What Happened Here?

PoGee

A family member wrote out a cheque for me as part of an inheritance. The cheque was for just under £20k. I put it into my current account yesterday. By the time I got home, it was around 3 hours later, at which point I checked my online account and saw it sitting in my account but hadn't cleared (I expected it to not have cleared). I checked it this lunchtime and it was not there, with a note saying 'cheque returned'. When I called, they said - bounced is the old name but in effect, yes it bounced. I asked - insufficient funds? to which he replied - yes, probably.
The relative showed that there were in fact funds available. The cheque is written correctly - name/date/amount in numerals and writing/signed etc. Can anyone shed light as to what happened? Did the bank think I was depositing a fraudulent cheque?

grumbler

Yet another episode of AML show played by 'them'?

PoGee

That's my suspicion. I've a health-care related job and a rental, both of which allow me to save. I'm moving banks as this has caused a lot of friction within the family; when I raised the matter they thought I was accusing them of a misdeed.

mab3000

Your family members bank will most likely contact them to inform them why the cheque was not paid. It wouldn’t matter which bank you are with and paid the cheque into, the cheque will have still been unpaid. It could well be that your family members bank stopped the cheque because they had fraud concerns. It could be something completely different like the signature not matching what the bank have on record. Maybe the cheque book was reported lost in the past but was later found forgetting it had been cancelled. Could be for any number of reasons. 

Your family member really needs to contact their bank to find out why the cheque was not paid out, if they haven’t heard from the bank in the mean time. 

PoGee

mab3000 said:

Your family members bank will most likely contact them to inform them why the cheque was not paid. It wouldn’t matter which bank you are with and paid the cheque into, the cheque will have still been unpaid. It could well be that your family members bank stopped the cheque because they had fraud concerns. It could be something completely different like the signature not matching what the bank have on record. Maybe the cheque book was reported lost in the past but was later found forgetting it had been cancelled. Could be for any number of reasons. 

Your family member really needs to contact their bank to find out why the cheque was not paid out, if they haven’t heard from the bank in the mean time. 

So it wasn't my bank just saying 'this cheque looks fraudulent so we'll send it back'? I'm asking as I'm getting things ready (paperwork) to go and have it out with them tomorrow morning, in the branch where I deposited the cheque. That's what the family member is saying what their bank told them.

p00hsticks

When I had something similar happen it was because - as mab3000 has suggested as a possibility - the issuing bank thought that the (quite shaky) signature didn't bear sufficient resemblance to the version they had on record (the account owners health had deteriorated in the meantime)

Rob5342

Did they definitely have funds available when the cheque was presented? If they are still using cheques then they don't sound very financially savvy, so could it be that the funds weren't actually cleared and/or that they didn't understand that cheques get processed more quickly these days?

Ballard

Your bank won’t decide that the cheque might be fraudulent. The issuing bank will provide the reason and the cheque should be returned to you within a few days with an explanation. 

Sea_Shell

PoGee said:

A family member wrote out a cheque for me as part of an inheritance. The cheque was for just under £20k. I put it into my current account yesterday. By the time I got home, it was around 3 hours later, at which point I checked my online account and saw it sitting in my account but hadn't cleared (I expected it to not have cleared). I checked it this lunchtime and it was not there, with a note saying 'cheque returned'. When I called, they said - bounced is the old name but in effect, yes it bounced. I asked - insufficient funds? to which he replied - yes, probably.
The relative showed that there were in fact funds available. The cheque is written correctly - name/date/amount in numerals and writing/signed etc. Can anyone shed light as to what happened? Did the bank think I was depositing a fraudulent cheque?

What do you mean by "inheritance"?

Is the account holder now deceased?
Or is the money an early "inheritance"?
Is it an executor or administrator trying to pay you, from which (whose) account?
Are you trying to bank a cheque given to you by the deceased before they passed?

PoGee

Sea_Shell - it was an executor paying me from an account the relative held jointly with the deceased (supposedly).

Zanderman

Rob5342 said:

Did they definitely have funds available when the cheque was presented? If they are still using cheques then they don't sound very financially savvy, so could it be that the funds weren't actually cleared and/or that they didn't understand that cheques get processed more quickly these days?

Writing a cheque does not imply someone isn't 'financially savvy'!

Cheques are in regular use by many.  Despite what you might think from your own habits and the rise in online banking.

Cheques are also still a very common way to dole out inheritance.  Which this one was.