cashing a check in France

My wife now in France has a check made out to her on
the Credit Lyonnais. She is in Chalon-sur-Saone. Can
she cash this check at one of the branchs of the Credit
Lyonnais there or will there be some problem about
doing this? She does not have an account at a French bank.

Thanks in advance for the info.

Michael Eisenstadt

On 30/05/06 11:38, in article
,
" wrote:

My wife now in France has a check made out to her on
the Credit Lyonnais. She is in Chalon-sur-Saone. Can
she cash this check at one of the branchs of the Credit
Lyonnais there or will there be some problem about
doing this? She does not have an account at a French bank.

Thanks in advance for the info.

Michael Eisenstadt



Normally checks in France are "barré", they have double
set of lines passing downward in the check. This means
that the check can ONLY be deposited in the bank account
of the person it is made out to. On can not get it cashed
otherwise.

She needs to ask for a cheque non-barré

"Le chèque non barré, taxé 5 F par l'État, peut être encaissé par quiconque
: il est payable à vue et sans délai à l'agence locale d'où il provient ; il
est endossable."


****

Other forms are

Cas particuliers :

€ chèque barré Banque de France : la mention Banque de France écrite
entre les deux barres parallèles faites à l'endroit du chèque indique que ce
chèque ne pourra être payé que par l'intermédiaire de la Banque de France ;
€ chèque visé : le visa du chèque par une banque a pour effet de
constater l'existence d'une provision au moment où il est donné ;
€ chèque certifié : c'est une garantie très sûre de paiement : la
signature de la banque, à l'endroit du chèque, constate l'existence de la
provision et la bloque au profit du bénéficiaire pendant 8 jours maximum ;
€ chèque avalisé : l'aval est une garantie de paiement donnée par un
tiers. Pour avaliser un chèque : écrire à l'endroit " bon pour aval " et
signer. Le donneur d'aval engage ainsi sa responsabilité ;
€ chèque postdaté : il est interdit de faire un chèque en y portant
une fausse date. De plus, si le chèque est présenté avant la date indiquée,
il sera quand même payé par la banque (ou si c'est impossible, considéré
comme un chèque sans provision) ;
€ chèque de voyage : ils sont émis pour un montant fixe dans une
monnaie déterminée (FF, DM, Euro ...). Ils sont signés par leur titulaire au
moment de l'achat et une seconde fois lors de leur utilisation à l'étranger,
ce qui évite qu'ils soient utilisés par d'autres personnes.

Thanks Earl for your comprehensive answer.

Michael Eisenstadt

wrote:
My wife now in France has a check made out to her on
the Credit Lyonnais. She is in Chalon-sur-Saone. Can
she cash this check at one of the branchs of the Credit
Lyonnais there or will there be some problem about
doing this? She does not have an account at a French bank.

Thanks in advance for the info.

Michael Eisenstadt

TROLL

all chèques are "barré" nowadays

c'est mal barré, comme dirait l'autre


a écrit dans le message de news:
...
My wife now in France has a check made out to her on
the Credit Lyonnais. She is in Chalon-sur-Saone. Can
she cash this check at one of the branchs of the Credit
Lyonnais there or will there be some problem about
doing this? She does not have an account at a French bank.

Thanks in advance for the info.

Michael Eisenstadt

On 30/05/06 12:48, in article
,
" wrote:

Thanks Earl for your comprehensive answer.

Michael Eisenstadt


Another peculiarity about French check practice, it that often enough
one fills a check for the amount due, but one does not add
the name to the check. This allows the receiver to give
it to somebody else who can fill their name in and deposit
it in their account. Also often businesses have their own
stamp. In some stores they will take the unfilled check
and put into a machine which will fill out the amount, etc,
handing it back to you to sign, noting the amount it is for.

Also, while not legal people will postdate checks so that
a person can put it into their account at some future date
but not before.

Finally for some shady transactions, cash is requested,
it leaves no paper trail. Cash transactions are limited by
law. I don't know what the limit is now but it was about
20,000 francs a few years ago, which is several thousand
euros. These are minor sums but those working travail noir,
getting paid under the table will want cash. At one time
the antique business was known as a cash only. Not paying
taxes was once an important past time in France but is
less and less practiced. Now they want your credit card
and that leaves a trail.

Earl Evleth schrieb:
On 30/05/06 12:48, in article
,
" wrote:

Thanks Earl for your comprehensive answer.

Michael Eisenstadt


Another peculiarity about French check practice, it that often enough
one fills a check for the amount due, but one does not add
the name to the check. This allows the receiver to give
it to somebody else who can fill their name in and deposit
it in their account. Also often businesses have their own
stamp. In some stores they will take the unfilled check
and put into a machine which will fill out the amount, etc,
handing it back to you to sign, noting the amount it is for.

Also, while not legal people will postdate checks so that
a person can put it into their account at some future date
but not before.

Finally for some shady transactions, cash is requested,
it leaves no paper trail. Cash transactions are limited by
law. I don't know what the limit is now but it was about
20,000 francs a few years ago, which is several thousand
euros. These are minor sums but those working travail noir,
getting paid under the table will want cash. At one time
the antique business was known as a cash only. Not paying
taxes was once an important past time in France but is
less and less practiced. Now they want your credit card
and that leaves a trail.


I believe it used to be illegal to overdraw your account, in other
words present an uncovered cheque?

T.

On 30/05/06 14:25, in article , "Tom Peel"
wrote:

I believe it used to be illegal to overdraw your account, in other
words present an uncovered cheque?

I don't know about whether it is necessary to show intent to defraud
to get hyper.

I have never had an overdrawn account anywhere but one can be heavily
punished if one does so, including having one's account cancelled and
heavily fined by the bank. One friend, an American, assumed his deposited
American check had cleared his French account and it had not. So
he got hit with a fine, but they did not take his account away. He was
furious since he assumed that several weeks was enough time for his
American check to clear. In fact, they have up to 30 days to clear
the check and in any case one should never assume that they money
is there without having the paper work. If one lives outside of
France, receiving the paper work through the mails can take time.
Now, of course, one's account balance is available by internet.
My friend had bank penalties of several hundred francs on a 2000
franc transfer.

If one is going to have a problem one should see the bank and have the
overdraw approved.

The term used is "chèque sans provision". In the worst case, one has ALL
one's account taken away for 5 years (max). If criminal intent is involved
one can get up to 5 years and 375,000 euro fine.

Another problem with French banks is difference between the date on which
the check has been put into the account and the "date valeur", which
one can use the money. Certain date valeur are a day or so after the
deposit. A check from somebody's else account will take several days
to be credited. One bank transfer from another country was received
one day but I only had access to the funds the next day. This game is
the bank's game of "heads we win, tails you lose". They make money
on the "float" since globally the funds can be invested overnight
and draw interest. At one time they use to debit your account
a day before the actual date of the operation! I have
not see this particular form of "creative accounting" lately
and I think it is forbidden.

In article , (Earl
Evleth) wrote:

Another problem with French banks is difference between the date on
which
the check has been put into the account and the "date valeur", which
one can use the money. Certain date valeur are a day or so after the
deposit. A check from somebody's else account will take several days
to be credited.

This is true of British banks too.



----------------------------------------------
The poster formerly known as .

Earl Evleth schrieb:
On 30/05/06 14:25, in article , "Tom Peel"
wrote:

I believe it used to be illegal to overdraw your account, in other
words present an uncovered cheque?

I don't know about whether it is necessary to show intent to defraud
to get hyper.

I have never had an overdrawn account anywhere but one can be heavily
punished if one does so, including having one's account cancelled and
heavily fined by the bank. One friend, an American, assumed his deposited
American check had cleared his French account and it had not. So
he got hit with a fine, but they did not take his account away. He was
furious since he assumed that several weeks was enough time for his
American check to clear. In fact, they have up to 30 days to clear
the check and in any case one should never assume that they money
is there without having the paper work. If one lives outside of
France, receiving the paper work through the mails can take time.
Now, of course, one's account balance is available by internet.
My friend had bank penalties of several hundred francs on a 2000
franc transfer.

If one is going to have a problem one should see the bank and have the
overdraw approved.

The term used is "chèque sans provision". In the worst case, one has ALL
one's account taken away for 5 years (max). If criminal intent is involved
one can get up to 5 years and 375,000 euro fine.

Another problem with French banks is difference between the date on which
the check has been put into the account and the "date valeur", which
one can use the money. Certain date valeur are a day or so after the
deposit. A check from somebody's else account will take several days
to be credited. One bank transfer from another country was received
one day but I only had access to the funds the next day. This game is
the bank's game of "heads we win, tails you lose". They make money
on the "float" since globally the funds can be invested overnight
and draw interest.

I believe all banks do that.
T.

At one time they use to debit your account
a day before the actual date of the operation! I have
not see this particular form of "creative accounting" lately
and I think it is forbidden.