PTSB - US Dollar Cheque Issues

pumpkin13

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Hi all.
My husband recently received two separate US dollar cheques for $100 each, as birthday gifts.

We went into PTSB today to lodge them into his account. At the time I was unaware of the issues regarding US dollar cheques (I've now seen the post about the Irish Actor who receives US dollar cheques).

We asked at the counter if we could lodge them and were told yes and she told us the commission fee would be €1.80, so he would receive around €178 based on today's exchange rate.

She had him sign them on the back, did the lodgement gave us a lodgement slip and off we went.

A few hours later we received a call from someone else at the branch to come back and collect the cheques as apparently we needed a minimum of $250 to be able to lodge and there was also a €50 fee per cheque. My husband went back to collect them but when he received them they are now stamped on the back by PTSB and have various numbers written all over the back of them.

She told him it should be fine and they weren't processed and he should be able to lodge them elsewhere. I am really doubtful any other bank will accept them now, and really our only other option anyway would be to endorse them and send them to his mother to lodge into her bank account in the US anyway, which now I very much doubt we can do. I was trying to make it easier by lodging them here.

I called up and made a formal complaint but I think nothing will come of it. I said to them that I understand it was a mistake, maybe a training issue, and we would have been fine if they had told us in the first place the fees and the minimum, but they accepted them and stamped and wrote on them and then told us they can't do it. I said at this stage I really think they should wave the fees and process them because they are probably useless to us now otherwise, and we aren't going to call his relatives and ask them to rewrite the cheques.

Is there anything else we can do with the cheques now, or will another bank even accept them when they are stamped by PTSB?
 
(I've now seen the post about the Irish Actor who receives US dollar cheques).
I presume you mean this?
 
I presume you mean this?
Yes exactly. I googled US dollar cheques after they called us and told us the fees/minimum amount and found that post and article. I'm just not sure where it leaves us now as they already wrote on and stamped the back of them.
Wish I'd googled it first, I would have just sent them to his mother to lodge into her account in the first place.
 
Have you tried any of the suggestions in the linked thread or the Irish Times follow-up article that is linked from there?
 
Your husband should return them back to whoever gifted the cheques to him and kindly tell them that it’s the most impractical and value-destructive way of giving him a gift you can think of.

There is no conceivable future state of the world where Irish retail banks are going to make it cheaper and easier to process US dollar cheques.

Other options:

There are lots of gift cards which can be used in Ireland and purchased by someone in the US by credit card.

Some neobanks will give you a dollar wallet a routing number and account number so you can receive a funds transfer from a US bank.

Heck I’d even recommend US dollars in the post over a cheque.
 
Yes exactly. I googled US dollar cheques after they called us and told us the fees/minimum amount and found that post and article. I'm just not sure where it leaves us now as they already wrote on and stamped the back of them.
Wish I'd googled it first, I would have just sent them to his mother to lodge into her account in the first place.
Some American banks lodge cheques by way of the customer taking pictures of the cheque through an app. Could the mother do this, and avoid a lny worries about stamps on the back of the cheques?
 
I wouldn't return the cheques; but it would be sensible, as you thank the giver for their kind thought, to let them know that outside the US banking system, it's not practical to send gifts in this way.

I'm also amused to remember my very young self being thrilled at getting USD cheques from a distant god parent; with the exchange rate, the sum of money seemed huge :)
 
Firstly try to cash them at a bank that actually deals in foreign currency. AIB or BOI.
If they cannot cash them due to the mess Ptsb have made of them, you should firstly make a formal written complaint to PTSB under their IDR (internan disputes resolution) procedure. If you are not satisfied with their written resolution you can make a complaint to FSPO (financial services ombudsman) to recover your financial loss caused by Ptsb.
 
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