I realise that talking about cheques in 2018 seems odd but here goes.
As part of living in Ireland in 2016 we paid some water use charges for our dwelling. Since that time a new Government came into effect in Ireland and reversed the water charges scheme and all those that paid fees were refunded the total amount they paid. In our case €185.
That refund is by bank cheque in Euros.
Today I went into BNZ and was informed that they have changed there processing of international cheques and that any cheques are subject to a minimum $50 currency conversion fee + the cost couriering that cheque back to the issuing country. In this case its $35 to post a cheque to Ireland. That means I will be facing a $85 upfront cost to just process the cheque.
Now this got me thinking, whilst i am a fan of moving away from cheques in banking in NZ, there are a number of large economies (US, EU) where cheques are still prevalent and are forms of payment for shares and the like.
In the immediate future this will also bite on the Vanguard shares I have on the ASX (which pay dividends in cheques). My current share holding means that dividend payments will be completely wiped out by shares.
Has anyone else encountered this change in bank policy, and if so how have you got around it?