Stale-dated checks: How long do you have to cash a check?
While running errands this afternoon, I stopped by the bank to deposit a check. All of the tellers were occupied with difficult clients. (I’m old-fashioned and go inside to make deposits for my business finances.) While I waited, I eavesdropped on the nearest conversation. A woman was frustrated because she’d just opened a checking account a few weeks ago, and now it was overdrawn. She couldn’t understand. “I don’t see how that’s possible,” she said.
The teller was very patient and very polite. She tried to help the woman figure out where the problem was. Together, they went through the woman’s checkbook register and compared it to the bank’s computer. Finally, they discovered the culprit: a $50 check the woman had written on June 21st.
“They deposited that?” the woman said.
“Yes,” said the teller.
“Wow,” the woman said. “It had been so long that I thought they must have lost it. I’ve already used that money for something else.”
The teller didn’t say anything.
“Can they really take that long to deposit a check?” the woman asked.
“Yes, ma’am,” said the teller.
What are the Laws?
In my younger days, I had similar experiences (though never with checks that were just a few weeks old). I’d write a check, and it would remain un-deposited for several months. What a dilemma! Should I use the money to buy comic books? Or should I keep it in my account in case the check actually goes through? Because I toed the line so close to zero, the answer was important.
In my case, every check was eventually deposited, and funds were withdrawn from my account. This hurt me twice because I, too, had added the money back into my checkbook. Dumb, but true.
When I got home today, I looked up the actual law on stale checks. It turns out that a bank can pay or return an old check as it sees fit. According to the United States Uniform Commercial Code, a bank is not obliged to pay a check more than six months old. Here’s the full text of the guideline:
A bank is under no obligation to a customer having a checking account to pay a check, other than a certified check, which is presented more than six months after its date, but it may charge its customer’s account for a payment made thereafter in good faith.
In other words, the bank isn’t required to pay a check more than six months old. But it can if it wants. The bottom line? If you have a stale check outstanding, contact your bank to determine their policy. Don’t just assume the funds are free to be spent.
I’m not sure what happened with the woman at my bank today. When I became impatient and left, the manager was helping her. It sounded as if they were going to waive the overdraft fee, but there was nothing they could do about the fact that the woman was still thirty or forty dollars short in her account.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long are personal checks good for?
Personal checks are typically valid for six months from the date written on the check. After that, banks may consider the cheque ‘stale-dated’ and may not honour it. However, policies can vary from bank to bank, so it’s always advisable to cash or deposit cheques as soon as possible.
How long is a business check good for?
Just like personal checks, business checks are generally good for six months from the date written on the check. After this period, they can be considered ‘stale-dated’. Different banks, however, may have different policies regarding stale-dated business checks, so it’s best to check with your bank.
Can I cash a check from 2 years ago?
In most cases, a check will be considered ‘stale-dated’ if it’s more than six months old and banks are not obliged to cash or deposit it. Therefore, a check that is two years old is very likely to be declined by the bank. It might be best to contact the issuer and request a new check.
Can you still cash a check after the void date?
No, once a check has reached its void date, it can no longer be cashed or deposited. The void date is usually indicated on the check by the issuer, serving as a deadline for when the check must be cashed. If you try to cash a check after its void date, it will most likely be declined by the bank.
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There are 105 comments to "Stale-dated checks: How long do you have to cash a check?".
Wow, that is what I call impatient! Only waiting about a month for a check before assuming that it’s never going to be deposited? I’ve gone over some clients’ bookeeping records and found that some checks clear even a year after the issuance date. Lesson here: NEVER assume anything when it comes to money!
Sorry you had to waste your time J.D.
i wrote a check to a friend in 2009. We agreed if he passed a test he could cash the check but he did not i kinda forgot about the check. I paid him for the work he did up front. I was thinking he would tear the check up. Being that i paid him for the work he done up front. The second part of it which he failed. i didnt think anything else about it and it is 2011 and the check came up. The bank cashed it anyway talking about a stale check
I gave my son a check in December of 2016 for $200. He said he couldn’t deposit it because his account was overdrawn. He asked me to give him cash. I did and told him to destroy the check. Here it is August of 2019, and he has cashed the check. 2.5 years later.. I called my bank and they said it was their discretion to reject it or cash it. Since there was money in the bank, they cashed it. I haven’t spoken to my son in 1.5 years, (his choice) and I don’t even know where he lives. Crappy of the bank to honor it. Even though I called right away.
I’ve only ran into this situation once. I had a guy hold a check for nearly 8 or so months, and it was for almost $1000. I was starting to think he might have died or something. I didn’t spend it though. Since I had entered it into Quicken when I wrote it my balance was always reflecting it. Through it was weird seeing it there every time I went to reconcile my account. The guy was extra nice though and since he took so long contacted me before depositing it to make sure it was okay to do so.
That was really nice of the bank to waive the overdraft fee. I know many banks will do this if you ask and I think its a good policy that helps them keep customers coming back.
Actually, a friend paid me $50 for a table I sold him. I waited a week before depositing the check, because I usually do all my banking on Saturday mornings with my regular errands.
The Friday night before I planned to go to the bank, he calls me in a panic. Why hadn’t I deposited and cleared his check yet? What?? I asked him what the big deal was; after all, if he had written the transaction in it and checked his balance online or via phone he would know it hadn’t been cashed yet.
I don’t understand that mentality. Why would you write someone a check and then rush them through the bank with it? He claimed he thought his balance was artificially inflated or that he ‘thought he had more than he had.’ That whole argument is nonsense if he’s recording it in the register.
Anyway, needless to say I deposited his check first thing in the morning – and it was nailbitingly tense until it cleared. Urgh.
I requested a new checkbook register from the teller at my bank. She turned to the teller next to her and asked “What is a checkbook register?” That is a real ‘sign of the times’.
Imagine working at a bank and not knowing what a checkbook register is!
Some people, like me, like to keep their account balance up to date. It helps us to know what is actually in there and what is not. We have bills to pay and other things to do with our money besides waiting for someone to take their time in taking the money we have given them out. Yes, deposit it already. Especially while the money is still in there. I might be on a budget and don’t have time to be waiting to see when and if you have cashed a check or not. It’s just that simple. Why are you waiting in the first place?
See, this is why I keep $500 in my “savings” account connected to my checking account at my local credit union. Even though it’s not my real “savings,” they only charge me $1 to transfer the money if I overdraw my checking.
(I don’t like to keep it in my checking because then I think it’s money to spend. And it’s worth $1 every few months for that.)
I’ve been on the other end of this, too. I tutor a lot, and a lot of people pay me in checks. I don’t make it to the bank too often, so sometimes I’ll go weeks before despositing. I always figure if it starts to get on their nerves, they’ll just give me cash. Also, when I get gifts of $ in check form, I refuse to cash them until I’ve written the thank you note. And I’m not too quick about that, sometimes.
I work at a bank, and you’re 100% correct…banks do not have to accept checks more than 6 months old and usually don’t. However, there is always wording in bank’s disclosures that say they’re not liable if they do accept them (i.e. if a teller doesn’t notice the date and deposits it).
You are absolutely correct period after 6 months they do not have to cash the check. We know some checks they have 90 days on it or a hundred and eighty days generally a bank will give you a day or two or three leeway after looking at your account but don’t count on it. If it bounces it’ll come right out of your account.
I can’t help but think of the Seinfeld episode where he deposits all those checks that he received from his grandma and never cashed. Add Uncle Leo and hilarity ensues.
I agree with xysea on people rushing you to the bank. You should always give someone at least a couple weeks to get your check deposited. What frustrates me is the guy who waits four or five months. That’s just ridiculous and inconsiderate. All of a sudden one day a mysterious debit appears for something you paid for long ago. Oh well, that’s what we get for using checks. All of this could be avoided with a money order, but who wants to pay that extra money just to use your own money?
Maybe the lesson in all this is that we should only use checks to pay business, bills, etc. When dealing with other people, maybe it is best to pay with cash or cough up the extra for a money order to avoid the inconvenience and overdraft scenarios mentioned above.
What’s the most rude is when you send someone a check as a gift and they never acknowledge that they got it and take a long while to cash it.
My friends and I seem to have a different mentaility then our parents when it comes to checks. Instead of having to write the check (which we had to pay for, somehow) and then give it to them and then they go to the bank, we do everything with paypal. This includes roommate stuff too:rent, utilities, etc.
I’ve now used paypal as a mini savings account. Instead of constantly transfering the small amounts, I make one big transfer–usually to my HSBC account, unless it’s for a big amount (like full rent or something). The ‘little’ amounts are starting to add up.
My main concern over an uncashed check is the possibility that it could be lost and used fraudulently. On the other end, as I have to mail checks across the country to my bank, the checks I receive aren’t usually cashed for a week. As far as accounting is concerned, once I write a check, I consider the money gone (and, yes, get annoyed when I see it sitting in my bank account!), and try to be reasonably patient. After 3 weeks, I ask nicely what’s going on (“don’t tell me it is sitting in your glove box, please!”).
When someone to whom you have written a check deposits it, their bank will look at the check and encode it with the amount. (At the time of deposit, some banks might put an additional hold on a check that is stale-dated and technically they have a right to refuse it, but most banks will just process old checks the same way as they would new ones.) Once the first bank accepts the check and encodes it with the amount, everything is done by computer and no one at your bank will even look at the check unless the check is for a very large amount — over $10k at some banks or over $100k at large banks. Even if it is for a large amount, they generally will not care that it is stale-dated. By the time that you realize that a stale-dated check has cleared your account, it is probably too late for your bank to reverse the charge. The mere fact that the check is several years old does not entitle you to a refund at all, and you’re fully responsible for any problems that arise as a result, e.g. overdraft fees, other checks not clearing, etc., although your bank may decide to waive fees as a courtesy.
Bottom line: Even if your bank says they won’t cash stale checks, don’t believe them as that’s probably just a misinformed bank employee. Any check you write can clear against your account at basically any time as long as the account is still open. If the recipient has decided not to cash it, you should ask them to return the physical check to you. If they don’t have it, the only way to fully protect yourself is to close the account. (You could try to get a stop payment order, but these generally expire after six months, so you’d have to keep getting new stop payments in perpetuity to protect against the check clearing.) Alternatively, use a payment method other than a check.
Maybe someone here can clear something up for me regarding post dated cheques?
I remember hearing many years ago on a television show that although most companies would hold a cheque if it was post dated (this was in the days before internet bill payment) that the cheque was technically cashable as soon as it was signed, regardless of whether the date is in the future or not. The whole point of the interview was to discourage people from using post dated cheques because of this possibility.
Just a couple of years ago I had a big argument with a coworker over this, her position was that it would be illegal for a bank to cash a post dated cheque prior to the date printed on it. I asked at my bank and the woman I spoke to said that although they do refuse to cash post dated cheques as a matter of policy, cashiers do forget to check the date sometimes and if they did put it through early and it bounced the bank would be in no way liable. My coworker produced a fellow who had some sort of financial degree (I forget his exact credentials, it was a few years back as I said) and he claimed up and down that it would be illegal to cash the cheque. I then asked 2 different lawyer coworkers (neither of whom worked in financial matters, but I figured what the heck) and they were split down the middle – one said the cheque is technically cashable and the other said no way.
I did some internet research at the time but couldn’t get a firm answer that way.
I’m still waiting for the guy that did my yardwork back in March to cash a check I wrote for $150. My guess is it got lost, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see it cashed one day.
It is not illegal for banks to cash post-dated checks.
June 21, that’s just a month. Maybe she should have read the bank’s policy when she opened that account instead of playing dumb now and getting a refund of a fee that she should rightfully pay.
A few years ago a friend of mine was taken to small claims court over checks he had written to his babysitter, but she hadn’t cashed. In fact she had been holding the checks for *years*, saving them up from all her clients until she had enough to purchase a new car.
She went to cash the checks one day, and found that my friend’s checks were no good, since he had closed his checking account for one reason or another (possibly for all these outstanding checks!).
The judge ruled that my friend was obligated to pay the babysitter for the checks that were less than 7 years old. However he was *not* liable for the funds from the checks that were older than 7 years.
This was in Wisconsin.
I can never understand why people in the states pay for groceries or gas with checks. There are debit cards, credit cards and cash. Very few places here in canada even accept checks. I think those places probably accept chickens and animal pelts for payment as well.
semi related. I lost another 10$ when i found a rebate check yesterday that expired a month ago. i’ve now lost at least 90$ forgetting to desposit rebate checks :(. boo!
@Mister E
According to the United States Uniform Commercial Code, a bank doesn’t have to look at the date of a check. In other words, yes, a check is cashable as soon as it is signed. Postdating means nothing. However, if you contact the bank and let them know you’re writing a specific post-dated check, they’re supposed to honor that.
@Bryce
Ha! Love the animal pelt comment. I think checks are largely a generational thing. I know many older people use them a lot even today. But I know many younger people who have never written a single one. Me? I use both. I’m sort of stuck in the middle! 🙂
I am completely unable to relate to this woman. A few weeks? Is she crazy??
I rarely (3x a year, maybe) have a reason to go to the bank. So I routinely hold checks until I have enough of them to warrant the 20 minute drive across town. Why would I do otherwise?? I typically don’t need the money right away.
As for myself, if I’ve written a check — that gets entered into my register and the money is considered gone…I don’t care if someone takes YEARS to cash it. I operate from my Excel balance, not my ATM balance…just makes life easier.
my bank is online, so everything gets mailed in. as much as possible, i hate dealing with checks and would love everything to be electronic!
I have to second the comments wondering what planet this woman was on thinking a cheque that was only a few weeks old couldn’t be cashed. But this is exactly the sort of person who needs to be reading GRS – I bet this isn’t the first time she’s had an overdraft charge.
In Aus I believe a cheque is valid for 13 months from the date on it – in part for at the start of the year when you forget to change the year when dating it. Although most places refuse to take personal cheques at all and they are generally only used to pay utilities, if you don’t have telephone banking.
Also here postdating a cheque means nothing. The minute you sign it, it’s valid.
Although it’s a minor point that probably doesn’t affect the section actually quoted, calling the UCC the “United States Uniform Commercial Code” is a bit misleading. The UCC is a uniform recommendation from a private organization to every state legislature on how its commerical code should look.
While it’s true that every state (I think) has adopted a UCC, all provisions in all states’ UCCs are not necessarily the same, e.g., New York never passed either the 1990 or 2002 amendments to Arts. 3 (negotiated instruments, including checks) and 4 (bank deposits).
Likewise, the courts of any particular state may interpret the UCC differently, e.g., the split as to whether cashing a check bearing the notation “payment in full” extinguishes the debt, or whether the enactment of the UCC overrode that rule allowing a creditor to continue to claim on the debt.
On a semi-side note:
All of my banking is done online (USAA). They have recently started an awesome feature, in which you can simply scan any checks you get and they will automatically process them. You don’t even have to move from your desk.
I wouldn’t be surprised if other banks are offering similar services.
I have three checks that are outstanding. In the case of two of them, it’s been over seven years. The third has been outstanding for about a year now.
One of the checks was written out to a company that I was working for at the time. I believe the check just got lost in someone’s paperwork and eventually filed away. The second check was for a magazine subscription, and I believe that it had the misfortune of being in one of the confiscated shipments of mail during the Anthrax scare. The third check was given to a slightly flaky acquaintance, who probably lost it in her apartment.
I keep the check numbers and the amounts handy in my register, and I make sure my balance always reflects the subtraction of those amounts, but I look at the money as a sort of safety net. It gives me a buffer if my balance is low and it lets me do things like write checks immediately against a deposit that I just made.
Thanks, Jon, for the clarification. I admit that I know nothing about the Uniform Commercial Code, and tried to be very careful when writing about it. Obviously, not careful enough. 🙂
My main point with saying “U.S. UCC” was to specify that it was a U.S.-based think, and not (for example) Australian. I didn’t mean to imply that it was government-sponsored. Poor communication on my part, coupled with a lack of understanding.
Getting to one of our bank’s ATMs is really a hassle for me. It’s easy enough for Micah, so I’ll send checks with him. But if they’re my checks, I still don’t want to send him every time I get a check. So I’ll deposit them once or twice a month. Fortunately, never had one bounce.
An employer did once bounce a paycheck for my coworker. I got mine in first, but apparently he didn’t have enough money for all of us. Whoops. (Small business.) Fortunately, he followed up and deposited more money then reissued her paycheck. One of the risks of working for a small business I guess.
I so love the chicken and animal pelt comment! Too bad the only store in our town likely to take a chicken is the farm supply, since they don’t take checks, they probably won’t take the chicken either. Now that must have made for a fun trip to town, not to mention when the merchant returned home for the night with assorted chickens, eggs, some veggies and a few smelly pelts. I LOVE my debit card!
A few years ago my wife and I bought my mom a used car. The check I wrote for that ($1500) didn’t get cashed for over 7 months! I was starting to think I was either very lucky or in trouble with the seller (thought maybe I made an error). He didn’t think to get contact information from me and we were in the process of moving so my mail was being forwarded. Anyway, about 3 weeks after I seriously considered moving the money, the check came in. I was more relieved than disappointed, nothing is free, and I feared the delay was MY fault.
As for the UCC, being a baby lawyer myself, it is difficult to make generalizations nationwide regarding what the law is or is not because all states have different codes. As mentioned before, the UCC is a guideline but is adopted for the most part by all the states with their own nuances. That said, the UCC is the only good gauge for what the law IS in this area, so J.D. is perfectly fine in using it to say what the law is. Otherwise, he would have to post 50 different explanations to every question like this one.
we do courtesy resident tax withholdings on our payroll, in January I paid taxes to another city. I noticed in April that the check still had not cleared and since we have a 90 day notice on the check I called to see if they got the check.
They did, their bank cleared it, and they got the money. Somewhere between our bank and theirs it went poof. I called our bank and they basically told me that this was common and that the other bank might find it, but for a small amount (under $100) that they would not waste the man hours looking for it. If it doesn’t turn up by next Jan we will write it off.
Checks are a generational thing, I work in a retail setting and it is mostly older people, 50+, who write checks.
Very rarely do I see 40> write checks. I just opened a checking account for my daughter and the credit union didn’t even offer any checks!
I went to Chase to open a checking account (for a cool $200 coupon) and they gave me one book, but I don’t plan on using them.
When I was in college (20 years ago!) I worked bookkeeping at a small town bank. We touched every check and caught all kinds of stuff all the time.
Business, at least, can avoid this. I don’t know if you can get personal checks the same way, but you can get business checks printed to read “VOID AFTER 90 DAYS” or 180 days or whatever. You’ll still legitimately owe the money to the person, of course, but that particular check will be void if not deposited relatively promptly and you have recourse to go back to the bank and get it reversed if they honor it.
But one month would be short even for that.
I wonder if the “VOID AFTER NN DAYS” notation actually works, if it’s true that a check is valid for an indeterminate period. Sometimes government agencies issue checks with that notation, which suggests it’s probably effective. It would be a good idea have that printed on your checks if it would protect you from overdraft charges when someone decides to cash your check after the turn of the next decade.
Like other commenters, I also am not interested in driving to the bank every other day. I save customers’ checks until the end of the month and then deposit them all at once. That is, unless I think someone looks like a potential deadbeat…then I run to the bank the instant I get my hands on the check.
First off, I work at a local credit union. Obviously I have been trained differently than large banks, etc.
RE: ff:
Most checks are stale dated after 6 months, unless specified by the check. IE: Not valid after 90 days or something similar. However, say for instance you wrote a check in December of last year and the person you wrote it to just cashed it yesterday. When you get your monthly statement for July, you can dispute anything on your account for up to 60 days past the date you received your statement. At the credit union I work at, we would effectively put a stop payment on the check and then send it back.
RE: Funny About Money
At the CU, if I catch at “Void after 90 days” check and it’s stale dated, I inform the member that I can deposit or cash the check, but if it comes back for some reason, then the member is responsible for the funds.
Also, if a check doesn’t have a date on it…I have to ask my supervisor about it – I’m not sure what policy is about that!
Ha, I am one of those wreakers of havoc on people’s checkbook registers. I just deposited eight checks to the bank, dated variously from May or so. My excuse is that I gave birth to my first child at the beginning of June, but in reality, I’ve been like this ever since I started receiving checks. It’s just one of those things that frequently slips my mind.
I’m another person that cashes cheques pretty slowly. Yes, it’s reasonably easy for me to get to a bank, but only if I go at lunchtime, and I’m often in meetings and so on.
I tend not to deal in cheques, but make the assumption that once I’ve written it, the money is gone.
I have one very strict policy with checks (when I do use them, which I try to avoid). I warn the receiver (and write a note on the back of the check) that if it isn’t in process of clearing out of my account in 30 days it’s canceled. So far I’ve had to follow through on this twice.
That whole argument is nonsense if he’s recording it in the register.
That is a big assumption right there 🙂
I have sat on checks for a while in my life, and oddly I had a dream last night that I found a check from like the 1930s addressed to my great-grandmother or something and tried to find out if there was any way to cash it (though with inflation, the check itself might have been worth more historically than the amount on it lol).
I have also tried to take a check that had a date one year old on it (not a stale check, it was January and he wrote the wrong year on it) and the bank refused to take it. It was really annoying.
The same thing happens to me when I write checks to my parents for gifts or repayment of something. They accept it but then never cash it. And it’s on purpose – I think it’s because they don’t want to take our money but it really screws up our record keeping!
lol @ Brandon
Well, it took me a long time to see the benefit of a check register. After all, I never wrote many checks and I (before now) never had too much money that I couldn’t quote you to the penny where all of it was or was going…
But since I’ve been doing better and I have a couple of accounts now, I keep the register religiously.
If I write it in the register the money is gone. I don’t care if they wait 1 or 10 months to cash it.
My husband had a situation similar to #31 (Michelle). He wrote a check out to his mom for about $7000 to pay her back for a loan he had with her. She cashed the check, but it never cleared through his account. So, she had her $7000, but he still had his $7000, too!
Eventually, he called the bank about the check not going through. They said there was nothing they could do about it and that the $7000 was free to spend. This was over 5 years ago and nothing ever came of it. My husband eventually made an extra mortgage payment with his “free” $7000. He closed that checking account two years ago, so it’s a done deal.
How cool is that?!?
Maybe your mom never actually cashed the cheque. Sometimes moms are like that with their kids!
I have a hard time understanding why you would wait months to cash a check. I find that my normal errands, grocery shopping, hardware store, etc. take me past my bank at least once a week. Also, if one of my own checks takes a while to clear I get annoyed, so I see it as a courtesy to someone that wrote me a check to cash it within a couple of weeks. Would you be ok if every check you wrote got cashed a year later?
I guess I should have mentioned that I’m Canadian when I asked my question. I’m reasonably certain that it works the same here though.
Thank you JD and others who chimed in.
I suppose, Luke, that it would depend on what was going on in my life. I don’t actually deal with too many checks given to me. I have a lot of electronic deposits, and checks to deposit are rather rare.
However, to me it shouldn’t be an issue – if the person recorded in the register and deducted it from the balance, then it’s accounted for. If, at the end of the month it’s still in the account when you reconcile your bank statement, why not follow up? I mean, if it’s that important to you.
I have recently decided to leave TD Banknorth because of their overdraft policy. They recently transferred money from my savings to my checking and charged me the $5.00 OD fee to cover an amount that was pending! With the surge in gas prices I have come across a number of gas stations that will apply a temporary hold of anywhere from $50 to $100. I happen to drive a hybrid, so we never put more than $38-$40 in the tank. So in this case, keeping a register wouldn’t even matter, I’m getting penalized based on charges that won’t ever go through my account.
I have subsequently left Banknorth for an awesome credit union that I used before I was married. I will never go back to a national/international bank.
I have tried to stop using checks if at all possible. Currently I only write 1 check a month. And that is for my rent. I could probably set that up in bill pay with everything else, but just havent gotten around to it.
With bill pay or debit card (or cash) you dont have to wait long at all for the money to come out of your account. Much easier this way.
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Austin Hike and Bike
Re “Void after 90 days”-type wording on personal checks
Hi, I’m another commercial lawyer weighing in here. The UCC doesn’t specifically address what happens when you write things like “void after 90 days”(these phrases are called “restrictive legends”) on checks. If a bank didn’t tell you that it won’t comply with restrictive legends, under the UCC (as implemented by that bank’s particular state) it would be obligated to comply with them.
But of course banks don’t want to have to look for restrictive legends on every check they get, and they don’t want to be liable for not complying with restrictive legends. So, they pretty much always have a statement in their terms & conditions for checking accounts, that says that they don’t have to pay attention to restrictive legends.
A big customer like a public corporation or a rebate processing service may negotiate different terms and conditions for their checking account, so that the bank may agree to honor their restrictive legends. But a individual with a personal account almost surely won’t have that kind of power with a bank.
I guess I don’t understand the attitude, here. If you provide me a service and I write you a check in exchange, then when I notice that you haven’t cashed it after a while I’m going to contact you and find out what’s wrong. If you’ve lost the check, then I’ll cancel it and find another way to pay you.
People like Paul’s friend really didn’t notice that their babysitter wasn’t cashing their checks? Really? Did they think the babysitter was working for free? I wouldn’t have waited until writing the second check before asking her to start cashing them or arranging to pay her some other way. She certainly would not ever had to take me to court in order to get her money…
What happens when an employee doesn’t cash paychecks? Recently I discovered one of my assistants has let weeks’ worth of paychecks accumulate in her desk drawer. We’ve had a slow period and she thinks if she’s not working every minute, she shouldn’t be collecting pay from the university. Her job ends on the 31st, and it looks suspiciously as though she’ll never cash the checks.
Does that or does it not gum up the works for the gigantic employer’s accountants? And what happens when the university reports to the IRS that it’s paid her $NNNN.nn? Does she have to pay taxes on paychecks that she earned but never cashed?
The income is still hers regardless of whether she cashes the checks or not. Interesting, I worked as a 1099 contractor for someone years ago. They did not pay me for the last work I did for them ($230 which was a tremendous amount of money for me back then). However, my 1099 from them included that $230. I looked into the rules, and the only way I could not pay income tax on that money was if I sued him and got a judgement… Which would have cost more than it was worth.
Funny about money:
Most employers use what’s called a controlled disbursement account for paychecks – that is, it’s an account that starts the day at $0, goes negative throughout the day as checks are cashed and then at night, when the daily bank reconciling is done, the customer has an automatic sweep transfer that transfers the negative balance in the controlled disbursement account from a positive balance operating (or something like it) account.
It allows companies to keep funds in their interest bearing accounts for as long as possible. Of course, there’s a fee for a controlled disbursement account, but it also makes it easier for a company to reconcile because they know to the penny how much of those checks were cashed each day. Also, if you have $500,000 worth of payroll per week but only $250k gets cashed, you can still sit on the $250k in your savings (e.g. money market or investments) account. Of course, $250k can be chump change to a business, but when every penny counts, it makes a difference. (A controlled disbursement account is usually offered as part of a cash management suite of products from a bank – with the cont dsb account comes other perks – higher balances = better rates, larger lending facility, etc.)
As far as stale dated, post dated, depositing checks a month or two or three or eighteen months later – banks don’t have the time or manpower to research the items on every check. If a check is post dated and it’s over a certain amount, usually there’s a department that will call the payer of the check and see if they want it paid. The check could be returned or paid, based on the customer’s discretion. But there is a threshold – if you post date a $25 check, NO ONE at any bank is going to look at that.
Interesting question.
My father belongs to a club that had Norman Rockwell as a member back in the ’70s. Club dues were $5.00/year. My father said that the treasurer at the time didn’t cash Rockwell’s check as the signature was or would be worth more than the face value. He died a year or so later. Would this uncashed check be an issue for the attorney during probate? I wonder.
one time my dad wrote a $1100 check to my university, and they never cashed it. that was probably good because it would have bounced anyway.
this was, oh, six or seven years ago.
I am now much better with money than my father.
I don’t know how ppl could hold a check for months until they feel it’s ok to clear the check.. there are alot of ppl out there relying on u to atleast clear/deposit the check w/in the week. yes, ppl record their finances, but there’s not many of them. if a check has not clear’d w/in a month. ppl should call their bank and place a stop payment on the check and inquiry if there’s a fee. also, contact the person who u wrote the check to..wouldn’t that make sense instead of wondering if it will ever clear your acct.?
I remember the school sent me a refund check for paying my tuition for about $200. Since I was switching universities I didn’t get this mail until I visited my parents (6 months to 1 year later). By the time I tried to cash the check I got charged $40 because the University closed that account….WTF!?
I just got dinged an overdraft charge of $25 by
Bank of America which cashed a business check written
more than three years ago with “void after 90 days” printed above my signature.
The business had been closed for more than two
years, but the account had not been closed because the bank convinced me to wait, just in
case I might still need the account to settle
accountant and legal fees.
The basic truth is that the protection provided by stale dates (over six months old) or “void” messages relies almost completely on the teller. He or she has the right to not process the check. However, if the teller misses it or it gets deposited by some other method, 99% of the time the check will clear (assuming there is money to cover it, of course) because the bank’s proof department relies only on the MICR line, not messages printed on the face of the check. The only exception is that some banks (BofA, for example) offer stale-date protection to large business clients.
Sorry for the delay in posting…I’m catching up on my RSS reading.
I work at a bank. If a customer writes a check to someone and it is cashed, lets say 4 months later, all my bank will get is a transaction from our processor which removes the funds from your account at our institution. We don’t get any other detail, so thus any questions the customer has will have to be aimed at the bank of first deposit (the bank of the individual that cashed the check).
If you wrote a check and it has not cleared, don’t “bank” on your institution to catch a 12 month old check. If it has not been cashed, do your due diligence and contact the recipient of the item. If they lost it, the only sure-fire way to make sure it doesn’t clear is to issue a stop-pay on that item (and incur the bank’s stop-pay charge). Not worth $25 to stop $50…unless you’re always near Zero.
I came here because I tried to cash a dividend check from 2006 that said void after 6 months. It was only $10 and I found it in my files as I was packing for a move. I looked online and found some advice that said the 6 months deal is not enforceable. When I took it to the local BB&T today, not only did the teller tell me that the check wasn’t cashable, but she confiscated the check and told me they “have to shred it.”
I was puzzled.
Wow, does this bring back memories. I moved from the states 11 years ago, to the Netherlands. For the first couple of years I lived here, we had things called ‘Euro-Checks’ denominated in the local currency. Basically, your bank provided you with ten of them, pre-printed, looked like travelers checks, actually, engraved, etc., and you could write them, up to 300 NLG (I think it was), in any EU country.
Since we’ve converted to the Euro, cheques are a thing of the past. Everything is done electronically. There are no cheques.
The looks I get, from the local bank, when I insist on a real ‘cheque’, to send to the states, is priceless. Then, to note that I have to pay 40 Euros for the privilege, no matter what the amount.
In any event, here, practically everything is done electronically. Even things like paying for a bus fare, or parking, is done by your ‘Chip’ card. Groceries, etc., are done via your PIN card.
Even better, all your transactions are online, almost immediately. And you can transfer funds around, free, whenever you want.
I think I like our system here.
What if a check is nearly 30 years old and the account has been closed for nearly 20 years ? Is there any liability on the check writers part?
I have 2 personal checks from a guy who owed me money($4000) these checks are coming up on 4 years old now. I have gone to the bank several times to cash it, but he never has the funds, for a year after he gave me the checks. I put them in a lock box and kind of forgot to try to cash them. I have tried and tried to contact thi guy at his house and his business, but I keep getting the run around. Should I take the checks back to the bank to try to cash them? At this point, I would like him to get hit with a bounced check fee though it’s nothing compared to the $4k I forked over to him.
Hi,
I read most of your comments and they are very interesting, I am sure that many of you will find mine compelling too.
What happened to me is I had won my settlement case against an old employer. I was awarded the money but I had moved by the time the check was distributed to me. Well when the check was distributed to me it was sent to my home address which had to be sent out to my school address where I live now. So months went by and I never received it, however one day I opened my mail box(this was in february 2009)and lo and behold the check was there. I open it and it had expired in Dec. 2008. The envelope was postmarked on Nov. 18th 2008. So at that point I had asked for a reissuing of the check. fine. so they tell me the date that it is estimated to go out, and to call them on the date that it was “supposed” to go out. I call them, “the check is estimated to go out on the 3rd”, call us on that date. So I call them on the 3rd of March, “the check is estimated to go out on the 13th, call us on the 13th of March, I call them, same response, call us back on another date, I call them still the same bull.
Well, I didn’t know what to do, i have bills to pay, things that need to be done, so i deposited the check.!
My wife and I mostly use check cards to pay for things, or take cash out from the ATM. (No transaction register) We don’t write too many checks. (maybe 3 or 4 per month) When we do write them, we don’t even use the checkbook register. We just use duplicates (carbonless copies, in case we need to refer back to the check’s information) and keep at least a $200 to $1,000 “buffer” in our account. When the bank statement comes in, we review it to ensure there are no unauthorized charges and that we still have a comfortable “buffer.” But I am just sharing our care-free banking habits, NOT giving advice!!!
And yes, I do misplace other people’s checks at times. Sometimes it takes me weeks, or even months to stumble across them. (Because I forget about looking for the check.) There must be many people out there with the same level of ADD that I have (we just haven’t been medically diagnosed with it.) So, bottom line: If you are worried about how long it’s going to take me to deposit your check, GIVE ME CASH.
I just gave back to my sister a check that she wrote me for $60 about 3 weeks before. (I know she is the kind to worry about when it will be deposited.) When she told me she didn’t have cash in her house, I said: “I’d rather wait for cash, than have to go to the bank to deposit a check that I’ve misplaced.” So I can wait for my next visit to her in another 3 weeks.
No, you all have it wrong… The bank WILL cash a stale check on purpose because they can make that overdraft money off of your mistake. They need to write laws eliminating excessive overdraft fees. 2 bucks or maybe even 5 bucks tops. not 37 bucks. Greedy Turds!
My husband and I wrote a check for a vehicle costing $700.00 April 2009. We keep asking the seller to cash the check for months. She already put the title in my husbands name and gave us the paperwork from where she sold us the vehicle. She told us on more than 1 occassion that she had misplaced the check and wasn’t worried about cashing it. We left the money in the account until the end of the year, well over 6 months, because I thought GA had a 6 month cashing law. Well I guess my mistake was listening to her. On March 2 2010 my credit union cashed the check. We have overdraft protections so it cost only $3 bucks to cover the check. It just upsets me that a bank will allow a person to person check to be cashed after almost a year later. I have no issues paying for the vehicle. We bought and agreed upon a price. I feel my bank should have denied the check and adviced the seller to get in contact with me to reissue her a current check. Way to look out for the clients. We pay for the banking services. I feel they shafted me.
Stop crying Rebekah you owe the money. Just pay it.
I also don’t like when people hang on to checks or “forget they have checks to deposit” or are too lazy to deposit them. Even though I record my debits/credits religiously, it’s annoying to see the discrepancy between the bank’s balance and my register’s balance. I rarely write checks but occasionally do when I’m sending a relative $$ as a gift (no cash through the mail rule and all). It’s common courtesy to cash the darn check. If you don’t want to drive to the bank mail it to them! But I will say it’s great to read that so many people “forget” to cash their checks. It must mean our economy and our individual finances aren’t as bad as the media would like you to believe 🙂
I don’t know why this is an issue. My mother always told me to think of checks as cash, once you write it consider the money gone. If you balance your checkbook regularly you will know exactly why you have X amount extra in your account. I keep a note with check numbers and amounts and write, “pending”. Problem solved.
I have a “stale dated check” I moved and barely found the check. Its from 2007. It’s a personal check. Was my security deposit refund from a rental I lived in. Dealing with the “agent” was so painful and emotionally draining, I dread having to attempt to contact this person again. Any suggestions? Checks are written and sometimes things happen where the recipient isn’t able to cash the check. It’s not irresponsible it just called life. But if you write a check, IMO there should not be a expiration date. I also wish with today’s technology, there was an online service where you could type in the check info and instantly find out if the check is clear and can be cashed. Wishful thinking on my part =)
I received a refund check in the mail, 3 months after the check was written. It was postmarked for 2 days prior to when I got it. I took it to the bank and they wouldn’t cash it. I was told no checks over 90 days old could be cashed. It seems that policy would work both ways, but it doesn’t. If YOU write a check, it can be cashed when ever apparently, yet when a check is written TO you from a company, you have a deadline. Hardly fair! Also, banks won’t cash a payroll check (if you get your check on Thursday but it’s dated for Friday) yet they can, and will cash a post-dated check that you right. Shady practices, and yet they get the government bail-outs!
It depends. I found an old check (2 years!) from the DMV. It was a small amount but I figured, eh, why not try. The teller didn’t know so she asked the manager who approved it. I ended up getting charged a 12 dollar fee. Whenever in doubt, call the banks’ customer service line because the people at the branche are absolutely clueless.
Years ago I rented a room in a house, the LL who didn’t live there told me to write one check for rent, the other for deposit, both around $500. We both knew this would be a short term stay as the house was up for sale. I stayed three months, and gave a months notice. Upon moving out, he said he’d lost my rent deposit check, but not to worry about it, if he found it he’d rip it up – I believed him.
Couple of weeks later I get notified I had a check that didn’t clear. I got charged a fee, but check wasn’t cashed only because there wasn’t sufficient funds in my acct at the time.
I contact the LL pretty upset, asking why he’d tried to cash the check like that. He said ‘Well, the heat bill was pretty high while you were there, and I felt you should pay for that’ !!! There were three of us living there, heat was at normal temp, he either intentionally hid the check, or found it and thought what the heck, I’ll cash it it’s made out to me.
I spoke angrily with him, he just blew me off saying ‘what’s the problem? the bank didn’t cash it’
If they had cashed it, it would have been such a hassle. I no longer lived in the state, he was a jerk.
Next time I’ll go to the trouble to cancel the check. But how does that work? A bank pulls up my account and sees a particularly numbered check from my account is not acceptable?
Live and learn
Thanks for the info, JD. Always useful. My daughter got some checks for some work she did last fall (5 months ago), and we were cleaning out her room today and found the uncashed checks. Based on the information you provided, she should be ok to cash them.
I am wondering, though, whether I can still rely on this information, since this was originally posted in 2008, or if it is stale at this point… :-p
Take care,
– TJC
I have a check from a bank that was bought out and therefore does not exist under that name any more, although the Routing Number might still be active. The check was written in 1989. Should I try to deposit it?
if someone writes you a check , but misspelled the amount for example “Four Hundred Elleven Dollars And No cents ” will it still be cash able?
As long as it’s clear what they meant, it should be fine.
I’ve found a paycheck that I’ve found from my old job dated back to 8-10-14 and it’s obviously 2016!!!!! Are the checks still valid they have no expiration date on them still attached to my paystubs???
I just found a ln old check that was lost in a bunch of my old files that happens to be from 9/3/2010
It’s for a significant amount of monies and I can’t believe it’s gone missing for this amount of time.
I am seriously hoping that it can still be cashed.
It was written out to me for a settlement after being in a car accident.
I am in financial ruins after going thru this accident.
I have ran up alot of credit card debt after the accident and I have missed a great deal of my being physically able to work
When I came across the check today, I was so excited until I read the void after 180 days.
Please help me with any advice that you may be able to give me
Sincerely yours,
Chaia Byrdsong
That’s a tough situation Chaia. I think the best thing is to contact the company, bank or party that issued the check and explain what happened.
I would definitely check with the company that wrote the check. I do not know of any banks that would cash something significantly more than a year old. If a check goes uncashed for too long, the company may be obligated to send it over to the state as unclaimed property. Hopefully, the company can just re-issue you a current check.
Today is July 11,2016. I found some checks totaling less than $135.00. The checks are from ATTM Settlement. They are dated March 28, 2016. Is it too late to cash/deposit them at the bank.
That doesn’t seem so late to me Mary Lou but you should check with your bank to be sure.
Yet another reason why I only use checks when no other option is available, too many people who just sit on them and meanwhile you’re having to keep extra money in the account (I purposefully keep as little as necessary in checking and put everything else into savings) and eventually nag them to deposit them.
I just found a check dated the 17 th of march of 2016 and now its nov of 2016 can i take the check and the stub back to the issuing bank and get another? The check is from a ex employer
I have the same question
What is the technical legal name for this situation? I understand that there are state laws controlling it, and there is a term of the art that describes it.
Great
Do all states allow for 180 days until a check is expired, or does it vary by the state? That’s assuming it’s not a corporate account with a 90-day limit or something of that nature (which i personally think is foolish on their part, since in most cases the corporation still owes the money and will have to reissue the check, causing a headache for everyone involved).
If checks expire in less than 180 days in some states, does anyone know which states, by any chance?
That reminded me…. Last year I found a check (inside of a card and envelope) that someone had written me as a high school graduation gift, for $20. Now….. I’m 42 years old. I have no idea why I did not deposit the check when I was 17. It was in the drawer of a tool box at my dad’s house. I just stuck it back inside the card and put it back where I found it….
And as far as people asking if “XX” date check is too old to deposit, just deposit it into the ATM. Nobody will ever look at the date. The only time (AFAIK) that a check will be declined is if a bank teller actually looks at the date. If it is from a person however, call them first to make sure they still have the funds available.
I found a check from Fidelity Investments 401 K check from 2015. Can I cash it?
Good day,
I have a question. I had a cashier’s check that I made out to an apartment complex 4 months ago. Apparently, they never cashed it. They may still get back to me. If I don’t hear anything by the end of the week, I am going to stop payment and have the bank refund me the money. My account with the issuing bank was closed 3 months ago.
I really don’t feel like chasing after someone to pay them money. Maybe I will just hold onto the money until I am contacted. Thoughts?
I think checks should print with a ‘void after 90 days’ or something to that affect.
Great information. I wrote a check for $1,000 dollars about. Month ago. They have not cashed it yet. This article makes me think I will wait six months. If it’s not cashed by then mabey call the bank and see what the policy is. I am just worried I may forget it’s out there and that would be a mess. I just wonder why this happens ? I deposite my checks the same day or at least with in a few days at most.
I have a question. I found a payroll check from more than a year ago for 600 and some odd dollars.
I deposited the check through my mobile app and it cleared. More than a week ago. My question is this, how long does my former employer have to dispute the cashing of this check? Can they go to the bank after they realize that I cash this check and dispute it?