Warning: Paying in Cheques via CA Britline

We have just had a telephone call from CA Britline because we did not sign a cheque which we paid into the bank which was over 4,000 euros. This has made us go into the red for a few days, for which we will have to pay interest.


As we live in Burgundy and have to post our cheques to Caen because of the antiquated clearing system in France, no-one noticed this omission.


As we are not usually in the position of having to pay money into our account, this was a rebate from the Tresor Public, for the credit impots we received for our renovations, we were not aware of this ruling.


We use Britline because Jim wants someone who is guaranteed to speak english when he has financial points to discuss.


So, take care and if you are in the fortunate position of having to pay a cheque into Britline for a sum of over 4,000 euros, make sure you sign the back!

(PS. at least Britline calls you… most local banks don’t even have your phone number on record and you’ll discover it for yourself when you log on or get your monthly statement!)

It is not just Britline, it is French banking practice to sign the back of the cheque before depositing it. Everything is automated these days so it could happen that the cheque goes through without a signature and is credited to your account but to avoid any risk you’ll need to sign ALL cheques, French or foreign before depositing them in a French account.

We used to have to endorse cheques if we wanted them payed as cash. More hoops to jump through here.

Hi Jane, this has happened to me as well and I bank locally- I understand that all cheques have to be signed on the back by the person to whom the cheque is payable to. I found out to my cost when paying in an insurance pay out after last years storms, it was sent to some central location before being returned, so not even picked up at the paying in branch ;( My son had a summer job this year and had to sign his pay cheques before paying them in.