How to cash a check on Qonto

Along with champagne and the baguette, banking checks are a pillar of French culture. Unlike with the bubbly and bread, however, not everyone shares the Gallic love for this mode of payment.

According to a Statista report in 2018, France is by far the biggest consumer of checks in Europe, with more than 1.5 billion checks signed that year. Italy ranks a very distant second place, at approximately 150 million checks.

In 2022, we are much less likely than we were to carry a checkbook around: in 2019, we signed half as many checks as we did 10 years previously. The Covid pandemic has seen the shift from physical to virtual payments accelerate even further. Nonetheless, checks remain very much ‘business as usual’ for many SMEs and self-employed workers in France.

At Qonto, we receive regular questions from France-based customers about cashing checks, like Nicole and Molly.👇

We recognize that, even if the check is falling out of fashion, the ‘VHS of payment methods’ if you will, many of you still receive them. That is why we have a solution to help you cash them. Check deposits can still be quick and accessible, wherever you are. This article explains how it works.

Both the website and mobile app feature a section dedicated to this topic: Check deposits.

With Qonto, you can cash checks of up to €15,000 each, with a maximum total amount of €30,000 per 30 days.

From your phone, go to the More tab in the app menu to locate this section. If you’re on your computer, simply click the button at the top right of your screen. A window will open, and you can start filling in all the information required: the issuer, the issue date, the amount and the check number. Once you have verified that everything is correct, you can submit the deposit.

Depending on your selected plan at Qonto, you have a limited number of deposits. Beyond this limit, each additional check deposit costs €2 (excluding taxes). The reason for this is simple: every check must be received, processed and then cashed, which generates a cost. Traditional banks are in the habit of passing this expense on to all of their customers.

At Qonto, however, most of our users will never receive a check. We think it is unfair to charge them for a service they will likely never use. Put simply, you pay only for what you need.

Once you have confirmed the check deposit on your Qonto app, an address will appear. You must send the check in question by post to this address (make sure you’ve put your signature on the back of the check before sending).

Try to avoid any delay as you have just one week to send it. We recommend choosing a shipment option that includes tracking to ensure it arrives at its destination. No need to endorse your check. We take care of everything.

Once received, our team will take care of the rest.

Checks are a risky payment method. Unfortunately, fraud has become common currency (pun intended). So, to protect you (and ourselves), there are a few precautions that need to be taken.

Every single check is processed manually and on an individual basis to determine whether the check is valid or fraudulent.

Then, we make sure it will ultimately be paid. In fact, when you deposit a check at a traditional bank, the bank pays you in advance in order to credit you the amount immediately. If, however, it turns out to be a ‘rubber check’ that ‘bounces’, the bank automatically withdraws this money directly from your account.

This can put you in a very awkward situation, especially with regards to your cash flow. We, therefore, verify in advance that the issuer of the check has the funds required to pay you. The drawback is that this can take time. The advantage is that it’s secure.

Now that Qonto has its own banking system, we can create our own rules and make this check-cashing process faster. If anyone wants to deposit a check, then it takes up to 15 days maximum.

We believe this is the best way to guarantee that our check-receiving customers out there get paid for the hard work they do.