A Question About Cheques

Keith W

Keith W

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I went to the bank today to pay a cheque in from a business client

The cheque just had pay Mr Surname on it and the cashier accepted it and gave me a receipt

10 minutes later, whilst shopping, I get a phone call from the bank saying they are rejecting the cheque and I need to come and collect it.

When I asked why it had been rejected they said it was because it did not have my initial on it just Mr Surname - I queried this because I have paid in loads of cheques over the years that just had my surname on them but the lady on the phone insisted that it needed to have my initial as well.

To top it off when I said I would straight back to the bank to pick it up she said I couldn't do that, I need to wait until tomorrow! So I will have to waste my Saturday morning going into the bank to pick this cheque up

Anyway the question is are they correct? As I said I have paid in numerous cheques with have just had my surname on them and this is the first time I have had such an issue
 
Never had an issue with no initial. Maybe their policy has changed? Can check it out online to see if it has?
 
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yes i think cheques have to be to the full name of the person to combat fraud

if it was mr smith any smith could pay it into there account.
 
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From all the "googling" I have just done it would seem that having just Mr Surname should be absolutely fine and that there is no need for an initial.

Something else gleaned from my search is that it can even just be made out to an account number as opposed to a name
 
I don't know much about UK banking, and I'm a bit surprised that anyone still uses cheques, but I'd just ask them to explain. Are they required to do this by law, or is it just their policy?
 
A banking Jobsworth imho......world is full of them in various forms from all walks of life, not all of them have an adenoid problem either......
 
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If you paid the cheque in using your business deposit slip/book there can be no mistake about what account the money goes into. Back in the dark ages when I worked for myself I often had cheques made out badly, people can't spell, but I never had a cheque refused because of it.
 
LASTOLITE said:
not all of them have an adenoid problem either......
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:D

Steep said:
I often had cheques made out badly, people can't spell, but I never had a cheque refused because of it.
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TBH they seem to be tightening up, I had a similar type issue awhile back, a check made out to "Mr & Mrs"
couldn't be paid into either Mr or Mrs single account, it had to be a "Mr & Mrs" joint account!
WTF! money laundering deterrents, gone a little bloody crazy IMO.
 
MartynK said:
I don't know much about UK banking, and I'm a bit surprised that anyone still uses cheques,
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They almost did away with them recently, but there was rather an uproar from the older generation,
and the banks relented.
 
Steep said:
If you paid the cheque in using your business deposit slip/book there can be no mistake about what account the money goes into. Back in the dark ages when I worked for myself I often had cheques made out badly, people can't spell, but I never had a cheque refused because of it.
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I stood at the counter, handed over my bank card & the cheque, pleasantries were exchanged whilst the teller did the necessaries, I was handed my card back with a receipt, I let the bank

No doubts who I was, no doubts who the cheque was made out to & no doubts over which account to pay it into

10 minutes later......
 
Charge extra for handling cheques. I never forgot that before I came,to the UK I never written a cheque in my life

My landlady insisted on a cheque. Her daughter explained to me what I should do. I just wanted to transfer the money.

Roll on 18 years later and the things are still being used.

Although I have to admit that once it came in handy. I never forgot that at work on a Friday afternoon it was decided I had to be in New York on Monday morning. Company travel agent was closed so I had to advance a Virgin Upper Class Flight, Hotel and Transfers. I was broke in my credit card and my current account, and due to the antiquated UK banking system,I could just transfer money from a saving account. Out came the cheque book and my £250 cheque guarantee card which at least gave me some,pocket money from a bureaux du change. That was handy, especially as I had two cheque books so I could do it twice as they marked the book.
 
I am seriously annoyed to tell the truth, I had plans tomorrow and they didn't involve going into the bank to retrieve a cheque

The person who wrote me the cheque only knows me by my surname, I have deposited many a cheque with just my surname on it
 
Me too. Never heard about it, unless it is above the amount to trigger money laundering regulations.
 
You don't have to go back and get it tomorrow! What if you were knocked over crossing the road ( hope not) what would the bank do then? You don't have to dance to their tune,they made the mistake of accepting it at the till and have given a reciept. Do the bank not know we have a postal system in the UK!
 
Ridiculous just £40 that will cost you more to deal with it. Change banks.
 
Keith W said:
I hear what your saying

Most of the payments I receive these days are by direct account transfer however I will still accept a cheque at a push
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I do think though, that your bank in this instance are being particularly officious.
 
I pity whoever the manager on duty is tomorrow as I will leave them in doubt about my dissatisfaction with this
 
Well I went to the bank this morning and spoke with the manager and told him of my dissatisfaction.

He kept insisting that it was the law and they couldn't accept the cheque.

We went back and forth and in the end I said I had presented many a cheque with just my surname on it in the past and have never had this problem before so I would like him to show me where it says in law, or the banks terms, that I can not present a cheque with just my surname on it.

So he said he would be happy to and starts tapping away at his computer and much clicking and scrolling latter he says I am having trouble finding it on this system and I need to go and check elsewhere and off he goes.

He came back looking rather sheepish and said that there was no specific rules or laws that said I could not present a cheque with just my surname on it, he then offered to re-process the cheque and apologised for any inconvenience caused.

It took an hour all told but I prevailed in the end
 
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Hooray ! A very fine result.

I suspect your account info can be 'tagged' with this for the future.

My younger daughter - though living down South, has her personal Bank account near me. Her first name is part of her account title but as so many people actually abbreviate it [ 'cos they can't pronounce a Scottish name ] she has a tag on her account so that cheques can be accepted with either 'abbreviated' first name or 'proper' first name on them . It has saved a lot of problems in the past
 
Worth every minute to see him squirm I'd say :-)
 
I suppose that in the hopefully very rare chance of your mail getting intercepted or the cheque otherwise falling into the wrong hands and said cheque being paid into another Mr Smith's account though not yours, how would that be resolved?

There may not be a rule in the bank terms but first initial & surname at least allows for the minimum level of assurance that you indeed the intended recipient.
 
I can't be bothered to pay cheques into my bank as I would have to go to the next town, So I always pay them in via the local post office.
Halifax supply envelopes and slips to do that. Took in two cheques yesterday.
 
Box Brownie said:
I suppose that in the hopefully very rare chance of your mail getting intercepted or the cheque otherwise falling into the wrong hands and said cheque being paid into another Mr Smith's account though not yours, how would that be resolved?

There may not be a rule in the bank terms but first initial & surname at least allows for the minimum level of assurance that you indeed the intended recipient.
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Unless of course the person stealing the cheque is a Mr A Smith as well, see where I am going with this ;)

In the unlikely event the scenario you, and the bank manager, describe should happen it would become apparent soon enough and a criminal investigation would ensue

However you can not run a business, or go through life, on what if's
 
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Keith W said:
Unless of course the person stealing the cheque is a Mr A Smith as well, see where I am going with this ;)

In the unlikely event the scenario you, and the bank manager, describe should happen it would become apparent soon enough and a criminal investigation would ensue

However you can not run a business, or go through life, on what if's
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Oh yes! I suppose I am fortunate with a short though rare surname.....all the ones in this country are related. I think it was about 10 last count in the London phone directory ;)
 
In the unlikely event a thief hits me over the head for a £40 cheque and has the same name as Mr de Jong then I would contact the originator and as them to stop the cheque. Cash will be returned, and we have the bank account details of the thief. Not a problem, well not unless I get killed and cant reach the originator, but even then I doubt I care.
 
My surname is not exactly a common one, I know of only 3 other people with the same surname in Scotland and 2 of those are my wife and daughter
 
Box Brownie said:
I suppose that in the hopefully very rare chance of your mail getting intercepted or the cheque otherwise falling into the wrong hands and said cheque being paid into another Mr Smith's account though not yours, how would that be resolved?

There may not be a rule in the bank terms but first initial & surname at least allows for the minimum level of assurance that you indeed the intended recipient.
Click to expand...

In that case, when you didn't receive the cheque, you'd inform the person who sent it. It's then down to them to contact their bank to chase the cheque.

All they need do is issue you another payment.
 
Box Brownie said:
I suppose that in the hopefully very rare chance of your mail getting intercepted or the cheque otherwise falling into the wrong hands and said cheque being paid into another Mr Smith's account though not yours, how would that be resolved?

There may not be a rule in the bank terms but first initial & surname at least allows for the minimum level of assurance that you indeed the intended recipient.
Click to expand...


Not necessarily....... many years ago I found that I was living next to another Terry with the same name and initials, when I got a "Dear John " letter from his girl friend. We used the same bank in Hampstead as well. (fortunately his second name was different though the same initial.)
 
I worked for 40 years in one of our major banks and I've never heard so much b******t! Nothing at all says they can't accept this cheque.
Once, after I'd left I was told something similar because they claimed to have a duty of responsibility to the person who wrote the cheque - even though it was from a different bank. Absolute tosh and hogswash.
Sorry, but the staff manning the tills these days don't know if it's raining or Christmas. They have never been trained above the level of a common or garden shop assistant and their major responsibilities are now meeting sales targets.
Banking law and practice are as unknown to them as the finer points of astro physics. I had five years of night school to get a degree level qualification in banking. Try asking modern staff to do that!
I'm better qualified to run a bank than Fred Goodwin, as are most of my contemporaries.
Glad I left when I did - they would probably haver sacked me by now anyway!!!
As you had to take a morning off to sort this out you should ask for some redress. You will get £25 almost automatically.
 
Keith W said:
That's just it, it is a small amount, £40
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i was once told that it is not banking policy to check cheques for small amounts. still, it appears that you can be a member of banikng staff and know sweet FA about the job. This prize goes to Lloyds, when I was concerned about having a DD bounce due to insufficient funds. The member at the counter assured me everything was fine, thanks to her advice the DD indeed bounced and was charged. The bank refused to refund any charges and claimed that she should be excused due to inexperience. Hope she never becomes a pilot or invilved in nuclear fission.....

currently Halifax claim all their accounts have a £10 automatic overdraft buffer,yet a transaction was declined on the basis of it taking me £0.48p over the limit. when i transferred £1.00 into my current account... it worked
 
Well it's been some time since I left, but even then cheques under £10,000 were never checked at the drawing bank end. Date, signature, words and figures agreeing and all the legal bits that make a cheque valid were simply ignored. Too much time, effort and cost involved for the few errors that were found. Over £10,000 all cheques were looked at but as that was, and still is, a sizeable amount that make sense.
Anyone could get a blank cheque fgrom anywhere, fill it into themselves, sign it themselves and pay it in to their own account and the banks wouldn't know diddly squat about it - unless the customer complained.
Now everything is handled at "Service Centres" where any detailed checking is almost impossible.
Don't believe anything the banks tell you abouty looking after your money - they don't!
 
They certainly don't check cheques. I had one stolen and paid into another account. They just crossed out the genuine recipient and put their own name on it! As it was an ac payee crossed cheque there is no way it should have been allowed.
 
srichards said:
They certainly don't check cheques. I had one stolen and paid into another account. They just crossed out the genuine recipient and put their own name on it! As it was an ac payee crossed cheque there is no way it should have been allowed.
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They generally (*) don't check any small transactions, which is why 'smurfing' works.


(*) Except when I try and order some photos from SnappySnaps. HSBC block that one every time.
 
IMO cheques can still be useful for large sums eg £1000+ where it's inconvenient to get cash out. It's easier for the person giving the cheque because they don't have to go into the bank, but it does mean the recipient has to in order to cash the cheque. Never had issues with giving out or receiving cheques, and have even made some out to myself when I've lost my debit card.
 
Keith W said:
I went to the bank today to pay a cheque in from a business client

The cheque just had pay Mr Surname on it and the cashier accepted it and gave me a receipt

10 minutes later, whilst shopping, I get a phone call from the bank saying they are rejecting the cheque and I need to come and collect it.

When I asked why it had been rejected they said it was because it did not have my initial on it just Mr Surname - I queried this because I have paid in loads of cheques over the years that just had my surname on them but the lady on the phone insisted that it needed to have my initial as well.

To top it off when I said I would straight back to the bank to pick it up she said I couldn't do that, I need to wait until tomorrow! So I will have to waste my Saturday morning going into the bank to pick this cheque up

Anyway the question is are they correct? As I said I have paid in numerous cheques with have just had my surname on them and this is the first time I have had such an issue
Click to expand...
It's probably made of rubber.
 
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