Cheque not signed - what can I do?

Looneylee

Hello,

I paid in a load of cheques the other day and had one returned to me from the bank apologising, but one of the cheques hadn't been signed - whoops! I sell childrens' books at all sorts of different places, but have been able to link this cheque to a particular toddler group, although they don't hold details of their mums there, and are still trying to find out who this lady is. Not sure whether they're going to be able to find out who it is, so I called up First Direct whose cheque it is and asked them to help me get in contact with this lady. I totally understand that they are unable to give out their customer's details, but surely you'd think they'd be able to get in touch on my behalf. But no..... The cheque is for £30, which might not seem like much, but it is to me. This has really put me off taking cheques now :mad:

Does anyone have any ideas of anything else I can do?

Thanks for your help.
Looneylee

jonesMUFCforever

The bank is right about not disclosing information to you.

You say that this has put you off accepting cheques - well it was your mistake in not noticing and if everybody paid you in cash and you found yourself £30 short you would have absolutely no idea who paid or had not paid.

To go back to your query there is a way that First direct can help you.
First copy the cheque so that you have a record of it, secondly write a letter to the drawer asking them to sign and return the cheque to you, put this inside a stamped envelope with the name of the person only on the outside,
thirdly, write another letter to First direct asking them to forward the enclosed envelope to their customer - now you put the sort code and account number off the bottom of the cheque onto this letter.

Result - they will forward the letter on and they have not broken any Data protection laws.

Whether you will actually get the cheque signed and returned is another matter!

Red_Cat

I agree with ejones, not much else you can do if the toddler group cannot identify the signatory.

This shouldn't put you off cheques, but you need to enable a mechanism so that all cheques you accept are signed.

I have heard of people paying bills with unsigned cheques so that they will be returned in time for pay day to credit their account, so that by the time they do sign and send the cheque on again, they have cleared funds.

Looneylee

I know it was my mistake that I didn't check whether the cheque was signed, but it was one of those busy days when everyone is queuing to pay for books and I was trying to get through everyone as quickly as possible. I definitely won't be making that mistake again!

If I had received cash, I'd definitely need to check it as I'd need to see what change to give back, so that wouldn't have been a problem.

But what would happen if the cheque had bounced? I once had this happen, but it was a colleague's cheque, so I was able to let her know of the situation. If it was a customer that I didn't have details for, what would happen then?

Thanks for your responses.

PZH

Looneylee wrote: »

But what would happen if the cheque had bounced? I once had this happen, but it was a colleague's cheque, so I was able to let her know of the situation. If it was a customer that I didn't have details for, what would happen then?

A Cheque Gaurantee Card would prevent you from loosing the money if this happens ( to the limit stated on the card )

Ask for the card and write the details down on the back of the cheque.

http://everything2.org/index.pl?node_id=1546672

:j

Looneylee

Thanks Phoodless. I do take down these details on the back of the cheque - now understand that side of things - thanks. Obviously won't be so stupid as not to notice an unsigned cheque next time!

LittleVoice

Looneylee wrote: »

Thanks Phoodless. I do take down these details on the back of the cheque - now understand that side of things - thanks. Obviously won't be so stupid as not to notice an unsigned cheque next time!

A cheque guarantee card is supposed to work by your checking that the signature matches the one on the card - it's not just writing the details of the card on the back of the cheque.

dzug

Well if you sign the cheque yourself, using the name on it, there is a 99.9% chance it will go through. For that value of cheque, the bank just check there IS a signature, they don't check it is correct.

Not recommending you should do this, just pointing it out.......

MarkyMarkD

dzug is quite right. But given that this cheque has already been rejected for not having a signature it might be a bit less likely to succeed now.

Mikeyorks

Interested to know if the cheque was returned by the Bank you paid it in at ... or the Bank on which it was drawn.

Sounds like the former? In which case - it's really none of their business! The determination of whether a cheque is acceptable is solely a matter between the drawer and their Bank. The intermediate Bank isn't in a position to make a determination - and should let it go through once initially accepted.

Which doesn't help the OP. I'd just put a squiggle through the signature area (if you haven't traced the drawer) and pop it back in the Bank. But put the guarantee data (you must write it - don't let the drawer do it) on future cheques, to protect yourself.

Red_Cat wrote:

I have heard of people paying bills with unsigned cheques so that they will be returned in time for pay day to credit their account, so that by the time they do sign and send the cheque on again, they have cleared funds.

It's mainly fiction .. but there are a few who try it on. If they're paying utilities / credit cards or any other sizeable processor of cheques - they'll mainly be disappointed .. as the cheque will usually be presented. Then, if it bounces they are likely to face charges both from the Bank and from whoever they are paying. The reason it will be presented is that Banks rarely check cheques any more and the bulk processors are following suit, from several years ago. Also - they now use automated extraction systems to take cheques / payslips out of envelopes. And it's simply daft to then go through the documents and look for words / figures differing / wrong dates etc. So they now put the responsibility where it belongs ... on the drawer of the cheque, to get it right. And compensation claims are met with the phrase that the drawer caused the problem by 'contributory negligence'.

PasturesNew

It's a fact of life that whatever payment you take, there is a chance that something can go wrong and you won't get your money. This is something you need to just accept and expect.

Even with cash, it could be a forgery or you could be mugged on your way out to the car park.

There are procedures you should adhere to when accepting a cheque:
1) Check the date
2) Check the amount in words/figures matches
3) Check their signature against the signature on their guarantee card
4) Write their card number etc on the rear of the cheque

Perhaps you can ask everybody in future to write their address/telephone number on the back of cheques. I know I've been asked for this in the past.

If you are doing this in January watch out for the YEAR they write on their cheques. Many a mistake made in early January with this.

Good luck getting your cash.