Cheques Cleared Too Soon...What now?

Dopple

On Wednesday of this week I give a cheque for £10k to Legal and General and a cheque for an equal amount to the Yorkshire Building Society.
Thinking that there was no way these cheques would clear this week I kept my funds for these in my Nationwide E-Savings account and wasn't going to move the money to my Flexaccount (cheque account) until Monday as not to lose a few days extra interest (tightarse that I am).

Anyway, much to my amazement the cheques were being processed when I logged into Nationwide this morning. I then moved my E-Savings money when I saw the cheques being processed but it was too late. I logged in tonight and there are corrections on my account for these cheques so obviously they have bounced and been sent back.

What happens now?
Will Nationwide charge me?
Do I have to write out new cheques or will the companies re-submit them
when they get them back?

soolin

If Nationwide have bounced your cheques then yes you will be charged. The amounts depends on the charge levied by that particular bank and will almost certainly be charged per cheque.

You will need to talk to the people you issued the cheques to and see whether the cheques are going to be re presented. The bank can either have returned them 'refer to drawer' which means they should not be re presented, or refer to drawer, please represent which means they will try again. If you have telephone banking they can probably tell you that as well.

YorkshireBoy

You are looking at £30 per cheque, according to...

http://www.nationwide.co.uk/current_account/charges.htm


The Post Office are also very quick at presenting cheques. I taxed my car recently very late on a Saturday morning. On checking my online banking late on Monday evening I saw that the cheque was showing on Tuesday's list of transactions.

LittleVoice

Dopple wrote: »

On Wednesday of this week I give a cheque for £10k to Legal and General and a cheque for an equal amount to the Yorkshire Building Society.
Thinking that there was no way these cheques would clear this week . . .I wasn't going to move the money to my Flexaccount (cheque account) until Monday

If you gave (rather than posted) the cheques on Wednesday then you should definitely have expected them to reach your account today. And that means you should have ensured that the money was transferred from your eSavings account on Thursday evening.

If a cheque is going to reach your Flex account on a Monday, it is safest to move the money from eSavings to Flex on Friday evening (despite the wording on the transfer section of the Nationwide website).

Given the difference between the eSavings rate (5.8%) and the Flex rate (4.25% for £1K/month deposit), I'm sure you will now agree it is not worth risking early presentation of cheques.

Dopple

Thanks for the replies.
I didn't realise a cheque could clear so soon.
I've just got off the phone to the Nationwide and they said there would not be a charge.
But if that is wrong and I do get a charge (say £60), would it be worth trying to reclaim it?

By the way I only get 1.25% on my Flex account as I only work part-time and my salary going into my account is less than £1k a month.

bengal-stripe

Dopple wrote: »

I've just got off the phone to the Nationwide and they said there would not be a charge.
But if that is wrong and I do get a charge (say £60), would it be worth trying to reclaim it?

If things go wrong and you should get charged, phone that person at the Nationwide again and remind him/her of their promise.

There should be no need to get any heavier.

welsh_lad_1985

Your account would automatically have generated a £30 CHARGE for each cheque, as per the terms and conditions of your account. However, some circumstances allow staff members to override your charges, usually only if its another persons fault or if it is your first request for a refund.

Just remember - ONLY WRITE A CHEQUE WHEN THERE ARE SUFFICIENT FUNDS IN YOUR ACCOUNT!