dougal03

I had a cheque from a Building Society in Gibraltar which was in sterling.Strangely they could not(or would not)do a simple transfer into Caixabank.However my bank held it from August till October this year,so very recent,converted it into euros at my request & no problem at all.This bank account I opened only in this April when I moved to the area too.

amideislas

I haven't seen a "cheque" in years. It's rather outdated now that banking is almost entirely electronic and computerised (in Europe, anyway).

dougal03

Amideislas, please tell that to that Society in Gibraltar! Also,I was given a cheque from a buyer of a property I sold last year via a legal real estate agent as a deposit & soon I am buying a new build property from a property investment company.Originally I saw it at one price but when I made a reserve payment it had risen by a small amount due to numbers of viewings during that time.So I am getting a cheque once we complete at the Notario for the difference.So cheques are still around it seems.

spainrico

I used a bankers cheque to complete a property purchase in August this year but have not used one for 'day-to-day' stuff for donkey's years.

Spain has never had a big cheque culture - as they went straight to a more modern system when the country modernised.

amideislas

I don't know...

But every time I've bought or sold a house in many years (or anything for that matter), the payment has been made through online banking (or with debit card, in the case of daily stuff). The last house we bought had the advantage of the owner having an account at the same bank, so the payment was instantaneous and instantly verifiable at the signing. Simples.

Mark604

Interesting about the Tax cheques as I had problems with a refund from them.
Initially a letter was sent telling me I could apply for the refund online - but the letter was delayed somehow and didn't arrive until what they said was now too late to do it this way.
They said they would send me a cheque instead.
I asked for it to be sent to Spain.
They refused.
I asked for another letter then with the details about doing it online. They refused.

I asked that the cheque be made out to a relative (with a completely different name) and sent to a UK address and that person would then pay it into my account. They said that was ok.
I asked about security, how come you are just talking to me on the phone and I could be anybody getting someone's refund cheque posted to them.
They felt their security questions they asked me on initially calling were sufficient to confirm my identity.
I don't remember now what they first asked me, but I'm sure the answers weren't hard to find by another person. Maybe I was just being a bit paranoid.

Lynn R

I think it's ridiculous that HMRC still insist on sending cheques to overseas residents who claim tax rebates. When the cheque I'd posted back to my UK bank for paying in went missing, I rang them and explained what had happened and asked (having answered all the security questions) if they could pay it into my account instead. The answer was a flat "no, we don't do that". If the DWP is happy to pay people's state pensions direct to either their UK or overseas bank accounts, why does another Government Department still insist on using cheques?

Mark604

I also expressed surprise that they were still dealing in old ways and I asked if my cheque could made out in guineas and be hand delivered by their butler or chauffeur to my country estate.

thegolfer

Oh poor Larry had similar problem with a cheque from HMRC. It ended up visiting many countries before arriving by which time it was nearly past payment date, stuck in different forums 24/7. Crazy that in 2019 they are still stuck in the 80's.