Euro

I have a query regarding bank cheques and the advent of the euro. Are we entitled to return our old unused cheque-books which contain the £symbols to the respective bank institutions and ask for a refund on stamp duty, etc., as we will be needing new cheque-books with the euro symbol on them?

Mr G.F., e-mail

You will be able to return any unused whole or partial cheque-books to your banks and will receive a refund of any stamp duty owing on the outstanding portion of the books. This will be standard practice as part of the euro changeover operation with all the financial institutions.

You should receive a euro-denominated cheque-book in advance of the January 1st changeover to facilitate the writing of cheques after that date.

There are a couple of other points to note in relation to cheques and the changeover to the euro.

Most importantly, customers should not alter the denomination of their cheques - changing pounds to euro after January 1st or, indeed, changing euro to pounds in your euro cheque-book should you run out of pound-denominated cheques in advance of January 1st.

Cheques altered in this way should not be accepted as payment by individuals or companies as they are likely to be returned unpaid by the bank clearing system.

Should you run out of cheques, get another pound-denominated cheque-book from your bank; after all, you will be able to get a refund for any unused cheques.

If you do receive a pound-denominated cheque in payment before the turn of the year, you would be best advised to lodge it before the end of the dual-pricing period - February 9th.

Cheques written in pounds before December 31st will be accepted for six months in accordance with normal practice, but it will be less hassle if you lodge them before them the end of the dual-pricing period.

One other point to bear in mind for people looking to buy gift cheques or drafts over the Christmas period is that they should ideally be in euro, not pounds, because they are unlikely to be cashed before the New Year.

Eircom

Could you forward the helpline number for the Valentia share offer to me? I sent my "signed" certificate and forms some time ago but I have yet to receive the cash. Alternatively, would you have an e-mail address for Valentia that you could send to me?

Mr T.R., e-mail

The Valentia helpline number is 1850 303803 but ringing it is not likely to get you your money any sooner.

The Valentia purchase is not yet a done deal. It has been declared unconditional as to acceptances, which means the consortium has enough shares to compulsorily purchase the balance.

However, it is still awaiting the all-clear from both the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment - which has the right to refer the deal to the Competition Authority if it has doubts about whether the purchase would reduce competition in the market - and the Office of the Director of Telecommunications Regulation. The Department is due to make its decision any time now and the expectation is that the regulator will announce her ruling at around the same time, although there is apparently no time limit on her deliberations.

Only at that stage will the offer become fully unconditional and the consortium has indicated that people who have sent in all their details should receive their money around two weeks after that date.

SSIAs

I have a lump sum of several thousand pounds, which I had intended to put against my (variable-rate) mortgage.

Given the low interest rates right now, would I gain more by putting it into an SSIA?

Is there any scheme which allows me to open with a lump sum or save more than £200 a month - or would I have to limit myself to "drip- feeding" the lump sum by £200 each month?

Ms C.C., e-mail

The simple, if not necessarily helpful, answer is that it depends. The argument you make with regard to low interest rates is more particularly relevant to those people who have a little extra monthly cash with which they can ease the mortgage bill or save in something such as an SSIA.

It is less relevant to people in your position with lump sums available for investment.

There is no scheme that would allow you to open a special savings incentive account with a lump sum or any that allows you to save more than £200.

At least, you can save what you want but the Government will only pay its 25 per cent bonus on sums up to £200 a month. So, yes, you would have to drip-feed the lump sum at the rate of £200 a month. And there's the rub. You have a lump sum that would have to sit somewhere, or be invested somewhere, while you are drip-feeding small parts of it into an SSIA.

You would need to assess how much you would reduce the overall bill of your mortgage by setting the lump sum against the capital and compare that with the amount you would gain by drip-feeding the lump sum into an SSIA and setting it against the mortgage when the five-year savings term is complete.

Again, it would depend on which SSIA option you took. Variable- and fixed-rate deposit SSIAs offer different returns and then there are the investment SSIA options, which are not generally recommended to people looking to save for the minimum five-year period.

Only by working out the figures would you be able to determine which is the best course of action. Remember, if you are drip-feeding an SSIA, the best interim home for your lump-sum is likely to be a notice deposit account, where your money may well be shedding value over time.

Given that you are talking about several thousand pounds, it would be worth getting a professional assessment of your options from a fee-based authorised, or independent, adviser. After all, it might be that, given the lump sum on your hands, there would be better options than either of those you are currently considering.

Please send your queries to Dominic Coyle, Q&A, The Irish Times, D'Olier Street, Dublin 2 or e-mail to dcoyle@irish-times.ie. This column is a reader service and is not intended to replace professional advice. Due to the volume of mail, there may be a delay in answering queries. All suitable queries will be answered through the columns of the newspaper. No personal correspondence will be entered into.