Barclays won't reissue a 3 year old cheque

Chococoa

Barclays sent me a cheque 3 years ago as I had overpaid on my credit card.  I put this aside and forgot about it due to Covid and have only recently come across it again.  Of course my bank will not honour a cheque dated over 6 months. I phoned Barclays and they have said that they will not reissue the cheque as my credit card account with them is now closed.  It is for me quite a bit of money.

What steps do I need to take please as I haven't got a clue?

Keep_pedalling

Technically cheques don’t expire after 6 months so try paying it in.

HillStreetBlues

As above try and pay in cheque. If no joy contact Barclays and say payment was refused so you need another payment method.
Having a cheque Barclays admit the debt, so you have 6 years  (5 in Scotland) from cheque date to claim money.

Chococoa

Thank you for the comments/advice.

I have phoned my 2 banks and they say that won't accept cheques dated more than 6 months ago - bank policy and won't amend for anyone.
Barclays are going to contact me in the next few days so I will update on here what they say.

dulededulede

Don't know if this will help but to me Barclays are breaking the law. Prior to 2015 there was a department called Payments Council, that got changed to another body called the Payment Systems Regulator. Neither the change of body or any change in legislation appears to have altered the fact that a cheque acts in much the same way as a bank note does. It is a promise to pay. The relevance of the cheque never being presented means that the money is still owed by Barclays to you. Nothing has happened to directly change that. 

The Payments Council had on their website at the time it was alive the following:

A cheque is valid for as long as the debt between the two parties (i.e. issuer and payee) exists. In other words, cheques do not have an expiration date.

Notwithstanding the above, it is common banking practice to reject a cheque presented for payment bearing a date more than six months earlier to protect the payer, on the basis that payment may already have been made by some other means or the cheque may have been lost or stolen. However this is at the discretion of individual banks.

However, where there is a dispute, a cheque remains legally valid in order to prove a debt for a period of six years, which is the Statute of Limitations.

CompareTheMarket currently has on its site the following:

How long are cheques valid for?

Technically speaking, cheques don’t have an expiry date. But, in practice, banks will usually reject a cheque if you try to pay it in or cash it more than six months from the date of issue – that’s the date written on the cheque. If you’ve forgotten about a cheque and it’s more than six months old, the best thing to do is ask the person who gave it to you to write another.

Barclays will have access to your closed credit card account and must do for legal purposes for several years, I believe seven, but will quite often keep for longer. These will all likely be digital records and therefore more easily searchable than if they were held at some out of the way depository. Barclays can easily validate your still existing debt and unfortunately it would appear you are being dealt with by someone unaccustomed to using the law but rather Barclays guidance. The law is the objective, not their guidance, and unless they have balanced up that cheque value by writing off some of your credit card debt or dealing with it in some other manner, that cheque remains valid as a point of reference to the debt. The nature of banking is that any bank may refuse to cash it but Barclays still owe you and should instead provide you with another cheque or some other manifestation of the money your are still owed. Write to the ombudsman if you get no further but firstly look to writing to Barclays again in full knowledge of what the law is and pointing out the illegality of their stance. 

born_again

Pay in to one of the self service terminals at your bank. Odds on will go straight through system with no issues.

retiredbanker1

How much is the value of each individual cheque?
Cheques over £1000 get checked manually by bank staff at the end of the day - if it goes through the cheque credit machine with the date as it is and it is under a grand there is a good chance that they will go through.

If not bear this in mind, you will not get the cheques back only a photocopy which may make it more difficult to chase Barclays for the money.

PaulW922

born_again said:

Pay in to one of the self service terminals at your bank. Odds on will go straight through system with no issues.

I agree - just pay it in anyway 

Chococoa

dulededulede said:

Don't know if this will help but to me Barclays are breaking the law. Prior to 2015 there was a department called Payments Council, that got changed to another body called the Payment Systems Regulator. Neither the change of body or any change in legislation appears to have altered the fact that a cheque acts in much the same way as a bank note does. It is a promise to pay. The relevance of the cheque never being presented means that the money is still owed by Barclays to you. Nothing has happened to directly change that. 

The Payments Council had on their website at the time it was alive the following:

A cheque is valid for as long as the debt between the two parties (i.e. issuer and payee) exists. In other words, cheques do not have an expiration date.

Notwithstanding the above, it is common banking practice to reject a cheque presented for payment bearing a date more than six months earlier to protect the payer, on the basis that payment may already have been made by some other means or the cheque may have been lost or stolen. However this is at the discretion of individual banks.

However, where there is a dispute, a cheque remains legally valid in order to prove a debt for a period of six years, which is the Statute of Limitations.

CompareTheMarket currently has on its site the following:

How long are cheques valid for?

Technically speaking, cheques don’t have an expiry date. But, in practice, banks will usually reject a cheque if you try to pay it in or cash it more than six months from the date of issue – that’s the date written on the cheque. If you’ve forgotten about a cheque and it’s more than six months old, the best thing to do is ask the person who gave it to you to write another.

Barclays will have access to your closed credit card account and must do for legal purposes for several years, I believe seven, but will quite often keep for longer. These will all likely be digital records and therefore more easily searchable than if they were held at some out of the way depository. Barclays can easily validate your still existing debt and unfortunately it would appear you are being dealt with by someone unaccustomed to using the law but rather Barclays guidance. The law is the objective, not their guidance, and unless they have balanced up that cheque value by writing off some of your credit card debt or dealing with it in some other manner, that cheque remains valid as a point of reference to the debt. The nature of banking is that any bank may refuse to cash it but Barclays still owe you and should instead provide you with another cheque or some other manifestation of the money your are still owed. Write to the ombudsman if you get no further but firstly look to writing to Barclays again in full knowledge of what the law is and pointing out the illegality of their stance. 

Thank you. so much for this detailed response.