we have a cheque that we are waiting to lodge to our account - its quite a substantial amount and its in dollars - when would be the best time to lodge the cheque in order for us to get the best rate of exchange....
You might be better lodging the cheque to your Bank, in a dollar account, as sometimes it takes weeks for an overseas cheque to clear the Banking system. No Bank will give you or allow you cleared funds for a cheque that hasn't cleared yet.
The best way of doing it would be to put the cheque into your own dollar account and then using a currency specialist to exchange the dollars into Euros at an opportune time.
you would be looking to save around 1/2% on the exchange rate
there are many good currency brokers out there such as OmnisFX also s that give you more information on it all.
i have had experience with paying currency cheques into banks and from my experience you receive a DREADFUL exchange rate as the you could receive any exchange rate during the time the cheque is clearing.
you can lock in a rate with currency.ie and then sign the cheque over to them. They then transfer euro to you. Dont know how long cheque would take t6 clear but you will know the rate in advance
You will not receive a different rate for gunds that are not cleared funds. With an ordinary cheque caution would have to be exercised. The OP would be better lodging the cheque to his own dollar account and let the system work its way through.
Forward selling cheques would be difficult i would have thought. As how can you agree a rate until the cheque is cleared? you could have to wait for the cheque to clear and then agree a rate of exchange./