Do cheques expire?

[Deleted User]

I'm trying to stay in as much as I can with the coronavirus and having a medical condition, and I have just received a cheque for a refund I have been issued, therefore cant really get to the bank to pay it in, I'm with NatWest.

Is it okay to just keep it for a while and pay it in at a later date, it wont expire or anything?

Alter_ego

Usually 6 months

Grabs39

Normally you have six months to deposit it.

eskbanker

https://www.chequeandcredit.co.uk/information-hub/faqs/cheques-and-cheque-clearing

Is it true that cheques are only valid for six months?

No. A cheque is valid for as long as the debt between the two parties (i.e. the person writing the cheque and the person they give it to) exists. In other words, cheques don’t have an expiry date. However, it is common banking practice to reject cheques that are over six months old to protect the person who has written the cheque, in case the payment has been made another way or the cheque has been lost or stolen. This six-month timeframe is at the discretion of individual banks. It should not be assumed that cheques older than six months would automatically be rejected as the only definite way to cancel a cheque is for the person who wrote it to request that a stop be placed on it. If you have a cheque that you want to pay in that is more than six months old, your best course of action is to not pay it in and instead obtain a replacement from the person who gave it to you. Where there is a dispute, a cheque remains legally valid in order to provide proof of the existence of a debt for a period of six years, which is the Statute of Limitations.

https://supportcentre.natwest.com/Searchable/913245602/How-long-are-cheques-valid-for.htm

How long are cheques valid for?

We reserve the right not to pay a cheque that is older than 6 months (from the date written on the front of the cheque).

If you have a cheque dated 6 months or more ago it may not clear and you should contact the issuer of that cheque and ask for a replacement.

Tildaplum

you could post it to natwest

[Deleted User]

Tildaplum said:

you could post it to natwest

There website says I need to send it with a paying in slip which I don't have, also id need a stamp, so if I go out for one of them I might as well go to the bank. Its a shame they don't offer a digital service. Ill just hold on to it and hope I can get out in the coming weeks, just wanted to make sure it didn't expire.

Tildaplum

you need a stamp but not a paying in slip a covering letter will do.

eskbanker

MarkN88 said:

Tildaplum said:

you could post it to natwest

There website says I need to send it with a paying in slip which I don't have, also id need a stamp, so if I go out for one of them I might as well go to the bank. Its a shame they don't offer a digital service. Ill just hold on to it and hope I can get out in the coming weeks, just wanted to make sure it didn't expire.

Can you go back to whoever issued the cheque and ask for payment by bank transfer instead, given the circumstances?

20SmthngSver

Cheques don't 'expire' after 6 months. Anyone saying that above is wrong. 

Banks reserve the right to not deposit a cheque if it is older than 6 months (from the date it was written or issued), it's actually at the discretion of the bank it's being deposited in if they choose to accept cheques older than 6 months, anything up to 6 years.
 
Some chequebooks have expiry dates printed on the cheques at the time of production, so they can't be abused a few years after (most people will use a chequebook within this time period anyway, if it even has an expiry date printed), however this is very unlikely.

However, bank issued cheques (or drafts) do not have an expiry date, as it is withdrawn from your account at the time of printing and then it floats in air until it's deposited, hence no expiry date.

Wheres_My_Cashback

20SmthngSver said:

Some chequebooks have expiry dates printed on the cheques at the time of production, so they can't be abused a few years after (most people will use a chequebook within this time period anyway, if it even has an expiry date printed), however this is very unlikely.

Will they? I would expect quite the opposite seeing a the general public use cheques so infrequently nowadays. I have various cheque books from multiple organisations. None have an expiry date on them, however they do all have a printed/produced date on them, the oldest being 23 years ago which is the account I use should I ever need to write a cheque. Usually they go to other financial institutions which require a cheque to open an account and not one of them has ever come back to me and said sorry, your cheque has expired.

eskbanker

Wheres_My_Cashback said:

20SmthngSver said:

Some chequebooks have expiry dates printed on the cheques at the time of production, so they can't be abused a few years after (most people will use a chequebook within this time period anyway, if it even has an expiry date printed), however this is very unlikely.

Will they? I would expect quite the opposite seeing a the general public use cheques so infrequently nowadays. I have various cheque books from multiple organisations. None have an expiry date on them, however they do all have a printed/produced date on them, the oldest being 23 years ago which is the account I use should I ever need to write a cheque. Usually they go to other financial institutions which require a cheque to open an account and not one of them has ever come back to me and said sorry, your cheque has expired.

Agreed - according to the figures published last year by UK Finance in its annual review of payment methods, cheque use dropped by abut 75% from 2008 to 2018, and its decline is projected to continue at a similar rate.  Adding preprinted expiry dates on cheques would seem a counter-intuitive response to this, and would increase costs for banks to have to reissue more cheque books than would otherwise be the case....