How to write a cheque in France

French cheques may be different from those you are used to in your own country, to help you here’s a quick guide to how to write a cheque in France correctly.

Cheques clear quickly in France, usually the day they are presented or the day after. It is illegal to back date a cheque or to make it as a payment when you have insufficient funds in your account to cover it. Cheques are treated as cash under French law.  We have more information here on cheques in France and here on cashier’s checks/bankers cheques/drafts.

How do I write a cheque in France:

Always write your French bank cheque in the French language – sounds obvious but it can be easy to forget.

Payer contre ce chèque

This translates as – pay against this cheque.  You need to input the amount in words in the space following the above wording.  There are some spellings below to help you with this.

When writing or reading French  numbers, it is important to know the placement of points and commas.

A point (full stop) marks the thousands, while a comma (virgule) separates the cents: one thousand Euro is written €1.000,00 (mille euros)

A comma marks the fractions in a percentage: fifty-two point six percent is written 52,6% (cinquante deux virgule six pourcent)

A – Underneath the above words you’ll see a lone A – this means to i.e. the payee.  Write in the name of the person/company you are making the cheque out to.

On the left hand side:

€ – Write the amount in numbers in the Euro box.

Fait à or A – This mean the place where you wrote the cheque.

Le – The date.

Signature – Sign your cheque and hand it over.

Useful vocabulary – French numbers in words