Notary protest handling fee

When you are going to cash a cheque and it is unpaid because the drawer has no funds, before the expiry of the presentation deadline, you must protest before a notary, a formal act required by law to demonstrate that the payment was not honoured.

This procedure is carried out by the drawee bank and consists of going to the notary to protest the cheque. It tends to be a fixed amount and it is paid for by the person who presented the cheque to be cashed.

What requirements must be met in order to charge this fee?

• The fees charged by banks are unrestricted, except in cases where they are limited by law. In the case of the notary protest handling fee, there is no limit, so each bank can establish the fee it chooses.

The bank must inform you of the fee amount before the transaction is performed.