personal cheque

[danchip]

my ditzy old aunt sent me a cheque for xmas and made it payable to danielle instead of daniel, will i still be able to pay it into my account or will i have to get her to write a new one

[sandmaster]

Strictly speaking she should alter it. But I assume it is for a modest amount - I would just try paying it in - bank cashiers aren't all that alert. And you are the intended recipient after all.
Just don't draw attention to it.

[factor-fiction]

Is there someone in the family called Danielle? You'll probably be okay as cashiers don't look closely, and you'l almost certainly be okay if the account name is just DChip rather than Daniel Chip. But you need to be careful if it could be argued that the cheque was intended for someone called Danielle- is there a Danielle with your surname in the house/family?.
You could just ask your aunt to amend it and sign next to the amendment

[Skyline D]

I'd try paying it in, particularly if you use one of the autamted deposit processes rather than physically handing it to a teller yourself.

I find ones that are banked remotely tend to go through unquestioned regardless of what is written there! Cashiers on the other hand are usually more alert if you are standing in front of them. I regularly get asked to confirm that my account is a joint account for instance before they'll bank a cheque payable to 'Mr & Mrs Skyline D' in it.

[EverClean]

All that using an automated machine, or alternatively a dumb cashier, is doing is delaying the return of the cheque.

You will get it past the first step, only for it to be returned from clearing. It would be far easier to get it re-written.

[EverClean]

Oh and most banks now train their cashiers not to allow any alterations to the payee line.

[Skyline D]

With all due respect EverClean, what the stated public line is and what actually happenes in practice are two entirely different things. I've been involved in banking an awful lot of cheques over the years, quite often payable to the completely wrong name but I've never had one bounce yet for that reason. Mostly business pay-ins right enough. they are maybe more stringent on a personal account though there's no reason why they should be.