Bank check as an international payment tool?

On 2002-06-11 17:02, Bertha wrote:

...and I always get paid through cheques. Always.

Clients outside the USA have also paid me with bank cheques. I have received cheques in french francs, in euros, in sterling pounds and in canadian dollars. Never a problem. I always deposit the checks in my bank account here in the USA and checks may take between 5 -10 days to clear.



Good luck.





and until recently I accepted all kinds of cheques from US clients, French clients, UK clients,...



Recently I dropped all that, because it takes far too long before cheques are cleared by the issuing bank.



Recently, I had to wait almost 7 (seven) weeks before payment actually was credited on my bank account.

4 banks were involved, a.o. one of the largest in the US.

They simply kept the cheque for almost 6 weeks.

Since the amount was rather substantial, I assume they wanted to play a bit with my money.



Afterwards I was charged almost 100 euro for \'communications\' because my bank had to get in touch with the issuing American bank...



I\'m now still waiting for a French cheque to be cleared.

Received it three weeks ago (and I already had to wait 80 days before the cheque actually arrived).



Too much hassle, if you ask me...



I now only accept payments by bank wire transfer.

If needed, payments can reach my bank account from e.g. California in 24 hours.








[addsig] ▲ Collapse

On 2002-06-11 17:02, Bertha wrote:

...and I always get paid through cheques. Always.

Clients outside the USA have also paid me with bank cheques. I have received cheques in French francs, in euros, in sterling pounds and in Canadian dollars. Never a problem. I always deposit the checks in my bank account here in the USA and checks may take between 5 -10 days to clear.



Good luck.





In France it\'s a different story altogether. French banking procedures are slow and expensive. Crediting a foreign cheque - even from within the Euro zone - and from the UK and Switzerland (non-Euro), will take anything up to three weeks. Yes, three weeks. And I will be charged in excess of 50 euros for the privilege!



International interbank transfers take anything from a few days to a week, cost generally less than cheques but are still relatively expensive to clear.



So much for European harmonization!



In fact, it does depend a lot on your bank but the time limits posted here are an average resulting from my experience of 3 different banks over 12 years!



Nikki



[ This Message was edited by: on 2002-06-12 15:36 ] ▲ Collapse