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Accepting and paying in cheques
- Never accept a cheque or a banker’s draft as payment from an individual unless you know them and you trust them.
- Request an electronic online payment instead which is safe and secure. This is especially important if you are receiving a payment for a large amount, for example if you have sold your car.
- Cheques take six working days to clear (counting from the next working day from when you deposit your cheque). The bank will allow you to withdraw the funds on the fourth working day. However it is advisable to wait until the end of the sixth working day before withdrawing any funds or making any payments, to be certain that the cheque has cleared and you are protected from any loss arising from cheque fraud. If you are not sure when day six has passed you can use the ‘Cheque Checker’ website or contact Customer Service on 0845 850 5555 to confirm if the cheque has cleared.
- You should never accept a cheque if it has been issued for a larger amount than what you are owed. This could be a scam used by fraudsters who will try to obtain the excess amount of money from you. In these cases the fraudster will contact you to advise you that they made a mistake and wrote the cheque for a larger amount. They would then require you to send them the excess amount before the cheque they sent you has cleared. Once the cheque is processed and is found to be fraudulent you will be a victim of fraud. Never send out money against funds which have not cleared into your account.
- You should never deposit cheques in your account which are not addressed to you. If the name of the payee on the cheque is different to the named account holder(s), the cheque will not be processed and will be returned to the drawer.
- You should never accept to deposit cheques in your account for the benefit of a third party.