Ptsb sterling cheque clearance

[Scottiem80]

Hi I lodged a sterling cheque into my ptsb current acc last Tuesday, I checked this evening and it hadn't cleared. I rang their customer service and was told it won't clear till July 4th..... is this the norm? Is there anything I can do about it? 4 weeks to clear a cheque sterling or not is scandalous, is it not? Any advice or help greatly appreciated, thank you

 

[mathepac]

With the introduction of SEPA, euro payments between accounts have been simplified and speeded up. Unfortunately foreign currency payments which have to be handled outside of SEPA may now take much longer.

https://www.permanenttsb.ie/about-us/need-help/are-you-ready-for-sepa/

 

[Willy Fogg]

Alas a high rate of foreign cheque fraud means almost all the banks will put the cheque through the full (long) clearing process these days.

 

[Lightning]

PTSB have one of the longest clearing cycles for foreign cheques. I think they use a third party to clear. PTSB also refuse to clear cheques in some currencies. For the small number of foreign currency cheque transactions left, one is best clearing elsewhere.

 

[thedaddyman]

It will be sent on a collection basis to the other bank in England via an agency bank over there. In effect, PTSB will post the cheque off the England, wait for someone over there to check that funds are in place, no reason to stop the item etc, then wait for the English bank to come back to them to say all is ok before funds are released. It's all manual but probably because there are so few sterling cheques being lodged it is not worth any of the Irish banks effort to invest in a more automated process

as an aside, there are plans in the UK to speed up cheque clearing from 2018 onwards with next day clearance of items and this will include the Northern Ireland banks. In effect, if you have a £ cheque drawn on an English bank and lodge it at your bank on a Monday, you will have cleared funds the next day