Uncashed cheque - what should I do?

[Fake Boris]

The university still hasn't cashed in the €420 cheque I gave them three months ago.

Should I -

a) report it
b) wait and hope they forget, but keep the money in my savings account just in case
c) spend the money on booze

Option B requires more precision. If I am to keep the money just in case, how long should I?

[KrazyHorse]

I don't know how it is in France, but IIRC in NA personal cheques are good for 6 months after date of issue.

Also, even if they let that deadline expire they can still ask you for new payment of whatever you owe them for a period of ~2 years (again, in NA, and again IIRC), even though not cashing your cheque was their fault. I'd make sure that you keep the carbon copy of the cheque you wrote as some sort of evidence you gave it to them in the first place (to make sure that they don't try to charge late fees in case they ever notice they didn't collect your money).

In other words, they can decide any day to cash that cheque, or ask for a new one. Best to keep the money in your account. I bounced a cheque by mistake one time and it wasn't fun. There were no real consequences beyond a 25$ fee, but I felt like a complete deadbeat when I had to explain it.

[KrazyHorse]

I'd wait and keep the money in your account for at least another 3 months. I wouldn't totally forget about it for another year or so.

[Flubber]

If they have not cashed the cheque, it is unlikely that their records will show that you have paid whatever it was the cheque was for. So the first question is whether or not youe account is in good standing since I hardly think you want to get terminated from university for non-payment of tuition or whatnot.


If your account is in bad standing, you need to clear things up and pay.

If things are all in good standing then it appears you are the beneficiary of a bank/ administrative error in your favor and your response could depend on your personal ethics. Its like the ethical questions "assuming you would never get caught, would you do x or y?".

I don't plan to dictate to you on ethics . . . On a practical level, I would think that any modern accounting system will find the discrepency sooner or later

[KrazyHorse]

I don't know about that. I got a double paycheque a few years back...

[KrazyHorse]

Also, if his account reads as owing money then I'm sure they'll send him some kind of warning whenever they notice. If they do that he can walk in and tell them that they got the cheque 3 months ago, then write them another one right there.

They won't just expel him without warning.

[snoopy369]

My suggestion is B, keep the money, for at least six months; I honestly suggest that A is not a bad idea, and if you go with B, I'd keep it for a year or more.

KH is correct about the six month rule, and some banks have a more strict rule in fact [for cashing a check at their bank, not for a check drawn on their bank]; but from having worked at a bank before, I can tell you that it's all up to the individual teller. The teller accepts the check and deposits it; and is generally the (only) person who would vet the date of the check. If the teller isn't paying attention, or just doesn't feel like doing the paperwork, he/she might very well accept the check, at which point ... it will almost certainly be accepted by your bank (electronic fund transfer and such) and you'll not have much of an argument against it if it bounces or such.

The university probably deposits a few dozen or hundred checks at once, anyway, and the teller accepting the deposits is probably not looking at individual dates; you're lucky if they look at individual AMOUNTS and don't just trust the Uni's deposit slip. I've deposited checks with all sorts of problems (not as a teller but as a retailer) and never had a complaint.

[Kropotkin]

Cheques is just so 1980s.

[snoopy369]

Originally posted by KrazyHorse
Also, if his account reads as owing money then I'm sure they'll send him some kind of warning whenever they notice. If they do that he can walk in and tell them that they got the cheque 3 months ago, then write them another one right there.

They won't just expel him without warning.

Probably not, but there's a reasonable chance they might not accept his copied check as proof he paid (he might have made a check but not given it to them, for example). Often they consider it your responsibility to make sure your payment was accepted. Certainly they'll warn you, but you may have late fees that they may not waive.

I definitely suggest at least checking to see if they consider the payment accepted.

[KrazyHorse]

I've never had a late fee not blatantly my fault which I couldn't talk my way out of, and I've had several which were blatantly my fault which I still managed to talk my way out of. Given that this is a university, I'm going to guess that they aren't out to **** Boris.

[KrazyHorse]

Hah. When I posted that the quote which popped up was:

Overdrawn? But I still have checks left!

[Arrian]

I'd wait a while more, and eventually I'd contact them and ask them to please cash the darned thing. I hate it when I write somebody a check and they take forever to cash it.

-Arrian

[Dauphin]

Originally posted by snoopy369
The university probably deposits a few dozen or hundred checks at once, anyway, and the teller accepting the deposits is probably not looking at individual dates; you're lucky if they look at individual AMOUNTS and don't just trust the Uni's deposit slip. I've deposited checks with all sorts of problems (not as a teller but as a retailer) and never had a complaint.

I have witnessed mail containing cheques remitted being delivered to a wrong address and subsequently cashed. The company who cashed them were a reputable business, they just had a system of cashing all cheques on the day they were received and only later realised the payments were not intended for them, rather a company that shared the office building. Accounts receivable didn't care, cashier obviously didn't notice.

[SlowwHand]

Save it and let in draw what interest it will draw.

[Spiffor]

Re: Uncashed cheque - what should I do?

Originally posted by Oncle Boris
The university still hasn't cashed in the €420 cheque I gave them three months ago.

Typical. Save the money.
Spend it on booze only in 9 months, in case they still haven't cashed it in.