Question on Euro cheque charge

bookem78

Dear All,

I was wondering if one of you maybe able to help me with a question. After 4 long years the Spanish banks have finally settled my mothers estate. I hand my sister, brother and I an Euro cheque for our inheritance. I am looking to open a Euro bank account with Natwest and transfer this to a broker for the best exchange rate.

However, in my research I have found that the original bank that issued the cheque in Spain i.e. Santander will charge 2% for just paying in the cheque in any Euro or sterling account in the UK. Can anyone confirm this? Any other advise on this issue would be most appreciated.

Many thanks guys

Daniel

System

If you pay a cheque in euro drawn on Santander Spain into a euro account at a UK bank, the UK bank will usually charge a fee, and will always take ages to clear the cheque. But I know of no mechanism for Santander Spain to charge a fee as well. Indeed, where the cheque was paid in is, on the face of it, no business of Santander Spain. They just need it to be presented through the Spanish clearing system (normally, via a Spanish correspondent of the UK bank).

bookem78

Hi Nick, thank you for you reply. This was the answer I was hoping for.

catokelly

Have you considered getting the Spanish bank to electronically transfer the Euros to a Euro account instead of them isssuing a cheque that may take ages to clear. Also, be warned many UK based Euro accounts do not accept Euro cash or Euro cheque deposits and as youngnick mentioned, if they do accept cheques, they will probably charge you a hefty fee.

Most international money transfer companies in the UK hold currency accounts and can receive payments from Euro accounts abroad and then convert the Euros into Sterling for you at much better rates than the banks. They would then transfer the Sterling equivalent to your nominated UK account... therefore you wont have the hassle of waiting for the cheque to clear or having to open a Euro account with natwest etc...

bookem78

Hi all, I have another question. I think I will probably open a Euro Citibank account and cash the cheque in at a 5 pound cost. Then work with a broker to get the best deal. Can anyone tell me if I need to keep the money in the account for a certain period before I do this and then close the account?

System

bookem78 wrote: »

I think I will probably open a Euro Citibank account

As far as I know, the only ways of getting money out of a Citi euro account are
1. using the debit card to withdraw cash from an ATM in the eurozone (or the one at NatWest Bishopsgate that thinks it's in Ireland)
2. using the debit card to buy things. Don't know if this could be used to pay a forex broker.
3. phoning Citi (always a pain) to request a SEPA Credit Transfer. This can be to the euro account of a Forex broker, and should work fine if the account is in, say, Germany. If it's in the UK you'll still have to know the BIC and IBAN, and persuade Citi's call centre that yes, you really insist on making a SEPA Credit Transfer within the UK.
4. transferring funds to a GBP account you have also opened at Citi. This is easy and instantaneous, but Citi charge, I think, about 3% on the mid-market rate. They do tell you how many GBP you will get before you click "Yes, do it."

As with all bank accounts, once you've got a Citi euro account, you can close it whenever you want. But if you fairly often visit countries in the eurozone, you might find it useful.

benjus

YoungNick wrote: »

transferring funds to a GBP account you have also opened at Citi. This is easy and instantaneous, but Citi charge, I think, about 3% on the mid-market rate. They do tell you how many GBP you will get before you click "Yes, do it."

Interesting - the Citi Euro account is quite often recommended on here but I've never managed to find anything on their website to get an idea of the kind of exchange rate you can expect to transfer money between accounts in different currencies. 3% on mid-market is not very impressive, although it's more or less what I predicted. Is it documented anywhere?

System

benjus wrote: »

Is it documented anywhere?

Nowhere that I've ever discovered. My experience has been that Citi's "spread" varies depending on the amount (reasonably enough).