GST Refund

Hey everyone.

Just a heads up about your GST refund checks - I've had trouble getting a bank down here to honor the check without a hassle. There is a $10 service charge for a foreign check pretty much anywhere you go, Not a big deal. But this year I get a letter in the mail from my bank stating that they had debited my account for $26 and change to account for a .923 exchange rate.

If you are paying this fee, call your bank. I called and explained that the bill for service, and the GST refund calculation were all in U.S. dollars. When I questioned why there would be a deduction based on exchange rate, the bank manager said "Oh. Yes, I see here that the check WAS in US dollars. Yes, that was a mistake. We'll credit your account for the difference."

I don't know if it was intentional or not on their part, but I suspect most would just accept that without question. If you've had to pay any sort of exchange rate fee, you probably shouldn't have. It might be worth a call to your bank jsut to be sure.

Jeff