Cheque reversal

Cat72

I have read on here several times about cheque reversals after the funds have cleared. I contactd my bank about this and they have sadithat it is not possable and that once the funds have left the account they cannnot be taken back.
I dont understand this is it just my banks reasoning or how do people manage to get cheques reversed ?

Moglex

I think that your bank may have informed you incorrectly.

They may have assumed that you meant to ask if you could reverse a cheque that you have written to someone. In this case, I believe that they are correct.

If, on the other hand someone had stolen your chequebook and written a cheque to someone then you can inform your bank that you did not write the cheque and they will reverse the transaction.

The payee's bank then attempts to claw back the money from the payee.

John_T_5

I have previously queried this with the Bank Of Scotland whilst I was paying in some cheques.

I enquired if it was possible for the issuer of the cheques to have the payment reversed after the cheque had cleared in my account and I was assured that they could not.

Enterprise_1701C

They definitely can - we paid one in one time, it cleared and then it suddenly was not there! Ouch!

soolin

I've had two cheques reversed well after clearing for funds, the first at approx 5 weeks, the other in week 2. Both times the issuer reported a problem with the cheque and had the cheque pulled. it was complicated, one was due to a dispute between the two parties of a joint account where the people signing were disputing who had the right to sign after a certain date, the other time it was due to words and figures not matching.

digerati

Though it isn't common, UK personal cheques can be reversed for up to seven years for a variety of reasons. Front line bank staff are usually ignorant as reversals are usually handled by administrative staff at the processing centres or head office. However, bank managers are well aware of cheque reversals.

By contrast, bank transfers are usually only reversible during a short window for several reasons. They can be reversed at a later date with a court order, but the cost usually outweighs the amount. It has been reported that intra-bank transfers are more easily reversed than inter-bank transfers, notably by HSBC customers.

soolin

Here's a news report on cheque reversals, and as can be seen the system should be changing in November this year:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6144756.stm

Currently, cheques can be rejected by a bank at any time if fraud comes to light later - possibly many weeks or months later - even if the person paying in the cheque has acted honestly, withdrawn the money and then spent it.