Write cheques on blank paper?

A_SN

Here's my situation : I receive all my income on my French bank account. Until now, I'd write myself French cheques from my French account, and put them on my account at the Ulster Bank, so that I could withdraw cash from my Ulster Bank account and.. well, use it to buy food and stuff.

Only problem is, I only have two cheques left, and my French bank won't send me any more cheque books because they won't send them to Ireland. So, I'm in trouble because I have no way to send myself any money.

So if I write my own cheques on a piece of paper with all the necessary info that appears on my French cheques, will the Ulster Bank accept them? I know that it's possible to write a cheque on anything, but these days with all their anti-fraud measures some banks feel they don't have to anymore, and I heard it's at the discretion of banks....

Alternatively, if that won't work, is there any way I can keep on transferring money from my French bank to the Ulster Bank in Ireland?

Thoie

Change your French address to your French office/parents/friend and ask them to forward stuff on?

Ask the French bank if they have online banking that allows international transfers (like AIB online banking)?

Set up a standing order from your French bank account?

You can try printing your own cheques - set up a template in Word with all the info - but I've no idea if UB will accept it. I know if I worked in a bank I'd look at you funny

A_SN

Thoie wrote: »

Change your French address to your French office/parents/friend and ask them to forward stuff on?

Ask the French bank if they have online banking that allows international transfers (like AIB online banking)?

Set up a standing order from your French bank account?

You can try printing your own cheques - set up a template in Word with all the info - but I've no idea if UB will accept it. I know if I worked in a bank I'd look at you funny

No unfortunately the only relatives I could ask this service to live in the UK.

No, I can't do international transfers with my type of account online, only inter-account (i.e., my accounts that I own) transfers.

Not sure how to set up standing orders, one thing's for sure I can't set it up online. That would have the inconvenient of being fixed, but good thinking, I'll try to find out how to do that and keep it as a potential solution.

And yeah, I don't mind the funny looks, I just need to know if the UB would accept them . That's the big question hehe.

Thoie

Sorry I can't help you with the cheque part

But surely if you're getting paid into a French account, there must be a French company involved somewhere? Is there no-one in the office there that could help you by forwarding post for you?

A_SN

Thoie wrote: »

Sorry I can't help you with the cheque part

But surely if you're getting paid into a French account, there must be a French company involved somewhere? Is there no-one in the office there that could help you by forwarding post for you?

Well, that's a bit complicated. I get paid all by PayPal, which is my whole income and goes on my French account. I have a bunch of standing orders there to pay bills and loans and such, so I can't change that, which is why I take some of the money I need from there and send it to myself in Ireland, so yeah, the problem remains.

Thanks for the help by the way, that's great .

IsThatSo?

Technically, if you put a stamp on the "self-made" cheque you have paid the Govt medallion stamp duty and it supposedly would be accepted. Irish Govt MSD would not be a whole lot of good in France though....................

I doubt you will have any luck with it. It will raise eyebrows, no doubt, but the fact that you are drawing the "self-made" on a bank in another country complicates issues and UB's biggest concern will be fraud.

Also, the printing on the end of any cheque is magnetic, allowing it to be read by machines to automate processing (which would be done in France) and if its handwritten it will seriously slow down the transfer.

Would the bank in France be willing to send the cheque book to UB for collection by you? They should be able to see that this is where your cheques are being lodged and that it would be consistent with your normal banking transactions.

stepbar

A_SN wrote: »

Here's my situation : I receive all my income on my French bank account. Until now, I'd write myself French cheques from my French account, and put them on my account at the Ulster Bank, so that I could withdraw cash from my Ulster Bank account and.. well, use it to buy food and stuff.

Only problem is, I only have two cheques left, and my French bank won't send me any more cheque books because they won't send them to Ireland. So, I'm in trouble because I have no way to send myself any money.

So if I write my own cheques on a piece of paper with all the necessary info that appears on my French cheques, will the Ulster Bank accept them? I know that it's possible to write a cheque on anything, but these days with all their anti-fraud measures some banks feel they don't have to anymore, and I heard it's at the discretion of banks....

Alternatively, if that won't work, is there any way I can keep on transferring money from my French bank to the Ulster Bank in Ireland?

ATM card

sm.org

Any limit on the amount you can write the cheque for?

If not why not write the next cheque for the entire balance in the account, unless your income is paid into the french a/c on a monthly basis that is.

dotsman

stepbar wrote: »

ATM card

Yup, gotta agree with stepbar here. Any chance you can move your French account to a bank in the 21st century (or even post 70's)?

In this day and age, you should be able to transfer money online between foreign banks, use your atm card anywhere in the world (and for free in the Eurozone) and generally have accounts in various countries.

unclebill98

I'm sorry, I got a good laugh at the thought of someone coming into me with a a4 page hand made chq....

+1 on ATM card and changing your address to make sure your not stuck again.

I work for UB and I'd tell you to take your home made chq and leave... but in a really nice way....

Random

Can't you add an Irish bank account to Paypal as well?

stepbar

unclebill98 wrote: »

I'm sorry, I got a good laugh at the thought of someone coming into me with a a4 page hand made chq....

+1 on ATM card and changing your address to make sure your not stuck again.

I work for UB and I'd tell you to take your home made chq and leave... but in a really nice way....

Threads like this make me sigh..... just like people who have unrealistic ideas on borrowing money..... "How much can I borrow? How much is it that you want sir?":rolleyes: ***Sigh***

KillerShamrock

Have to agree with my fellow bankers here you produced a completely hand written/drawn cheque to me i would look around for the hidden cameras, then tell you where to go i.e. back to your bank to get REAL cheques or id just send it up as a fraud case which is pretty much what you would be doing.

Cheques are issued to you by the bank like an atm card and still remain their property and by trying to reproduce them unofficially you are commiting some serious fraud.

ATM card +1
Or at least open a french account that does let you transfer internationally.

unclebill98

tbh i'm surprised the 1st reply did not simple say,

"Are you for real".

samhail

Random wrote: »

Can't you add an Irish bank account to Paypal as well?

you can only add an irish bank account to an irish paypal account...

they wouldnt really like you to create an irish paypal account, and send the money from your french paypal account to your irish account, so you can transfer the money to your irish bank account.
(worst they could do is to lock both account and investigate it for fraud, could hold your cash at least 28 days while investigating - it is against their rules to have 2 accounts)

How about closing your french paypal account and opening a new one with the same email address ? so all thge money from your sales will goto your irish bank account without needing to change your email addie to be paid to

KillerShamrock

unclebill98 wrote: »

tbh i'm surprised the 1st reply did not simple say,

"Are you for real".

LOL yeah actually that surprised me too

Thoie

unclebill98 wrote: »

tbh i'm surprised the 1st reply did not simple say,

"Are you for real".

I think it's a fairly reasonable question - we were told for junior cert that you can write a cheque on anything. It's probably not true any more, as cheques these days have machine readable text, etc etc etc. But the myth is still out there. As for the cheques belonging to the bank, I wonder about that. I know I once managed to use one of my father's cheques, with his details scribbled out and mine written in, however that was somewhere we were both well known.

dotsman

Thoie wrote: »

I think it's a fairly reasonable question - we were told for junior cert that you can write a cheque on anything. It's probably not true any more, as cheques these days have machine readable text, etc etc etc. But the myth is still out there. As for the cheques belonging to the bank, I wonder about that. I know I once managed to use one of my father's cheques, with his details scribbled out and mine written in, however that was somewhere we were both well known.

Yes, I also remember that from JC Business Studies (long time ago!). I also remember seeing a law and order or some other type law drama were it turned out to be true.

However, it is up to the bank (in this case) to say whether they will accept it or not. The same way a shop might not accept American Express etc (which is also a legal form of payment).

The fact of the matter is that, from both a logistical point of view, and a fraud-prevention point of view, a bank would have to be crazy to accept such a ridiculous (and highly risky) document.

Gonzales

A_SN wrote: »

I get paid all by PayPal.

Change your paypal account to direct funds into your Irish account

nlgbbbblth

In the strike of 1976 people wrote cheques on pieces of paper as the banks were closed from April to November.

This is 2008 not 1976.