paying in non initialed cheques

begbeer

Went to my local Barclays bank today, to pay in a cheque made payable to Mrs ....... (no initial, and the bank clerk refused to accept it. It was only for 51.74 she said I might have picked it up off the street !!. The chances of a person with my name picking up a cheque in the street must be astronomical. When I pointed out to her that the cheque actually had my addresss on it she check her computor agreed the address was the same and took it. I was gob smacked. Has anyone else come acrosss this.
I phoned the goverment department who issued the cheque (it was single farm payment) told them and they said their would be an awful lot refused if this is the case. Then phoned Barclays customer relations, who admitted it was policy, but the clerk should have used her discretion, especially as it was my local branch and I had been in there many times before.

johnmoney05

the clerk should not accept it really...well, Mrs X with the same address can't prove anything.
There are SOME Mr X in my house. I certainly don't want any of them take my cheque to cash it and spend it...

Mikeyorks

begbeer wrote:

Has anyone else come acrosss this.

No .... it's stupid. If as I do, courtesy of my Mum (:rolleyes: ), you have several initials ... do they all have to be on? Totally bemused that Barclays have a DIY 'policy' - when cheque writing / acceptance should be relatively universal.

There are 'new rules' .. but this certainly isn't one of them. The new rules, from 1st Oct, solely apply to cheques made out to Banks / Building societies. And require you to add the beneficiaries name and / or account (no initial stipulated!) on the payee line e.g Halifax Plc (John Smith 12345678)