Bank account does not accept cheques

kayak83

Hi,

I run a small business and I have a customer that has sent me a cheque (they usually pay by BACS, but they have no one to authorise BACS payment until the end of the month apparently).

My business bank account is with ANNA, but they do not accept cheque deposits.

I believe that there are various ways to cash a cheque, though I have never done this before. But is it possible to do this with a cheque made out to a business?

I'd rather avoid having to go into town to cash it at Barclays (the issuing bank) if I can.

Has anyone been in this situation before and got any suggestions?

Or maybe I just ask the customer to cancel the cheque and send a BACS payment next month.

Thanks

Brie

I'd say the best thing to do is balance the probably of still getting paid if you ask for the delayed BACS payment against how much time and money it's going to cost you to try to cash the cheque.  If this is a good, long term customer then waiting for the BACS may be the better option.  

Robin9

Perhaps time to open a 2nd Business account

35har1old

Robin9 said:

Perhaps time to open a 2nd Business account

Even if you open a second account you could be charged for depositing  a cheque 

simongregson

Open an account with starling bank (free business account)
You can pay in cheques by photographing them up to a certain value, this is free, or post larger value ones to them (also free). Probably worth your time in setting up so you have full banking facilities if you need them.

Just editing to add that looking at their website, Anna are not protected by the FSCS as far as I can see, they are an emoney institution, this is probably worth considering if you have a lot of money in your business account as the first £85000 would be protected in a proper bank in the event of the bank becoming insolvent. 

Mistral001

I have found that customers, understandably, get annoyed if you quibble over how you get paid.  Apart from that, if you failed to inform them that you did not accept cheques before they bought the item or service, as far as I know,  contractually you must accept a cheque as payment.  

Frankly I would get a bank account that accepts cheques as the problem is probably crop up again.  Also, I cannot see how you can cash this cheque without a bank account that accepts cheques.  Once you have got that bank account, then you can present the cheque to to your new bank.  It is either that, or send the cheque back and ask them to pay by BACS, which as has been said, will run the risk of not getting paid at all. Some people refuse to use BACS as it means putting their bank details on the interent and also there are some people who do not have bank accounts. 

martindow

There are cheque cashing services if you do a google search.  They take a cut of 10 or 12% which may be worth paying if this is a one off to avoid having to open another bank account for a single cheque.

If this is a repeat customer or you think others may want to use cheques it would be worth getting a second account to handle them.

rhysadams

Might be worth having a look at Starling Bank, they accept cheques for business accounts.

kayak83

Thanks, everyone for the comments. Yes, maybe time to switch accounts to one that accepts cheques. Especially since I did not realise that Anna was not protected by FSCS