Deposited cheques at post office gone missing

David1601957

I paid the cheques in a week ago. My bank thought that they should of gone into my account by now.
A lot of money can be involved in cheques deposited at the post office, bank apps have maximum cheque limits. Paying in cheques at the bank branch is safer as the cheques appear on the bank statement straight away; but bank branches are being closed, and it means that we have to travel further to pay in cheques. Cash paid into a bank account at the post office appears on the bank account straight away. Has Money Saving Expert made representations to the Post Office, Royal Mail and the Banks about this problem of lack of security for cheques deposited at the post office?

RacingDriver

I pay in cheques regularly at the Post Office.  I put them in my banks branded cheque deposit envelope and fill in the front of the envelope with total amount and account number / sort code.  The cashier then enters that information into their system and issues a receipt.  Cheques then get credited a few days later.

David1601957

RacingDriver

That is how it SHOULD happen. Unfortunately, things do not always go as smoothly as that. If you pay a cheque into your bank at a branch of that bank, then the cheque should go onto your statement immediately (you still have to wait for the cheque to clear), you can check this by using your card at a cash machine or counter inside the bank, as soon after you paid the cheque into your bank. Your bank may have different procedures from mine, so check with them. Also it is safer to pay cheques in at a branch of your bank, as paying in at the Post Office involves another organisation, meaning there are more places for things to go wrong. I think that the Post Office sends the cheques to the bank through the ordinary post, so they can get lost in the post; can anyone confirm that this is correct? In future I will not be paying cheques into my bank account at the post office.

Grumpy_chap

eskbanker said:

Grumpy_chap said:
My expectation here would be that the details are simply keyed in and the computer takes care of the rest.

Just as well those Post Office computers are so reliable....

Yes, I did realise the irony of that as I wrote it.

I remain amazed that cheques deposited at the Post Office still need to make the physical journey to the bank.

Rob5342

They make it very hard to complain but I did find this on their website:

https://www.postoffice.co.uk/contact-us/in-branch-customer-experience

Can you get the sender to do a bank transfer instead, it's ridiculous for people to be sending cheques in this day and age.

WillPS

David1601957 said:

I paid the cheques in a week ago. My bank thought that they should of gone into my account by now.
A lot of money can be involved in cheques deposited at the post office, bank apps have maximum cheque limits. Paying in cheques at the bank branch is safer as the cheques appear on the bank statement straight away; but bank branches are being closed, and it means that we have to travel further to pay in cheques. Cash paid into a bank account at the post office appears on the bank account straight away. Has Money Saving Expert made representations to the Post Office, Royal Mail and the Banks about this problem of lack of security for cheques deposited at the post office?

It's an item of mail, and mail goes missing. 

As when a cash machine misbehaves, your complaint should be with your own bank, for it is them you are a customer of in this instance, not Royal Mail nor Post Office Ltd. I suspect they will ask you to get a new cheque made out, and will offer to cover the cost.

You should also ensure you get something for any lost interest and also for the inconvenience.