that the Euro was sold to us as being a way of eliminating high exchange rate charges. HAH!!!

CA charges different amounts in different areas. A friend is regularly charged nothing in his area, for example. You can always go in and ask them to justify the charges and you may just find they drop them or reduce them.

A better bet is to get the person  to ask their bank to carry out a an electronic bank to bank transfer. Make absolutely SURE that they use both BIC and IBAN codes. You can get this information from your own bank.

Armed with this information the issuing bank should only charge what they would do within their country, and CA should make a minimal charge of around 2 euros, rising to 9 if the IBAN and BIC codes aren't used. However they may try it on, mine did, rapidly retracting the charges when I proved these codes were corrctly used.

A nightmare. I've now started asking my clients to slip a 20 euro note into a letter of confirmation. Given that in 10 years' business I've never had a letter go astray I think that's a safe enough solution. YMMV.

 

 

[JJ]

Many thanks to you all, I did not realise there was so much to it.

I do like the idea of asking for a 20 euro note in an envelope.

Cheers, Jim JAMES.

[Clair]

[quote]Hi, This is a very contentious issue, as your replies have shown. I know that the Euro was sold to us as being a way of eliminating high exchange rate charges. HAH!!! CA charges different amounts in...[/quote]

 CA should make a minimal charge of around 2 euros

My CA has never charged me for any of the international bank transfers I have received from Spain, Belgium, Germany or even England.

[Lizzie15]

Wow- you have found a good branch of CA Clair- I would stick with them!   What area is this in?

 

[Clair]

[quote]Wow- you have found a good branch of CA Clair- I would stick with them! What area is this in?[/quote]

I am in the Lot.

MY CA is Credit Agricole Nord Midi-Pyrénées (CANMP in short!)

They send me a letter to advise me of any transfer arrival into the account and have not charged (so far!)

[Quillan]

The reason you have not paid is because the sender has ticked the box to say he/she will pay at her end. If they don't tick the box then you end up with the charge. It works the other way round as well if you send money from France. I and my wife must have done in excess of 600 odd transactions within Europe over the last 3 years (we buy and sell antiques on Ebay), cost me 5€ to send and nothing to receive but we always tell our buyers to tick the box else we won't send the goods.

[Coco]

If anyone feels like slipping a 20€ note into an envelope and sending it to me they will be mostly gratefully received

[DaveCDaveC]

Talk to Adam Broboff [email protected] 0800 328 5884

they have set up a system for small regular amounts -

like rents and pensions and maintenance charges as well as deposits and phased payments - for electronic transfers-

Dave C ( [email protected])