6. French Bank Cheques

1. 6.1. Completing a Cheque
   6.2. Payment by Cheque
   6.3. Cashing a Cheque/Bounced Cheques
   6.4. Lost Cheques

6.3. Cashing French Cheques/Bounced French Cheques

When you deposit a cheque you will be asked to sign the back of the cheque in front of cashier. This effectively certifies that you have a right to the payment.

Your account will normally be credited within two or three working days of receipt of the cheque by the bank, although this period is considerably longer for a cheque from abroad. It is also generally longer with 'La Banque Postal' than with the other main banks.

The period between depositing the cheque and crediting the account is called the date de valeur and during this period the funds are not available to you. As all withdrawls from the bank are immediately debited from your account, you need to be careful of becoming overdrawn.

If you are paid for goods or services by cheque and it should ‘bounce’ (called a chèque en bois), then you can get a certificate of non-payment from the bank, called a un certificat de non-paiement, which you can then use in debt recovery proceedings.

To commence those proceedings, you can make a claim in the local court. For sums under €4,000 you go to a Juge de Proximité or a Tribunal d'Instance for a sum under €10,000. In the first instance you would be best advised to contact your local official bailiff, called a huissier.

It is not difficult or expensive to commence court proceedings for small debts. You can find out more by contacting your local free legal advice centre, details of which you can find at http://www.annuaires.justice.gouv.fr/index.php?rubrique=10111£££Information on Legal Advice Centres~~~