Help with post-dated cheques

meggiemoo_d

Hi,
I have just looked at my online banking and seen that a cheque I had written for a £200 deposit for my house next year has been cashed despite it being dated the 4th of March. Surely the bank shouldn't have taken it before then.

Does anyone know the rules that apply with regarding to the banks liability and accepting post-dated cheques? As I don't have the money until the 4th of March (as my landlord knows full and well) I am getting charged for this and two other cheques that are bouncing (there was money in the account for the other two).

I've now put a stop on the cheque but still getting a £10 charge which I can't afford. Please help!!!!

Iwantmorecash

ask the bank for a copy of the chq (which they can get that day) that will then prove thet its their fault and they will refund any charges relating to that.

Of the record my wife works in bank and regarding chqs the bank dont even check to see waether they have a signature never mind the date.( and in the past i hev put a chq in the bank made out to me into my wifes asccount by mistake and it went through)

Dan29

meggiemoo_d wrote:

Hi,
I have just looked at my online banking and seen that a cheque I had written for a £200 deposit for my house next year has been cashed despite it being dated the 4th of March. Surely the bank shouldn't have taken it before then.

Does anyone know the rules that apply with regarding to the banks liability and accepting post-dated cheques? As I don't have the money until the 4th of March (as my landlord knows full and well) I am getting charged for this and two other cheques that are bouncing (there was money in the account for the other two).

I've now put a stop on the cheque but still getting a £10 charge which I can't afford. Please help!!!!

I'm afraid the answer is, don't use post-dated cheques, and if you do, don't be surprised if they get cashed. See http://www.students-union.nottingham.ac.uk/welfare/welfare_house_cheques.php or search Google for "post-dated cheques".

mr_fishbulb

I remeber when I got my HSBC studnet account, one of the T&Cs was post-dated cheques were cashed the same as if they were cheques with a date of that day.

I think it's a way of the banks making more money off the students.

muddled_midget

Have you written post-dated cheques for your rent next year, as well as for the deposit? If so, speak to your landlord and make it very clear that the money will not be available before the dates on the cheques, preferably give it to him in writing. Inform him if he does cash the cheque early he will be liable for the charges, and cancel all the other post-dated cheques and set up a standing order. I can understand why landlords like the cheques up front as it does stop them having to chase us up, but my landlord doesn't play fair with it, so now I take him a cheque every month as he doesn't want a standing order for some reason...

Tootsie_Roll

meggiemoo_d wrote:

Hi,
I have just looked at my online banking and seen that a cheque I had written for a £200 deposit for my house next year has been cashed despite it being dated the 4th of March. Surely the bank shouldn't have taken it before then.

Does anyone know the rules that apply with regarding to the banks liability and accepting post-dated cheques? As I don't have the money until the 4th of March (as my landlord knows full and well) I am getting charged for this and two other cheques that are bouncing (there was money in the account for the other two).

I've now put a stop on the cheque but still getting a £10 charge which I can't afford. Please help!!!!

Sadly, despite their widespread use (including by us DCA's) there is no such thing in law as a post dated cheque. If you write one expect it to get cashed immediately. You might feel that you want to blame your bank but it is really something you need to take up with your landlord - of course if he doesn't play ball and refund your charges then you are not going to pay him that way anymore so he will have to collect a cheque from you each month from now on causing him hassle.

The previous poster is correct, banks do not even check the signature on a cheque let alone the date, it's an impossible task if you consider how many go through the system every day.

mr_fishbulb

You should set-up a standing order

moongarden

isn't it illegal to write post dated cheques anyway?
i have always done it but i think there is something in the small print on bank accounts which says you can only write a cheque when you know you have the cash available and you doun't know, because circumstances might change, what you will have on a future date.

i always used to use cheques in the last 3 days before payday in the past but i don't have a chequebook at all now - they are hideously outdated.

and having worked in a finance dept of a large utilities supplier i can also say that cheques under 200 (or maybe 250) now are not even read by a human - they are read by a banktec machine which only spits out the ones it can't read for a person to look at. the machine only reads the figures in the box. it doesn't read the date or the amount in words or the signature - so all those people who "acidentally" wrote M Mouse on their checks got a fright when they went through.

themaccas

I had this problem last year, a company asked me for a postdated cheque and PROMISED not to cash it until the date stated. Guess what.. they banked it immediatley. I phoned the bank who said it was illegal to post date cheques and anyway they banked them 'at their discretion'. They would not refund the charges at all. The company dragged their heels so long regarding refunding me the bank fees that I came to a compromise and had £60 worth of services from them! I would NEVER post date another cheque again no matter how much someone put pressure on me to do it.

tango

as said, you are purely relying on the good will of the person who the cheque is written out to.my bank have told me, that if you write a cheque you are meant to have the funds in that account,and post dated cheques a thing of the past

Sleekit

I got caught out with this a few years ago too. I was off to Australia for 6 weeks, so sent my letting agents two cheques - one for that month and one for the next month, post-dated. They cashed both and I ended up with a whole load of un-refundable charges. It would have been cheaper for me to take the cheque to Oz and post it from there, but that didn't occur to me!