Know your rights over stolen cheque

WE HAD blank cheques stolen and are trying to recoup money from our bank. The cheques did not have valid signatures. We have lost €4,000. We have been told that engaging an avocat will be costly. What recourse do we have? R.M.

The usual stages for making complaints against a bank are: discussing the matter with the branch; then with the bank’s customer services division; then applying to the mediator; then, if necessary, going to court.

The view of top appeal court la Cour de Cassation has, in recent years, been that where cheques are stolen and used with a fraudulent signature, your bank should not honour them or should repay you. It is responsible for checking the signature and, even if it is a close forgery, that is not an excuse.

However you may be ruled ineligible for a refund, or only entitled to a partial one, if you were found to have been negligent.

This is unlikely to be the case if you are not shown to have left your chequebook lying around where other people could access it and, if you reported lost cheques or amounts debited, reasonably quickly. For example, in a 2010 case negligence was found where a person allowed another individual access to their chequebook and had not reported unauthorised cheque payments made over seven-months, despite them appearing on statements.

You could either take advice from a specialist avocat or from a consumer body (see www.conso. net) or free from a local Maison de la Justice et du Droit (similar to a UK citizens advice bureau).