cashing a cheque at a bank

General_Grant

I volunteer with a charity which may help older people with shopping.  It has advised that one way for the older person to pay for this shopping would be by cheque and said that, "whilst this is not the most convenient method, a cheque may be the best way of accepting payment. To avoid direct contact, ask the older person to place it somewhere you can pick it up. Most bank branches are still open to allow you to cash it."
Would this work?  Are banks willing to cash a cheque presented by someone who is not the drawer?  Would the drawer need to phone the bank and make arrangements for this specific transaction?
Aren't all cheques now crossed "A/c Payee".  In the "olden days" one could cross through that and write "pay cash" and initial against it but I thought that was no longer possible. 

elsien

Who would the cheque be made out to? It's not very clear - are they suggesting it's made out to cash, because no you wouldn't be able to cash it. 
Is this shopping for people who are shielding? I was doing that and the advice was to either use cash, which involved a lot of trust for complete strangers so there has now been some sort of card system payment set up to remove that uncertainty. Not sure of the details though - at one point there was an arrangement with the supermarket that you'd do the shopping, then go to someone who could arrange to take a card payment over the phone. 

General_Grant

elsien said:

Who would the cheque be made out to? It's not very clear - are they suggesting it's made out to cash, because no you wouldn't be able to cash it. 
Is this shopping for people who are shielding? I was doing that and the advice was to either use cash, which involved a lot of trust for complete strangers so there has now been some sort of card system payment set up to remove that uncertainty. Not sure of the details though - at one point there was an arrangement with the supermarket that you'd do the shopping, then go to someone who could arrange to take a card payment over the phone. 

The clear implication, to me at least, is that they think cheques can be cashed because they are suggesting visiting a bank branch and cashing it. 
It is not the first choice of payment which they are suggesting - they mention bank transfer or cash (and perhaps they wrote the advice before supermarkets had set up new systems in response to the current situation).
Any way, I'm going to suggest they amend their advice.
At one time I think if you took it to the branch on which it was drawn, you could pay a cheque into your own account and it would be cleared immediately by branch staff but I really doubt that is still possible.  It's so long since I've drawn a cheque for anything other than opening a savings account which wanted a cheque (in part as evidence of ID).

EssexExile

Get the cheque made out to you & pay it into your account.

digalumps

Normally cheques are 'crossed' -  this involves drawing two parallel lines on it although in fact the lines are printed these days

this means the cheque must be paid into a bank account

An uncrossed cheque can be cashed at the bank but you would have to make your own i.e. write it out on a blank piece of paper and not cross it. Although perfectly legal, good luck getting it cashed!

jonesMUFCforever

The only person who can cash a cheque normally is the drawer. I believe that there are workarounds due to Covid 19 - I think it works if both parties are known to the bank - but as others have said - the easiest thing is to get the cheque payable to you and you pay it into your own account.
(You could do this with your app and internet banking - no need to actually go into a branch).

colsten

You might be able to do it at Post Offices https://www.onepostoffice.co.uk/secure/latest-news/our-products/post-office-makes-access-to-cash-available-faster-for-self-isolating-customers/

wmb194

digalumps said:

Normally cheques are 'crossed' -  this involves drawing two parallel lines on it although in fact the lines are printed these days

this means the cheque must be paid into a bank account

An uncrossed cheque can be cashed at the bank but you would have to make your own i.e. write it out on a blank piece of paper and not cross it. Although perfectly legal, good luck getting it cashed!

Not true, the last time I did it was about twenty years ago but I used to regularly write out crossed cheques to cash at Natwest and Lloyds and the cashiers would hand over the money. Of course for larger amounts they would ask for ID, compare the signature to their records and so on.

TempUsername03052020

OP just so you are aware some banks allow you to cash in a cheque through the banking app which will mean you do not need to go in branch. You just take a pic through the app of the front and back of the cheque. The banks I know who allow this are

-Halifax

-Barclays

-HSBC

-Santander

-Starling

-RBS / Natwest

- Nationwide

- Lloyds

EarthBoy

TempUsername03052020 said:

OP just so you are aware some banks allow you to cash in a cheque through the banking app which will mean you do not need to go in branch. You just take a pic through the app of the front and back of the cheque. The banks I know who allow this are

-Halifax

-Barclays

-HSBC

-Santander

-Starling

-RBS / Natwest

- Nationwide

- Lloyds

You can't pay in cheques on the Nationwide app.

General_Grant

TempUsername03052020 said:

OP just so you are aware some banks allow you to cash in a cheque through the banking app which will mean you do not need to go in branch. You just take a pic through the app of the front and back of the cheque. The banks I know who allow this are

-Halifax

-Barclays

-HSBC

-Santander

-Starling

-RBS / Natwest

- Nationwide

- Lloyds

And "cash" to me means notes and coins.  That's what it generally means to older people. 
Paying a cheque into an account is depositing a (virtual) piece of paper which eventually will result in cleared funds which in turn can be withdrawn as cash.  That takes time, not something to get and then go shopping the same day.
And if it were simply a case of obtaining cash, an ATM would do that but that doesn't require a visit to a bank.  (If one has lost a DC it is possible with some banks to arrange an ATM cash withdrawal but that's another matter.)

So I have now contacted the charity to query their instruction.