For my loyal readers, you know that from time to time I post little tid bits about quirky Luxembourgish customs. Well here's a good one for you. Everyone here pays for everything through direct deposit.
I first noticed this about a week ago, when I was looking at an invitation I received from the American Women's Club of Luxembourg. They are having a lunch, and in order to confirm your reservation, you need to pay $15. For payment, the only way you can pay is through direct deposit. The invitation gives you the Club's bank account and routing numbers. Odd, right?
Then, we kept receiving bills from our phone company, but without any payment coupon or envelope to mail a check. We figured that I would have to go to the post office (the post office and phone company are one entity- Luxembourg Post and Telecom) to pay in person, since we didn't know how else to pay. But before I got around to going, last Friday, we received a certified letter that I had to sign for, essentially telling us this was our last warning- we really had to pay. From the letter, it became clear that instead of paying in person at the bank, we were supposed to go to our bank and pay through direct deposit- again, the letter contained the phone company's bank account and routing number.
So today I was on my way to the bank (which is in walking distance so much easier to go to than the post office) to pay this bill, and I checked the mail on my way out. Lo and behold we have an invitation to our friends' wedding. (Aren't you impressed that we've been here less than 4 months and we are already getting invited to weddings? I am! Anyway it's Raph's co-worker, so I can't really take much credit. Actually I think it was Henry- they adore him.). I digress: anyway included with the invitation is one of those little cards saying that what they really want is your presence at the wedding, but if you insist on giving a gift, they would prefer money rather than gifts.... and it included their bank account and routing number! So clearly this preference for direct deposit is deeply embedded in the culture here.
So at the bank, I pay the bill through direct deposit, and I asked the teller if it was common to pay bills this way, by transferring money like this, because I had never paid a bill this way before. He said it was a "famous solution." So there you have it... Direct deposit- a famous solution.
