Cashing a Foreign Currency Bank Draft

pmeade1

Hi,

I have a question regarding cashing a foreign currency bank draft.
Over a year ago when the euro was at a low I was advised by my bank to invest some money in another currency. At the time I purchased a foreign currency draft and was told " it's as good as cash". Well it isn't!
A draft expires after 6 months and needs to be renewed (some say the expiry date does not matter - I don't agree - but that's not the issue)
I want to cash in my draft in the foreign currency, i.e. I don't want it converted to euro. My bank will not do this. They want me to lodge the draft in my account and take the converted euro rate. This is no good to me as the exchange rate is not in my favour.

bottom line I want to keep the foreign currency but not in cheque form.

So the question - How can I cash my foreign currency draft and get the foreign (not euro) notes that it is valued at?

thanks

unclebill98

Lets say its a stg draft.

There is a thing called a "Contra Rate". This is where a customer goes to their bank with say a 100stg draft and the teller gives them 100stg. Its a straight swap. However this practice is rare to be allowed and given that banks work on commission its highly unlikely they will allow it. Also most banking FX systems will not allow it to be processed without approval from someone higher up like their manager etc. If a CR is asked on a chq of course this would be for very well known customers as effectively the chq has not been lodged and allow to clear and obviously its different with cash. You could ask about it but I highly doubt it will be allowed. Given you mention it as an investment its probably for a large amount that would exceed the amount of cash on hand in any one branch.

So the current situation which I would say is that they would take the stg - euro - stg transactions and rightly so screw you over with commission and exchange rates.

Your other option is to travel to England (if its Stg of course) and open an account. The draft would take some weeks to clear before you'd be allowed to draw any funds from it and of course depending on the country you may find it hard to get a bank to open an account for you being a foreign national etc but of course its very doable.

pmeade1

Thanks for the reply.
The currency is $CAD so heading to Canada is not lightly for me. The bank in question, not sure if I can mention names on this forum but lets just say they are not know for their I.T. skills...
I'm not very impressed with the advise I got and the way this bank is handling the issue (customer service my Ars3!).

Lesson learned with regarding to trusting a bank with financial advise.

unclebill98

I would be very surprised if that was actual advise given rather than a set of options for you to pic on. Either way tbh it was/is the worst piece of advice I've heard. Did you actually sit with a customer advisor? Because advice given should have been written down.

You could see if there is a long distance option in dealing with a bank based in Canada.

pmeade1

I wanted foreign currency and yes I did meet with the branch "financial adviser" who advised on taking the draft rather than cash or the charges associated with a foreign currency account. My wife is a witness to this also.
I will see if there are any options as you suggested but not holding much hope. I think its a case of cutting losses..
Maybe others who read this will think twice if they are in the same situation.

Thanks for your comments.

hfallada

I imagine you should have brought the currency in an online trading account rather than a draft. Because you would have this exchange time limit, lower commission and I imagine the exchange rate would be a lot better. I would just live with the loss. I bank with with a particular bank and I have yet to see an intelligent person in the branch. Plus customer service and any form of service is non-existent.