Best way to deal with a cheque in euros

Gloryglums · 18 September 2018 at 11:42AM

My French husband has inherited several thousand euros from his granny. The antiquated solicitor has sent a cheque and will not consider a bank transfer.

So, can anyone recommend the best thing to do with the cheque? Am wondering whether it'd be useful to open a Euro account, pay in the cheque, withdraw in Euros, go to Thomas Global to swap to pounds (if they'll buy that much currency) and then deposit the cash into the bank.

This may be an idiot idea, but I'm prepare to do quite a lot of administrative gymnastics to avoid the bank eating half the cheque. Clearly, I need some more informed opinions, so please help!

londoninvestor · 18 September 2018 at 11:53AM

You have two separate processes to consider here really:

How to pay in the cheque. I think all the UK banks that offer euro accounts will charge you something to pay in the cheque (e.g. HSBC charge £17-33 for this kind of amount - see here, under "How much will it cost?"). Perhaps the only way around that is if your husband can open an account with a French bank?
Converting from EUR to GBP. For this part, don't go via cash - you will get a better rate (not to mention avoiding the stress of carrying thousands worth of notes around) by doing the conversion purely electronically, using Transferwise, Revolut or similar

But your first instinct was dead right on what not to do - don't try to pay the cheque in to a GBP account in your UK bank, because they will indeed take an aggravating cut of the money!

PRAISETHESUN · 18 September 2018 at 12:31PM

londoninvestor wrote: »

You have two separate processes to consider here really:
How to pay in the cheque. I think all the UK banks that offer euro accounts will charge you something to pay in the cheque (e.g. HSBC charge £17-33 for this kind of amount - see here, under "How much will it cost?"). Perhaps the only way around that is if your husband can open an account with a French bank?

Converting from EUR to GBP. For this part, don't go via cash - you will get a better rate (not to mention avoiding the stress of carrying thousands worth of notes around) by doing the conversion purely electronically, using Transferwise, Revolut or similar

But your first instinct was dead right on what not to do - don't try to pay the cheque in to a GBP account in your UK bank, because they will indeed take an aggravating cut of the money!

This is a good approach. I would also recommend Revolut or Transferwise for the currency exchange. Most high street banks will allow you to open a Euro account, which you could use to bank the cheque.

eDicky · 18 September 2018 at 1:54PM

PRAISETHESUN wrote: »

Most high street banks will allow you to open a Euro account, which you could use to bank the cheque.

But these are best avoided, with terrible exchange rate and fees to receive and send your euros elsewhere, no debit card. Better would be an account in the eurozone such as France, or Irish banks such as KBC Ireland accept UK address and tax id. .

xylophone · 18 September 2018 at 2:48PM

Open a euro account with AIB?

https://aib.ie/our-products/current-accounts/personal-current-account

londoninvestor · 18 September 2018 at 7:59PM

eDicky wrote: »

Irish banks such as KBC Ireland accept UK address and tax id. .

That's a really good tip - only EUR 0.30 to pay in a cheque, or even free according to the balance you have.

As the OP isn't intending to use the bank for exchange, the FX rate doesn't matter. And some of the high street banks' euro accounts (e.g. Barclays and Lloyds) will let you transfer EUR out by SEPA for free. But the cheque pay-in fee alone makes that KBC account much better.

Gloryglums · 24 September 2018 at 4:12PM

Thanks all. I've found that I can transfer to Thomas Global for them to do the exchange part (and I would get a better rate than with cash). So that part is fine. The Euro acct is more problematic - the high street ones are thin on the ground and all require you to have a current acct to get the Euro acct, which is a faff. In addition, they will still charge to accept a cheque drawn from a French bank. The Irish banks I tried didn't require a UK address but did require in-person attendance to open the account and only have branches in Ireland. Online services like Transferwise don't accept cheques. We're going to Paris in Dec so husband is going to attempt to open an acct while there with a French bank which apparently has accts for French nationals who are non-resident in France. That way the only fee we'd pay is for the transfer to the currency exchange place, and the exchange fee itself.

londoninvestor · 24 September 2018 at 10:09PM

Thanks for coming back and posting this - it's useful knowledge for others in future. Good luck with the French bank.

eDicky · 25 September 2018 at 12:30AM

An account with KBC Ireland can be opened online without personal attendance, using UK address, many here have done so.

TransferWise was never suggested for receiving the cheque, but for the transfer and conversion to pounds, done online. They or others may be better value than Thomas Global, comparison sites such as Monito cam be useful.

Will the cheque still be valid in December?

greyteam1959 · 26 September 2018 at 9:36AM

Would it not be easier to talk to the solicitor & insist that they replace the cheque with some form of electronic transfer ??

mgdavid · 26 September 2018 at 2:36PM

greyteam1959 wrote: »

Would it not be easier to talk to the solicitor & insist that they replace the cheque with some form of electronic transfer ??

It's a French solicitor, need I say more?
(a bit like insisting Brussels accept our Bexit proposals!)

Best way to deal with a cheque in euros

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