Life span of a cheque

Beverley

Debbie_A wrote: »

Hi Beverley,

As a parent I get really annoyed when schools do this! I like to keep my chequebook balanced and when a cheque does not get cashed for months on end, it upsets my accounting.

However, from the other side (I am also a teacher), I know exactly why it happens. The trip gets organised and cheques flow in. The teacher in charge collect the cheques. They really should pass them straight on to the finance clerk but then they might forget who has paid and who hasn't. So they keep them until they all come in. Meanwhile the trip is paid for from some other budget as a temporary measure. Eventually the cheques are passed on, but now there is no urgency for the finance clerk to pay the cheques into the account because the trip is paid for. So she sits on them until she has to go to the bank for another reason.

I kind of thought that was what had happened. Except the teacher in charge emailed me to assure me that the cheque had been banked that very day.

Debbie_A wrote: »

Sorry, I am not trying to make excuses, but this is the way that (my) school works. There must be a better way than cheques, though. Indeed, one of my children's schools is starting to use Parent Pay to collect money for trips, etc. It seems to work well. Perhaps you could suggest this as a helpful parent.

Debbie

Thanks I will. Although he only has a year left in school now and so won't be taking any more school holidays.

Beverley

bugged wrote: »

I would cancel the cheque and forget about it. Pay the bank the tenner or whatever they will charge you to do this. Clearly, the school doesn't need the money.

If they ever ask you, you can make an arrangement to pay them if and when it suits you.

Thanks. This is what I've decided to do. It's worth the expense of cancelling it for the peace of mind.

keystone

No you shouldn't just cancel the cheque willy-nilly. Your cheque is a promise to pay. By cancelling it without informing the school you are renaging on that promise irrespective of the reasons.

I agree with the earlier poster, write to the school and give them a period of time to bank the cheque otherwise the cheque will be stopped and you will negotiate an alternative payment method. I'd say 7 days should be sufficient. Your only justifiable reason for stopping it now will be if you go into the school and pay cash first and get a receipt. Then you will have met your obligation to them to pay for a service you have received.

Cheers

January20

I don't understand why you can't just keep the amount of money in your account? surely you had budgeted for that? Or is it that your budget is too tight to keep £100 as a buffer in your account? If it was me, I would keep the money in my account and sit back and wait and see whether the school cash it or not. I have the feeling I've missed a point here though

Toe-Jam

I moved out of my Dads house 4 years ago, I was up visiting on monday and he gave me some "old letters", one was a cheque from RBS dated May 2011, I put it in the bank on Monday of this week and it cleared on Wednesday no problems at all.

If you are worried about the cheque, call the bank up and tell them the cheque is LOST, if you don't say its lost you may be charged, but they won't charge you for a lost cheque.

traleegirl

Why don't you take the money out of the bank, take it to the school, ask them to give you back the cheque and then give them the cash? Or am I missing something?

flutterby_lil

mountainofdebt wrote: »

I don't think you can cash a cheque that's more than 6 months old.

Whilst I can understand your frustration, you may want to consider the moral aspect of not giving a replacement should they ask for one.

Yeah I see your point but it isn't the OP's fault. She has not evaded paying, they just haven't taken payment.

Gigglepig

I would do nothing and just keep 100 pounds in the account. annoying, yes, but why waste any more time and thought on it, not to mention the fee to cancel the cheque.

jackyann

I think that you could keep in the right by writing to the school initially (they really should know that you intend to cancel the cheque). You must know as well that schools are on tight budgets - and although it doesn't look like it, that cheque is accounted for in their budget.
I would also be tempted to cancel the cheque, then take in the £100 in cash, minus the cost of cancellation, explaining why. But I wouldn't do it without warning them, it won't get you any sympathy!

I nearly got caught by the "6 year rule" and was very upset. I did a course at a world famous clinic, and paid it via a "Career development Loan" - a government scheme administered by the Co-op bank in which the tuition costs were paid directly to the clinic by the bank.
5 years later, I got a letter from the clinic saying I owed them all the tuition fees and they intended to pursue me for them. By that time I had shredded all the relevant financial records. The bank had archived their records, and would charge a considerable sum for finding them for me.
I wrote & explained & received a condescending letter saying that I was responsible despite whatever arrangements I had made.
I was telling people at work this, as I didn't know what to do (never having owed a penny other than my mortgage) and someone who knew about accountancy gave me some advice. They said that the clinic - now swallowed up by a another institution had probably kept lax finances, and the new accountants were just tidying up. He advised me to write, not explaining, but simply saying that I refuted the claim & could assure them that they had been paid. He said that the accountants could then write it off - and that is exactly what happened!

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Debbie_A wrote: »

Hi Beverley,
Indeed, one of my children's schools is starting to use Parent Pay to collect money for trips, etc. It seems to work well. Perhaps you could suggest this as a helpful parent.

Debbie

NOOOOOOOO!!!!! NOT PARENT PAY!!!!!!!!!

1. School dinner money for the entire school was swallowed by the system at the beginning of term. The thumbprint recognition system just didn't work for the cashless canteen. Chaos.


2. Free school meal credits for the entire cohort of eligible kids has disappeared 5 times in two years, leaving a lot of hungry teenagers faced by someone saying 'there's no money there, you can't have anything to eat'.

3. The FSM entitlement is taken even when the child is absent, so the caterers get the money regardless. The caterers say this is impossible.

4. One of the ladies taking payments charges things for other children to the accounts of FSM children she hasn't seen collecting any food.

5. Payment of music lessons was set up as a single item. Once a part payment had been made, the item disappeared. School had no record of the payment, it didn't show up on parent pay and it couldn't be topped up to the full amount until back at school in September, by which point it was technically too late to book lessons, but they had a late cancellation.

6. The system went down before Christmas. It wasn't back in the New Year. The school had no money for trips, lessons or meals for another week.



Just not parent pay.