Can cheques last more than 6 months?

[ED001]

I wrote a cheque in March. It appeared in my current account as being cleared in December - far more than the 6 months that I thought cheques lasted. Should my bank have allowed this to happen?

[khana]

Unfortunately, Banks dont really check dates on cheques - they leave it up to the cashier at the Bank it is paid in to and most of the time they dont notice. In fact Banks rarely look in any detail on cheques at all, unless they are for larger amounts of �5k plus, its all done by compters reading magnetic ink.

You can query this with your Bank and they should reverse the transaction, however, you presumably will still owe the money to the person you wrote the cheque to so dont be surprised if they contactt you for another cheque or payment in cash.

[kempie]

A cheque is legally valid for 6 years.

This is from the APACS (Association for Payment Clearing Services) website;

"It is common banking practice to reject cheques that are over six months old to protect the payer, on the basis that payment may already have been made by some other means or the cheque may have been lost or stolen . However, this is at the discretion of individual banks. It should not be assumed that cheques in excess of 6 months old would automatically be rejected � the only certain way to cancel a cheque is to request that a stop be placed on it (although cheques backed by a cheque guarantee card cannot be stopped). It is recommended that, if possible, customers in possession of cheques that are over 6 months old obtain a replacement."

[spudqueen]

20 years ago when I worked for a bank we used to check the dates (that it wasn't post dated or more than 6 months old), that words and figures agreed, that there was a payee and that the cheque was signed on all cheques. If the cheque was older than 6 months we would return it unpaid as being out of date. I don't think that they bother checking these things now unless the cheque is for �10,000 or more. If you still want the person to whom you wrote the cheque to receive the money then I wouldn't worry about it.

[stevie21]

kempie (or APACS, more specifically!!) - "although cheques backed by a cheque guarantee card cannot be stopped"

This isn't watertight. There's 3 (from memory) reasons/ways for a guaranteed cheque to be refused.

Also supdqueen - I'd say the limit is less than �10K. Otherwise great posts all round :-)

Bank of Stevie

[kempie]

stevie21 - there are many reasons leading to the refusal of a guaranteed cheque but this is not the same thing as somebody trying to cancel a cheque.

This also from APACS;

"The Rules of the UK Domestic Cheque Guarantee Card Scheme state that a card issuer guarantees in any single transaction the payment of only one cheque taken from only one of its own cheque books for up to �50, or for up to �100 or �250 if indicated in the
hologram, provided the cheque is not drawn on the account of a Limited Company, and
i) The cheque bears the same customer name and, where printed, bank sort code, as the card.
ii) The cheque is dated with the actual date of issue.
iii) It is signed, before the expiry of the card, in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands, Isle of Man, Gibraltar or on the premises of any United Kingdom Customs post located outside these territories in the presence of the
payee by the account holder.
iv) The card number is recorded on the reverse of the cheque by the payee (this requirement can only be varied by specific prior agreement of the Scheme�s
governing body).
v) The card has not been altered or defaced.

These Conditions of Use are not to be printed on the card but are to be readily accessible to any enquirer at the Issuers� branches.

If these conditions are not met the guarantee is void and cheques could be returned."

[stevie21]

hello again kempie.
"iv) The card number is recorded on the reverse of the cheque by the payee (this requirement can only be varied by specific prior agreement of the Scheme�s
governing body)."

This outlines that you (the payer/cheque issuer) can cancel a guaranteed cheque. By specifying that the payee is the guarantor of the cheque and not the payer (e.g. I pop a cheque in the post and later phone the bank to cancel it) - this is one way that a guaranteed cheque can be cancelled.

I didn't mean "refused" earlier and there's not as many as 3 ways for the payer to stop/cancel a guaranteed cheque.
Sorry for my earlier faux pas.

[dzug]

(e.g. I pop a cheque in the post and later phone the bank to cancel it) - this is one way that a guaranteed cheque can be cancelled.

Not sure I understand you here, Stevie21. A cheque you pop in the post is by definition not a guaranteed cheque, since the payee hasn't seen you sign it and hasn't written your card number on the back. The fact that you write the number there yourself doesn't make it a guaranteed cheque.

[kempie]

Echoing dzug's point, if any of the five rules specified within the UK Domestic Cheque Guarantee Card Scheme are not adhered to then the transaction is not guaranteed by the card issuer.

However if all conditions are met the card issuer (Bank) then guarantees the transaction i.e. assumes responsibility for the payment to be made. This means the person who wrote the cheque no longer has the authority to stop the payment since it is not their debt, it is the Bank's; however the payer is now indebted to the Bank to the tune of the original guaranteed amount.

[stevie21]

I agree with you both so I retract my statement that this is one way to stop a "guaranteed" cheque.
More apologies! You're right and I was wrong.

At that point, my idea was that the majority of the population might consider a posted cheque with the card number on the back to be guaranteed but that they can stop such a cheque.

[kempie]

No harm, no foul.

I did not intend to get so anal about this, but I was trying to ensure the answers were as accurate as possible.