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Cheque name matching

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  • General_Grant
    General_Grant Posts: 5,274 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    ttrailor said:
    According to HSBC even with the original I’d still need to ask for it to be reissued because (1) it’s now a bounced cheque so needs to be reissued, and (2) it apparently must have my full name on it, has anyone ever heard of that rule? 

    Simply having a payment recorded in your account doesn't mean it is cleared.

    Did they really use the word "bounced"?  It would be "bounced" if the account on which it had been drawn had declined payment.  I wouldn't count HSBC not allowing it to be paid into my account as it being bounced as, in the normal course, cheques are bounced for having insufficient funds in the account or because the drawer has cancelled it. 

    I could just about understand them not liking just the courtesy title and a surname but I would doubt they really need all forenames or, for that matter, rejecting a cheque which had more forenames than recorded for the account holder.   However, as you have the image of the cheque to see the name of the drawer, contact them and ask for a replacement made out to the payee named as acceptable to their and your bankers (HSBC).  Presumably you received a letter with the cheque and therefore have the drawer's details.
  • ttrailor
    ttrailor Posts: 8 Forumite
    First Post
    ttrailor said:
    According to HSBC even with the original I’d still need to ask for it to be reissued because (1) it’s now a bounced cheque so needs to be reissued, and (2) it apparently must have my full name on it, has anyone ever heard of that rule? 

    Simply having a payment recorded in your account doesn't mean it is cleared.

    Did they really use the word "bounced"?  It would be "bounced" if the account on which it had been drawn had declined payment.  I wouldn't count HSBC not allowing it to be paid into my account as it being bounced as, in the normal course, cheques are bounced for having insufficient funds in the account or because the drawer has cancelled it. 

    I could just about understand them not liking just the courtesy title and a surname but I would doubt they really need all forenames or, for that matter, rejecting a cheque which had more forenames than recorded for the account holder.   However, as you have the image of the cheque to see the name of the drawer, contact them and ask for a replacement made out to the payee named as acceptable to their and your bankers (HSBC).  Presumably you received a letter with the cheque and therefore have the drawer's details.
    Bounced is my work - maybe they said ‘rejected’ or something. Key point they made was that it’s no longer usable. 

    Given it showed as part of my balance I thought it was all fine. They’ve been really vague about what name is actually needed on cheques - all they could say was that to be sure it should have full legal first and middle names as well as my surname. 

    Centrica (owner of British Gas) was dealing with the refunds to customers and the cheque was from them. I’ll have to try and find someone there who can help - challenge is I never actually had an account with them so finding someone in their call centre who can help might be fun...
  • jonesMUFCforever
    jonesMUFCforever Posts: 28,898 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    You will/have a letter from HSBC - on the reverse of the letter should be a photocopy of the cheque. Use that to ask Centrica for a duplicate cheque -remember to ask for a cheque in your full name.

    (The problem with cheques made payable to Mr is that a machine thinks it might someone with the initials M R ?)
  • Archi_Bald
    Archi_Bald Posts: 9,681 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    ttrailor said:
    When paying in a cheque on Barclays mobile app, it clearly states the you should not destroy the original, but keep it and write "Paid in on --/--/----". I can't recall how long you should keep it for.
    No help to you, sorry.
    Yeah - wish HSBC had some kind of warning like that! 
    They do. Albeit you‘d have to click on the ? In the top right corner to see it.

    I can‘t see anything about them being able to take the money back once a cheque has cleared. If you are certain that this is what did happen, you could raise a formal complaint. It could take a long time for them to process a complaint, though, and you can‘t be sure of the outcome. Best plan of action seems to be to try and get a replacement cheque. Do you have another bank account you could pay the cheque into? I would probably not chance it again with HSBC. 

  • I was just talking to my better half about this this morning.

    The thing I find strange is HSBC can use the technological marvel of an app and scanning to deposit the cheque but to tell you there has been a problem they send you a letter in the post. At least if they sent you a notification in the app or by email, even if just to say there has been a problem and full details will follow in the post, you would know to hold on to the cheque.

    I generally keep them for two weeks after I've scanned them in to be on the safe side.
  • General_Grant
    General_Grant Posts: 5,274 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 15 June 2020 at 12:05PM
    I was just talking to my better half about this this morning.

    The thing I find strange is HSBC can use the technological marvel of an app and scanning to deposit the cheque but to tell you there has been a problem they send you a letter in the post. At least if they sent you a notification in the app or by email, even if just to say there has been a problem and full details will follow in the post, you would know to hold on to the cheque.

    I generally keep them for two weeks after I've scanned them in to be on the safe side.
    So that way it is cleared for certainty (as long as not part of a fraud).
  • HSBC should have accepted a cheque with your title and surname.
    e.g. Mr Jones, John Jones, Mr J Jones and similar variants should all have been accepted. 
  • However
    However Posts: 77 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 10 Posts Combo Breaker
    I'm afraid this is becoming typical of an industry which has lost its understanding and competence in dealing with the infinite vagaries of names and addresses. I potentially have the opposite problem - my current account of many years standing was/is of the format Mr A B Bloggs; my bank statements arrive in that format but my latest cheque book was changed to simply A B Bloggs. So when I'm told to use my full name because the new rules of names matching in setting up Payment Transfers require it (so nothing shortened, e.g. Alexander to Alex), do I use "MR" or "A" to provide an exact match or "Alexander" which won't match? I've been unable to extract an answer from my bank - it seems to be beyond their intellectual capacity to understand the question.

    Years ago, I had a similar problem when, as an Executor, I had to sell shares which the company had transferred to the Canadian Stock Exchange from London. Equinity couldn't hold the concept that houses might have names, because apparently, no one in Canada has a house name, so they took it upon themselves during the transfer to transfer the shares - into the name of the person plus his house name, as joint owners! They were unbendingly adamant 'nothing could be done' - not even our stockbrokers over here could make them see sense. So we accepted it, I signed as though I were the house, and 'have a nice day' - they issued a cheque in my name and the name of the house. I then had to present said cheque (which was non-trivial) to my bank branch. Fortunately the branch still existed, and after a full and frank face-to-face conversation where they saw I wasn't going to budge until the matter was resolved in my favour, even if that might involve a call to the newspaper or the BBC, Nationwide accepted that the house couldn't attend in person, and on that basis accepted the cheque and credited my account.

    When flexibility flies out the window because of the lack of understanding of real life by some backroom erk, is it any wonder customers are aggrieved? Not so helpful to the OP but perhaps some comfort  that it happens to others.


  • mgdavid
    mgdavid Posts: 6,710 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    However said:
    I'm afraid this is becoming typical of an industry which has lost its understanding and competence in dealing with the infinite vagaries of names and addresses. I potentially have the opposite problem - my current account of many years standing was/is of the format Mr A B Bloggs; my bank statements arrive in that format but my latest cheque book was changed to simply A B Bloggs. So when I'm told to use my full name because the new rules of names matching in setting up Payment Transfers require it (so nothing shortened, e.g. Alexander to Alex), do I use "MR" or "A" to provide an exact match or "Alexander" which won't match? I've been unable to extract an answer from my bank - it seems to be beyond their intellectual capacity to understand the question.
    .....

    Why would you think to include MR when it's not part of your name?
    MR is your title.

    The questions that get the best answers are the questions that give most detail....
  • However
    However Posts: 77 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 10 Posts Combo Breaker
    Why would you think to include MR when it's not part of your name?
    MR is your title.

    You assume too much. I didn't think to include MR. The whole account name is what the bank chose when the account was first opened many years ago; I was happy to go along with that. Perhaps commercial etiquette was more genteel back then, rather as when I say 'good morning' nowadays all I get in return from those of a certain generation is a coarse 'orl wight?'.
    And oddly enough, one's title is part of one's name, however humble that title might be.

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