e-mailing a cheque.

[Garycarthy]

If I e-mail or fax a cheque after scanning it in, can the recipient print it off and cash it or deposit it in their bank?

[rekstout]

Theoretically a cheque is simply an instruction from you to your bank to pay payee a certain sum of money.  As such a bank could take that instruction in any form and not just the pre-printed cheques that are issued to you.  In practice you may have a hard time convincing a bank to accept anything other than the real thing "in the flesh".

[stoo_pid]

Like rekstout says it is theoretically possible to accept the fax/email as an instruction.  However even if you could persude them to accept the fax/email, to avoid fraud the bank would want to see your original (i.e. not copied) signature on it.  In which case you might as well just send a cheque anyway.

[Oneeyedvic]

I think that one of the issues would actually be an original signature as opposed to a reproduced (faxed) one

[stevie21]

There's be an obvious risk of one cheque being photocopied repeatedly and someone trying to cash all of them. I don't think any bank in the land would accept anything other than the original.

[Bangkok]

I have just received a cheque from an insurance company with a computed generated signature. 

[Garycarthy]

Thanks for that Bangkok, but you never stated if you had cashed it in or deposited it.

[stevie21]

Bangkok - is the entire cheque you have a photocopy/b&w print? Just the signature? Are there parts of the cheque that look original? Are the company's name printed in colour or embossed or anything that differentiate your cheque from a photocopy?