a friend paid in a uk sterling cheque today but was given 3rd degree ie who do you ?

NOAH

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well lost all my posting

it was probaly too long winded. A friend back from uk for over 9 years, usually pays in a sterling cheque to irish bank account either once or twice a year with no hassle but today was refused and questioned to the nth degree, after asking to see manager cheque was processed. They dont have internet.

Advised to do it online in future.

One of the cashiers refused to deal with the request and said they were on training.


Can irish bank refuse a sterling cheque and since when did this happen? They have used cheques for last 9 years and been with bank for over 14 years.

What can they do next time?
 
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Hi Noah

My main concern would be the exchange rate and costs she is paying for the cheque.

Can she identify a friend with a sterling bank account who would lodge it for her?

Alternatively, could she ask the payee to pay by bank transfer?

Cheques are old fashioned, time consuming and expensive to process.
The fact that it is a different currency makes it even worse.

Brendan
 
Foreign currency cheques can come back unpaid up to a fair old while after lodging, I can't remember the exact time but if done as a straight forward lodgment the system is going to show it cleared a lot sooner than in reality it is safely cleared so from the banks point of view a withdrawal could be done before that time passes.

The alternative for the bank would have been to insist that the cheque be sent for collection which would mean it would not appear immediately in their account and they would only get whatever rate applicable on the day the funds were returned by the UK bank, this would take longer and could incur charges. This would have been a worse outcome for them and is the line taken with a lot of fx cheques.

Only very regular deposits of fx cheques from known sources such as pension payments etc would be lodged directly by banks anymore. A personal cheque would be considered more risky, a lot easier for them to arrange some way of doing it by bank transfer in future.

While annoying I don't really think they will get anywhere with the bank, unless they are very valuable customers the bank just won't care.
 
Banks get hit by bounced cheques every day.

They are right to be careful. Unfortunately some people consider reasonable questioning to be "obnoxious behaviour". It's possible that this branch has been stung lately and they are being hypercareful. Of course, it's also possible, that the cashier was obnoxious.

Their remedy is simple enough. Move to another bank.

Or better still, sort out internet banking and do the transfer online.
 
My own view is ,after reading the T&C's, the bank was way out or order and I am convinced their age played a part. Why have such an obnoxious person serving as cashier if they treat elderly people like that.

It is not about T&C, it is about money laundering - the bank and the teller must fully satisfy themselves that the transaction is legitimate. And in this day and age transferring between accounts via a cheque, especially a cheque drawn on foreign bank….

The bank would be fully within it's rights to refuse the transaction and report the matter to the Garda, if they were not satisfied that the transaction was legitimate.

To avoid this kind of thing in future, your friends need to do an electronic transfer.
 
My own view is the Banks get away with far too much.

I will report back on the outcome.

thanks for replying.
 
ooops

jim2007, that puts a different light on it. Why would it be money laundering? cheque book was in their name?? And they have paid cheques in like this for years!! I can see now why the line of questioning shocked them.

Are you saying paying from a uk account to an irish account by cheque can be classed as money laundering? If so I will pass this on. I dont think they would have survived if the guards were called. NB This is their local bank for 14 years, they are retired.

And why have it in terms and conditions if banks dont want cheques presented??

And finally is this a new process.
 
I don't think there is anything new about this, if it is for any sort of a big amount then most banks would normally have insisted the cheque was sent for collection. This would quite probably cost them even more and take longer to show in their account.

A direct bank transfer surely wouldn't have cost €180?
 
I had to do a similar transaction recently on behalf of my husband. And yes there were questions and it took time. But it was no big deal - they were not obxnoxious and I understand that it was necessary.
 
There are scammers always trying stuff with stolen cheques and stolen/forged drafts etc.

Having said that, a person lodging their personal sterling cheque into their personal euro account should be accomodated at the bank counter, providing ID and understanding that the funds have to clear.
 
ooops

jim2007, that puts a different light on it. Why would it be money laundering? cheque book was in their name?? And they have paid cheques in like this for years!! I can see now why the line of questioning shocked them.

Are you saying paying from a uk account to an irish account by cheque can be classed as money laundering? If so I will pass this on. I dont think they would have survived if the guards were called. NB This is their local bank for 14 years, they are retired.

And why have it in terms and conditions if banks dont want cheques presented??

And finally is this a new process.

No, I'm not saying that it is money laundering, put in today's world it is an unusual transaction and so requires investigation, especially as it comes from abroad.

If anything did turn up later, the bank manager would have a hard time trying to explain to the fraud squad or whoever why he did not do the most basic checks before accepting the deposit.

Using retired people for money laundering is common in certain parts of Europe - they can move around more freely and can always explain the cash as savings they had under the mattress ;-)
 
what gave that cashier the right to quiz an elderly person who had waited patiently for 50 mins because of the incompetence of the bank to perform a simple tansaction that they had done for years?

Both Irish and EU law requires a bank and it's employees to fully satisfy themselves that a transaction is genuine even to the extent of requiring you to provide documentary evidence as to the source of the funds.

The laws have tightened up very much in this area over the past 12 to 18 months, even to the point were individual employees of a bank can be held liable for failing to comply with the rules and not just the bank.

The banks are required to report such transactions to the authorities and in some cases even failed attempts to carry out such a transaction.
 
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