Bounced cheque advise.

[ro284]

Not rotary related, Someone i did some work for, wrote me a cheque yesterday, then texed today to say she had to cancel it today, not a great amount, but a bit peed off about it, any way of forcing it to be paid? or any advice please ? cheers Bob

[AMH]

If she\'s cancelled the cheque there is nothing you can do to get it paid. If you decide to take action against her though it can be used as evidence that she owed you that money.

I would still pay it in - firstly in case she\'s lying and she hasn\'t cancelled it (there\'s usually a charge for her - you won\'t incur any costs) and secondly you then have evidence that it was cancelled as the cheque will be returned to you with \'payment countermanded by order of drawer\' stamped on it, which again may help any future claim.

I hope that helps.

[jetpilot]

Good advise, it costs a fair bit to cancel a cheque. Pay it in buddy.

[ro284]

Paid in! Thanks for advice, she paid me part cash and the last part with the cheque, i have done a lot of work for her, when it came to pay the bill, she changed into a different person (almost) and not nice! and became spitefull   :2eek i think she gave me the cheque to get me out of the house with the intention of cancelling the cheque when i had left! now i don\'t mind waiting for a while if it helps someone through a bad patch, and understand people have difficulties finding cash, but i would listen and already given her more time to pay, and i don\'t like getting nasty, this however has really peed me off! so next question= if the cheque is sent back to me. can i pay it in again? and again? so that she gets so fed up with the fees that she hopefully pays it? or is that wishfull thinking, Any advice gratefully recieved!
Thanks Bob

[ad4m1]

you wont get the cheque back. she will get one set of fees and thats it...u got to try and get the money all over again

[DR SCHNITZEL]

i put a cheque that bounced into hsbc from a guy who bought both my cars off me for 1100 quid. they charged me 25 quid!!!! different banks different charges. you should enquire. story goes i didnt let the cars go. In this instance the cheque was credited so it looked like i had the cash then the next day it bounced so there was a window were i would have let the cars go. ten years on id like to think the system has changed but...?

[AMH]

No bank should charge you for a cheque you pay in that gets returned - unless it then takes you overdrawn or something.

And yes the clearing system has changed but it is still credited to your account immediately, just now once it\'s cleared it\'s guaranteed paid - which it wasn\'t before. 6,4,2 now means you get interest from day 2, you can draw against it after day 4 and guaranteed paid after day 6. See here

You should always get a returned cheque sent back to you. If it\'s returned for lack of funds then if it says \'refer to drawer please represent\' that means you should try paying it in again. You can still try if it\'s just \'refer to drawer\' but probably not much hope. You shouldn\'t be able to pay a cancelled cheque back in again.

Blimey it\'s a while since I\'ve had to deal with cheque queries - I\'m normally being moaned at because someone\'s Faster Payments aren\'t working or something. :chat

[SiH]

FYI, cheques can \'bounce\'/be cancelled/be withdrawn for a very long period after they have been paid in - something ridiculous like 6 months! Another reason not to use them.

My other half used to work in an anti money laundering department, you learn some very eye opening facts about the handling of money, and what people do to abuse some of the nuances in different payment methods.
I for one would never take a cheque or banker\'s draft for any sum of money that was remotely significant.

Nice one on paying it in - sounds like the rest might be a case for the small claims court Keep a record of all correspondence, both verbal and written.

[rx-dave]

You sure? I know card payments can be pulled back up to 6 months later but i don\'t think it works for cheques. My Mrs is a NatWest manager and she says it\'s 10 working days but as you say always better to take a transfer.

[ro284]

Thanks for replies all. i am expecting a letter from her today, so will see. (probably disputing the bill from the day before!) however it occurred to me that i gave her a receipt, based on what i thought was full payment of the full amount, but now it seems the amount paid by cheque would make that receipt= =invalid/false/deceptive/inaccurate/wrong. or some other word that sums up the situation more accurately! (in legal terms) untill i receive payment in full! any further thoughts please guys,
Many thanks Bob

[rx-dave]

Bob, it\'s always worth threatening to go to the plod with an accusation of obtaining goods / services by deception. I know the police are an absolute waste of time unless you\'ve parked slightly out of line or done 31mph in a 30 mph area but it\'s worth a try.
You\'ve given a receipt but after she\'s given you a cheque so don\'t worry about that,why not see if you can sell the debt to someone not so nice or as the last resort is to undo the work you\'ve done........could be the most fun :Giggle

[AMH]

FYI, cheques can \'bounce\'/be cancelled/be withdrawn for a very long period after they have been paid in - something ridiculous like 6 months! Another reason not to use them..

That used to be the case because, as I said above, cleared didn\'t mean paid. But not anymore, under 6,4,2 after the 6th day it\'s guranteed paid and cannot be returned for any reason. Still a long time - much eaiser to do an instant transfer these days (when they work properly!).

My other half used to work in an anti money laundering department, you learn some very eye opening facts about the handling of money, and what people do to abuse some of the nuances in different

Yep that\'s what I do - Risk Oversight for Payments Compliance, so Anti-Money Laundering, Counter Terrorist Financing and Sanctions are my specialist areas. I think it\'s really interesting but I don\'t think my other half would agree! :Giggle

[sadgoth]

That used to be the case because, as I said above, cleared didn\'t mean paid. But not anymore, under 6,4,2 after the 6th day it\'s guranteed paid and cannot be returned for any reason. Still a long time - much eaiser to do an instant transfer these days (when they work properly!).

Is that true of international cheques? I though that was one of the favoured cons by the foreign bidders on ebay. Send a cheque for a purchase, the seller pays it in, shows as cleared after 4 or 6 days but the international transfer takes longer than that and once you\'ve sent/shipped the product the money dissappears from your account as the cheque bounces?

[SiH]

That used to be the case because, as I said above, cleared didn\'t mean paid. But not anymore, under 6,4,2 after the 6th day it\'s guranteed paid and cannot be returned for any reason. Still a long time - much eaiser to do an instant transfer these days (when they work properly!).

Yep that\'s what I do - Risk Oversight for Payments Compliance, so Anti-Money Laundering, Counter Terrorist Financing and Sanctions are my specialist areas. I think it\'s really interesting but I don\'t think my other half would agree! :Giggle

Yeah, she worked in AML for TUI - so basically all sorts of everything, international and domestic, I thought it was really interesting!

Didn\'t know it had changed now - how long ago did this new stuff come in? Handy to know

[AMH]

Is that true of international cheques?

Nope that\'s only for England and Wales clearing - even some Scottish cheques can be different. International cheques can be cleared a variety of ways depending on the currency and Bank it\'s drawn on - they will take longer so you\'re right it\'s a good way of scamming.

Didn\'t know it had changed now - how long ago did this new stuff come in? Handy to know

November 2007 I think - check out the link I posted above. It was long overdue a change as people never understood that cleared did not mean paid.