cheques when theres no account

kevtherev_2

a friend of mine with no bank account insists he can sign a cheque made out to him, over to me, simply by signing the back of the cheque. and therefore cash his cheque for him. does anyone know if this is possible or how people with no account cash their cheques????

payless

.Cheques are negotiable instruments but most cheques are preprinted with account payee, so you are likely to find that your bank won't accept them, unless you have a very good relationship with them and agree to indemnify any loss.

Your friend could use one the the number of cheque cashing services - albeit these can be expensive

Joe_Bloggs

Your friend would have been correct before 1992.
As payless says and according to this BBC article.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3345779.stm
J_B.

kevtherev_2

ok, thanks for that.. the cash places seem to be 5% or more.. i wonder how or where they cash the cheques to retrieve the cash..

payless

They take ID and then pass the cheque thro' the system , taking the risk that the cheque may bounce, and thus if they can't follow up on the debt they will have a loss on a % of these transactions .

If Possible get him to open a basic bank account!

Joe_Bloggs

It would take me a year to earn 5% on the monies that I had in my bank acccounts. How can an intermediary be allowed to get away with 5% in seconds. You must go the extra mile and convince your friend to get a simple bank account.
Use the MSE forum to best match your friends misgivings to what is available.

http://forum.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=Money
J_B.