# Can I pay french invoice with irish euro cheque



## lyonsie (10 Jan 2011)

I will be getting invoiced from french company for services and am wondering if I can pay with irish euro cheque.   Is this possible?


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## Bronte (10 Jan 2011)

Can you not pay the French invoice by bank transfer?  Not sure on the answer re a cheque but I think cheques can cause problems because it has to be honoured by a bank in another country and there is a cost to this as far as I remember (I could be thinking of the days of pounds IEP versus French Francs.


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## Sunny (10 Jan 2011)

Technically you can pay it using a cheque drawn on Irish bank but the company might not accept it. Can take a while to clear and there are charges. The invoice will usually outline acceptable payment methods.


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## Crugers (10 Jan 2011)

I though that Irish Cheques couldn't be used outside Ireland but can't find any reference.
Circular 56/01 from the central bank states:
4. *Euro denominated cheques drawn on banks outside the State are not negotiable in Ireland. *Where such cheques are received, Departments/Offices should process them as foreign cheques in accordance with the procedures described below.
HTH


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## JackN (10 Jan 2011)

Lyonsie.

I have successfully paid French invoices with cheques from an Irish Bank. It seems to work smoothly, there was no additional charges.


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## Sunny (10 Jan 2011)

JackN said:


> Lyonsie.
> 
> I have successfully paid French invoices with cheques from an Irish Bank. It seems to work smoothly, there was no additional charges.



Not from your side but there is for the payee. Companies are perfectly entitled to refuse payment in this form. There is no logical reason for using cross border cheques in this day and age since the introduction of IBAN numbers.


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## Eithneangela (10 Jan 2011)

Sunny is right - use the bank transfer mechanism with the IBAN details of your addressee.  We do this regularly between here and France with Ulster Bank - just fill out the form, accept the charges (which will be minuscule if you say that it is not an immediate transfer!).  Had Irish bank cheques returned initially till we found this solution.


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## lyonsie (10 Jan 2011)

Thanks everyone.   Was told that MBNA cheques are acceptable, anyone know anything about this.


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## horusd (11 Jan 2011)

Given that you can transfer money via IBAN directly (and ususally online) into an account without any hassle of paper cheques and posting etc I wonder why you would not use this method instead! MBNA cheques (as far as I know) were issued with MBNA credit cards and attract the same interest as a CC cash withdrawal. Therefore the fees are probably prohibitive.


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## nlgbbbblth (15 Jan 2011)

1) Do an electronic transfer
or
2) Purchase a euro draft drawn on a French bank.


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## candyflipper (28 Jan 2011)

horusd said:


> Given that you can transfer money via IBAN directly (and ususally online) into an account without any hassle of paper cheques and posting etc I wonder why you would not use this method instead! MBNA cheques (as far as I know) were issued with MBNA credit cards and attract the same interest as a CC cash withdrawal. Therefore the fees are probably prohibitive.



Actually, cheques are better because they are protected from [broken link removed].  Intermediate banks in the UK will simply grab an unannounced fee from the transfer, and less money shows up in the beneficiaries account.  Account holders have little control over this.  But with cheques, the postman has no way to grabbing a little bit for his part, and the full amount makes it to the recipient.  If the recipients bank takes a fee for foreign cheque deposits, the recipient can easily verify, and has enough control to be able to use another bank before the fee is taken.  Moreover, the recipient cannot complain to the payer that less money arrived!

With electronic transfers, it costs ~€25 just to investigate which bank did a money grab.  And once you know who did it, it's generally not actionable anyway.


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## Lululubelle (30 Jan 2011)

Just this week I deposited a Bank of Ireland cheque payable to me in euro, into my AIB account here in UK. Was told no problem, and it would clear in 4 days...I had a one off charge of £40, it seems fair enough to me.


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## Gulliver (30 Jan 2011)

candyflipper said:


> Actually, cheques are better because they are protected from [broken link removed]. Intermediate banks in the UK will simply grab an unannounced fee from the transfer, and less money shows up in the beneficiaries account. Account holders have little control over this. But with cheques, the postman has no way to grabbing a little bit for his part, and the full amount makes it to the recipient. If the recipients bank takes a fee for foreign cheque deposits, the recipient can easily verify, and has enough control to be able to use another bank before the fee is taken. Moreover, the recipient cannot complain to the payer that less money arrived!


 
Candyflipper - there may be some element of the above when a credit transfer involves a change of currency - but a transfer between Ireland and France does not.
Under current regulations, assuming that the amount is less than €50,000 there should be no difference in charges between a transfer  Dublin to Mullingar compared with a transfer Dublin to Marseilles. In Irish banks, the charge is normally less than €1. For the relevant legislation see [broken link removed]


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## candyflipper (30 Jan 2011)

Gulliver said:


> Candyflipper - there may be some element of the above when a credit transfer involves a change of currency - but a transfer between Ireland and France does not.
> Under current regulations, assuming that the amount is less than €50,000 there should be no difference in charges between a transfer  Dublin to Mullingar compared with a transfer Dublin to Marseilles. In Irish banks, the charge is normally less than €1. For the relevant legislation see [broken link removed]



First of all, my comment has nothing to do with currency differences.  Wire fees are independent of currency.  You've cited the correct law, but misunderstood it.  When it states that there must be "no difference in charges", that does not mean that in a transfer from Ireland to France, an Irish bank must charge the same for the wire as the French bank on the other side of the wire.  The Irish bank might charge less than €1, and the French bank might charge €20 for receiving the wire, if they choose.

What is meant by the banks having the charge "the same" is that the French bank must charge the same for all wires, domestically and internationally.  So if they choose to charge €20 for a wire from Ireland, they must also charge €20 for a local wire from France.  Moreover, a bank might charge different wire fees depending on the type of account.  E.g. A French bank might have a standard account that charges €10 for all wires (domestic and foreign), and the same bank may have a "premium gold" account that charges more monthly, but makes all wires 50 eurocents (domestically and internationally).  As long as each type of account applies the same fees domestically and inside the EU, the bank is legally complaint.

In any case, the wire siphoning is quite compliant with the law.  One organization negotiates with another to siphon money as it goes through.  The intermediate bank doing the siphoning does the _same size_ money grab on all wires (domestic and international) for the *type* of account they have created, so it complies with EC 924/2009.


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