Transfer money to from an Irish to Canadian bank account by writing yourself a cheque

anaracdigiteach

Hi all, would like advise on this. I've relocated to Canada the last few months. Took a bit of set up cash with me but, with the exchange rate rising slightly, would like to transfer a larger amount from my Bank of Ireland account fast before it drops drastically again.
Have been looking for the cheapest way to do it. I read online writing yourself a cheque is probably the best option. Problem is I don't currently have a cheque book. What's the general procedure for getting hold of one. Is it straightforward or does the bank ask for blood in return? And do they charge for it?
I tried getting specific info about it already before calling them up so I could be informed but that proved pretty futile.
I wanted to ask here first to get an unbiased point of view before asking BOI anything about transferring my funds via personal cheque (I've been burnt by bad / misleading info from them more than once like a lot people have ).
If anyone has done this already and has advice how to go about it I'd be grateful for the lowdown.
cheers!

homer911

Writing a cheque will be expensive, Canada is not exactly part of our clearing system.

Use a money transfer service such as transferwise.com

anaracdigiteach

homer911 wrote: »

Writing a cheque will be expensive, Canada is not exactly part of our clearing system.

Use a money transfer service such as transferwise.com

Thanks for reply! sadly transferwise doesn't appear to support CAD$ currently. Just out of curiosity why will it be too expensive writing a cheque? Anything I've read online indicates it would be a relatively cheap and the least painful option. But I am open to other methods. Cheers!

Bank of Ireland: Tara

Hi anaracdigiteach,

Thanks for your post.

We are sorry to hear you are unhappy with information previously provided to you by Bank of Ireland. From reading your post, we understand you are looking for opinions from other users however, we would like to ensure you are provided with the information you require from a verified BOI Representative.

A cheque book can be requested by contacting BOI365, on 00353 1 4044000 or sending an Ask a Question message through our Online Service Desk. There is a Cheque Book issuing charge of €5, for a book of 25 cheques, this is in addition to Government Stamp Duty which is 50c per cheque. These charges are deducted from your account when the cheque book is issued. When a cheque debits your account, there is a 40c transaction charge.

Although it is possible to lodge a Euro cheque in Canada, please bear in mind, the cheque will need to be sent back to Ireland for clearing. This can take several weeks and your bank in Canada may apply a charge to do this.

The fastest option would be to transfer the funds electronically and you can do this through 365 Online. For more information on International Transfers online, please see here. The charge for an international transfer on 365 Online is €5. If you activate the payee details using a security code received by post, you can transfer up to €20000 per banking day. Payees activated using a security code received by text, the limit is €3000.

Transfers greater than €3000, can be requested by sending a written instruction to your account holding branch. The branch will require the international account details of the Canadian bank account and if you wish the funds to be sent in Euros or Canadian Dollars. For information on International Transaction Charges, please see here.

We hope this information helps with your decision. If you should need further assistance, please let us know.

Thanks
Tara