Undated cheques

khayandhi

I recently deposited a cheque for quite a large sum from my mum, and am waiting for it to clear. She rang me today and said that she was absolutely certain she hadn't put a date on the cheque when she signed. I didn't read it very carefully myself, and the teller didn't say anything when I handed it over.

Is the cheque likely to be bounced for lacking the date?

inmypocketnottheirs

It is unlikely that the cheque will get checked any further now other than if there are insufficient funds in the account. The only human intervention a cheque has when the date will be seen is when the cashier accepts it on the counter.

So long as funds are available you should be fine.

khayandhi

Thanks, good to hear! Is that true irrespective of how large the cheque is? (I was under the impression that it would get physically checked if over some threshold amount, but I don't know whether that's true or what the amount would be. My cheque is for £2500.)

planteria

inmypocketnottheirs wrote: »

...The only human intervention a cheque has when the date will be seen is when the cashier accepts it on the counter.

that is interesting. i had a cashier knock a cheque back a few weeks ago, which i took to another branch and it was accepted. the former implied 'that it wouldn't be accepted', but, according to the above, it was just about whether She accepted or not.

Goldiegirl

It'll depend on your mum's bank's procedures.

Some banks have human intervention for cheques over a certain amount - if it's noticed, the cheque would be returned with the answer 'cheque incomplete'.

If the cheque had been drawn on the bank that I worked for until recently, the cheque would definitely be returned.

GrumpyPL

I wouldn't be too sure that it wouldn't bounce, when I worked for Natwest for a short time any cheque coming in that was for over £1000 had to be physically checked and have things compared to previous cheques etc to check for possible fraud. It might come back as an incomplete cheque.

khayandhi

I dropped by my branch today just to ask, and they said essentially "if we thought there was a problem, we would already have called you, expect to see the funds on Monday". I shall have to see what my mum's bank think, I guess! (HSBC) Shall keep this thread posted, just for other people's reference in the future.

phona

Similarly, my sister got a cheque that wasn't signed and it cleared no problem. You'd have thought the signature was the most important thing too...

[I accept no responsibility for any cheque thefts inspired by information in this post! ]

khayandhi

The funds are now in my available balance. I'm going to wait until Wednesday (under 2-4-6) before withdrawing anything, but it certainly looks like it went through.

JuicyJesus

It probably won't have been checked unless it was for a large amount.