Cheque bouncing -who's at fault?

Beenie

I was due a refund on council tax from York City Council. The cheque was posted to me and I paid it in at my branch of the Santander bank on 17/1/2015.

On 20/1/2015 the cheque was rejected by the council as 'No Account' and I got a letter from my bank with photocopy of rejected cheque.

I rang York Council and they deny that such a thing can happen, and they insist that the problem is with my bank.

I don't know how banks work, but it seems odd to me that a cheque can be bounced by a local authority. My bank tell me, quite properly, that if I had written the cheque, they would be able to explain why it could not be paid to a third party. They can't tell me why a cheque from York Council is not being honoured.
If anyone working at a bank can explain this, I would be very grateful.

henm2

The reason for non payment 'no account' on the returned cheque is self explanatory. It means the account the cheque is drawn on no longer exists and is closed. The other explanation is simply that the account is still open and the council's bank have made an error in not paying out on the cheque.
I would contact the council for a replacement cheque drawn on one of their other accounts or arrange for them to send the payment direct to your account using the bill payment/faster payment system.

[Deleted User]

A long shot, but places like councils often get their own cheques printed up on detachable A4 sheets of paper for printing purposes.

If they mistyped their own account number, it would happen.

Try validating their sort code and account number at http://www.postcodeanywhere.co.uk/demos/bank-validator/ to see if the check digit matches.

pmduk

Either way, if Santander charge you for the returned cheque make sure the council refund that.

Beenie

I spoke to the Finance department at YCC on Friday afternoon and they want to see the letter from my bank and the copy cheque. They obviously don't believe me and I can see their point as it's a very odd thing to happen with a local authority cheque.

Santander have already confirmed that as this is not my fault (it's the payers problem) I will not be charged for this returned cheque.

Armorica

The council’s bank or the council. It’s possible, for some reason, the cheque was misread and the wrong account number existed (or as another said, the council typed in the wrong account number in the first place). Ask your council to cancel the cheque and pay via Bacs instead.

You shouldn't have to share anything with the council - they ought to be capable of checking their own records to see if they have paid/been debited for the cheque or not! (Of course it will be easier to share copies with them...)