Euro Cheque to Sterling

kah22

The right forum?

I’d like some advice. I’m living in Northern Ireland for a long time now but I originally came from the Rep of Ireland

Before the complete collapse I sold some shares in a Southern company. The shares were willed to me many, many years ago. My nest egg!

As you’ll appreciate the cheque came in Euro. If I take it to my local bank (Ulster Bank ) then, I assume, they will discount it quite heavily even though it will be going straight into my regular account until I start renovations next May

What I’m trying to discover is if there is any (legal) way I can get this cheque changed into Sterling without loosing a big chunk of it. For convince sake I’d rather keep it in my Northern account but if I had to keep it down South till I needed it then I would, but I don’t think I could open an account there

Any suggestions? If you would prefer to contact me me privately then great. I just want to get this sorted out

Stay safe

Kevin

Atlantic Dawn

What I would do is open a bank account in the south if you can, lodge the Euro cheque in to the account, then I would use Transferwise or similar service to move the money from the southern Euro account in to your Ulsterbank Sterling account. They provide great rates and you transfer from your Euro account to their Euro account, they then transfer the money from their sterling account to your Ulster Bank account. You could be talking about circa €150-€200 saving on every £10k compared to what your bank would charge, that was my experience for a similar transfer.

They have calculators on their website so you can directly compare with what your bank offer...
https://transferwise.com/ie

Revolut could be another option but probably a non runner if you are talking tens of thousands, that would be more suited to smaller amounts over time.

kah22

Thanks for the info.

What’s the regulations in the Republic for opening a bank account. I know they are pretty strict here: a photo I’d plus a utility or something like that. At least that is what it was when a friend of mine, a local business man who banked there, and myself went to open a small club account, they had to see his photo I’d and utility bill and him in and out of the bank 2 or 3 times a week

Atlantic Dawn

Here's what AIB need, likely same across the board...
https://aib.ie/our-products/savings-and-deposits/personal-identification-requirements

coylemj

kah22 wrote: »

..... they had to see his photo I’d and utility bill and him in and out of the bank 2 or 3 times a week

You may or may not have noticed that they took photocopies of all those documents. It’s not just a case of a member of staff vouching for him, the bank has to keep a record of the documents which are required under anti-money laundering regulations.

You might consider asking your NI bank if they will allow you to open a Euro account.