How do you read the back of a cheque?

jinplo

I'm trying to find out what bank account some cheques I wrote were paid in to. So I went to my bank and had them send me copies of the cheques.
On the back there are stamps/markings including what appear to be account numbers. Problem is, every one seems to have a different account number on it.

I can't find an image of one on the internet to provide an example.

They say "Exception processing" in the top left.

Is it possible that all of the cheques went to different accounts?

~Beanie~

The account number is not usually printed on the back of cheques, its probably just the transaction number which happens to be the same length as an account number.

Goldiegirl

I think it depends on the bank that dealt with the clearing of the cheque.

I believe that HSBC do include the sort code and account number of the account that the cheque was paid into.

Exception processing implies that the cheque was rejected at some point during the the automated clearing process, so the process was completed manually. This sometimes happens if the cheque is creased or torn, of if the encoded details can't be machine read.

There's no reason why cheques can't be paid into different accounts..... Particularly if they've got different payees!

I'm not really sure why you need to know the account number the cheques were paid into, or what benefit you'd get from knowing... If you really need to know wouldn't it be easier just to ask the payee?

jinplo

Hmmm. I was told by the bank that they did include the numbers. There's certainly something that looks like a combination sort-code and account number on the back of all of them.

They're hard to read, but I have the following sort codes

560059
523056
550059 (but may be 560059)
565056 (definitely correct, but not findable)

The first two seem to be natwest, the last two don't appear in the searchers I looked at online.

Suggestions for any way to get an account number?

Goldiegirl wrote: »

I'm not really sure why you need to know the account number the cheques were paid into, or what benefit you'd get from knowing... If you really need to know wouldn't it be easier just to ask the payee?

I have legal proceedings against the individual (a scummy former landlord). He's not prone to telling the truth.

Goldiegirl

They certainly look like Nat West sort codes.

If the account number is on the back as well, you'd be looking for an eight digit number

But if the information is not there, I don't think there's any way you can find out the account number the cheques were paid in to.

If the cheques are crossed on the front 'account payee only', they can only be paid into an account in the name of the payee. So, if they are crossed account payee only, the copy of the paid cheque might be enough to prove the landlord had the money?