How long are cheques valid for

[B19GRR]

I sense a "d'oh" moment coming on but is there a time limit for cashing a cheque?

Cheers,
Rob

[Devilstreak]

6 months

[Eric Mc]

I don't think that there is any formal legal expiry date on cheques - but individual banks may have a "policy" on how long a cheque can be left before encashing.

[becksW]

I thought 6 months as well

[andycambo]

It is 6 months, but sometimes they get through the system.

[fadeaway]

They never expire, but all banks, as far as I'm aware, apply a 6 month limit.

[5potTurbo]

Devilstreak said:

6 months

...is the norm for cheques drawn on a UK Bank.

$ cheques from the U.S have no expiry date.

[Dogwatch]

fadeaway said:

They never expire, but all banks, as far as I'm aware, apply a 6 month limit.

Indeed, but I suspect that once past the cashier it's unlikely that anyone else checks the date, do they?

[mgtony]

A bit O/T but what happens if you pay by building society cheque which is never cashed/banked? Will the money reappear in the account once the cheque time limit has expired? (I didn't think so!)

[Reload]

Depends. If it's a business cheque (i.e. estate agents, solicitors etc.)then they're usually good for up to 12 months. Personal cheques tend to expire after 6 months, as above.

[Reload]

mgtony said:

A bit O/T but what happens if you pay by building society cheque which is never cashed/banked? Will the money reappear in the account once the cheque time limit has expired? (I didn't think so!)

If it's never cashed then the money shouldn't have left the account.

[mel]

Dogwatch said:

fadeaway said:

They never expire, but all banks, as far as I'm aware, apply a 6 month limit.

Indeed, but I suspect that once past the cashier it's unlikely that anyone else checks the date, do they?

Depends how much the cheque is for as to if the signature gets manually checked further down the system, it varies from bank to bank but I know as a fact that the one I use doesn't even look at cheques once past the cashier if they are less than five grand. (actually I don't know as a fact at all as when I did it was five years ago and the system may have changed)

[mgtony]

Reload said:

mgtony said:

A bit O/T but what happens if you pay by building society cheque which is never cashed/banked? Will the money reappear in the account once the cheque time limit has expired? (I didn't think so!)

If it's never cashed then the money shouldn't have left the account.

Even if your building society book has been printed with the withdrawal?

[B19GRR]

D'oh then most likely. It's a Citi/HSBC cheque dating from February 2009, would be paid in to Natwest.

Cheers,
Rob

[4lf4-155]

pay it in the worst that can happen is it gets returned to you.

I work for a bank (business manager) and in 8 years i have never had a customer pay in a cheque which is then returned due to being 'expired' or over xx months old.

I think it will be ok.

[Shaolin]

5potTurbo said:

$ cheques from the U.S have no expiry date.

All the ones I've ever had have said they expire in 90 days (usually) or 120 days (rarely) from issue. A right pain when I've saved them up to cut down on bank charges and it takes the bank so long to send them off to the US bank to release funds that it's expired and I have to go and ask for it to be issued again.

I now have a $US account in the UK however.

[MasterBlaster]

Dogwatch said:

fadeaway said:

They never expire, but all banks, as far as I'm aware, apply a 6 month limit.

Indeed, but I suspect that once past the cashier it's unlikely that anyone else checks the date, do they?

I paid in a 7 month old cheque, it showed up on my bank statement and was then subsequently withdrawn after the other bank refused to clear it.
So yes, there is a limit.

[Killer2005]

B19GRR said:

D'oh then most likely. It's a Citi/HSBC cheque dating from February 2009, would be paid in to Natwest.

Cheers,
Rob

If its a cheque from Citi/HSBC and not from your personal bank account then you may be able to send it back and see if its possible to re-issue you a new cheque.

[fadeaway]

MasterBlaster said:

Dogwatch said:

fadeaway said:

They never expire, but all banks, as far as I'm aware, apply a 6 month limit.

Indeed, but I suspect that once past the cashier it's unlikely that anyone else checks the date, do they?

I paid in a 7 month old cheque, it showed up on my bank statement and was then subsequently withdrawn after the other bank refused to clear it.
So yes, there is a limit.

Isn't it more likely that the account it was being drawn against didn't have sufficient funds or had been closed?

[Eric Mc]

MasterBlaster said:

Dogwatch said:

fadeaway said:

They never expire, but all banks, as far as I'm aware, apply a 6 month limit.

Indeed, but I suspect that once past the cashier it's unlikely that anyone else checks the date, do they?

I paid in a 7 month old cheque, it showed up on my bank statement and was then subsequently withdrawn after the other bank refused to clear it.
So yes, there is a limit.

The LEGAL limit is actually six years (the general statute of limitations under civil law). It is up to each bank to apply shorter limits based on their own internal policies - if they wish. These self imposed limits can be challenged.

Here's a reply to a question posed on a personal finance forum -


How long are cheques valid for?

Banks will usually reject cheques that are more than six months old but, in fact, it's at their discretion. They can choose to cash it if they want to so don't assume that if you wrote a cheque to someone over six months ago that you're off the hook from paying it! Cheques actually remain legally valid for six years - yes, I did say six years - and the only way to cancel a cheque is to ask for a 'stop' to be placed on it. However, cheques backed by a cheque guarantee card cannot be stopped.

Edited by Eric Mc on Monday 4th October 18:58