€5.10 to lodge a non-Irish Euro cheque

[farmer]

I've just been charged €5.10 to lodge a Euro cheque drawn on a German bank in my TSB account. What's the point in having the Euro if I get charged more money than a foreign conversion rate would have cost me?

 

[ClubMan]

There is no EU/eurozone wide bank clearing system even for € denominated cheques. You probably should have done a wire transfer if it would have been cheaper. See .

 

[TarfHead]

Although Ireland and Germany share a common currency, we do not share a common cheque clearing system so there are additional costs in getting value for the cheque from the bank in Germany.

Earlier this year I bought an item on ebay from Switzerland and Paypal was not an option for payment. I went to my local Bank and looked for a draft. They suggested that I use Swiftpay and ended up charging me €38 for a €25 payment, i.e. total cost €63.

I succeeded in getting most of it refunded.

 

[farmer]

But surely there's as much hassle in getting a cheque drawn in the US cleared and yet with lodging a US cheque it's not €5.10 more expensive than selling US dollars to the bank.