You just brought back a bad memory. When a doctor leaves a job and changes malpractice insurance , usually the new insurance won’t cover occurrences at the prior job. To cover this, you purchase what is called a “tail” which is a one-time fee, usually 2-3 x your yearly premium, to cover you indefinitely (or until the statute of limitations runs out). I was leaving a job I had only been at for a year, so this was a large lump sum to me. To make matters worse, I had just gotten through testifying in a malpractice suit from a prior job working for Large Multistate HMO, in which they had initially named everybody whose name was on the chart, including me, then after I had been dropped, had called me for a plantiff witness (they lost). So I was a little bit skittish about the risk of not having insurance coverage and I knew I had 60 days to write this check.
I dutifully wrote out a check, dropped it into the mail and waited. After about a month, when it had not shown up on my statement, I started calling to make sure that it had cleared. The insurance company kept telling me that they didn’t have the money. Finally, I called my bank who causually informed me that they had refused to cash the check because the signature didn’t match. They didn’t call me, or inform me in any way, just refused to honor it. I asked them please to honor the check but they refused unless I came down and filled out a new signature card. By that time I had about 3 days before the deadline so I had to rush down there, sign a new card, write a new check, and overnight it to the insurance company then keep calling to make sure it cleared before the deadline.
On one hand, I’m glad they caught what could have been an expensive forgery but on the other hand I really really wish thye had thought to mention it to me.
Nope. I asked about it when I was setting up a checking account few years ago. The signature is only for my protection. When a check is cashed against my account, I have 30 days to contest it. And if the signature does not match the one bank has on file, they will refund the money immediately (5 working days).
I’ve gotten into the habit of covering my ass, regarding checks or on-line payments of all sorts.
With modern banking technologies, I can always call my bank at any time and listen to an automated report of all recent transactions – deposits, payments, checks, whatever. All the banks seem to have good automated systems that make this fairly quick and easy to do – most unlike most automated phone system we have to put up with so regularly! Or, one can always check these things on-line too.
It’s like being able to get an up-to-the-minute bank statement on request any time you want.
So I’ve gotten into the habit of checking rather regularly – maybe once every two weeks, or even more often if I am watching for some specific payment(s) to go through. Although I’ve only once had a (minor) problem with a payment, I definitely feel more secure being able to get prompt feedback as to payments like this. (And in that one problem case, it was quickly and easily resolved, in part because I was quickly on top of it like that.)
When I worked for a large bank system (several years ago), they did NOT routinely compare check signatures.
There were just too many checks being processed each day to afford to do that – it was cheaper to just accept all checks, and take the losses when customers noticed them and called, and the bank had to cover the fraudulent ones. Often the losses don’t hit the bank anyway, but the business that accepted the check. And the bank made money, by charging them a fee on the rejected check.
There were exceptions that did get checked:[ul][li]checks for a large amount. ‘Large’ varied with the account; a business account vs. a personal account vs. a personal account for a Rockefeller. etc. It was compared to the amounts of typical checks for that account.[/li][li]An account with a sudden change in the number of checks written. For example, an elderly customer who usually writes 5 checks a month suddenly has a flurry of checks in a day or two.[/li][li]Accounts flagged as having lost or stolen check blanks. (Nowadays, the bank will usually just tell you to close the account and open a new one – more fees for them, & less work.)[/li][li]checks presented at a bank where the appearance/actions of the presenter make the teller suspicious. (And they were trained in what to look for.)[/li][li]sometimes, a random selection of accounts were flagged to be checked, just for testing.[/li][/ul]
There was consideration for a computer system to electronically check the signature on every check, but it was not implemented, because it had problems[ul][li]back then, checks were not scanned (microfilmed, but not electronically scanned). So scanning them for this system would have been an expensive extra step.[/li][li]the software available for signature comparison was not very good. [/li][li]the signatures written by humans aren’t really very consistent. The overall pattern is similar, so other humans can identify it easily, but computers couldn’t.[/li][li]the main reason – it wouldn’t make much money for the bank – most check forgers avoid banks; they present their forged checks at businesses. So when the check is identified as a forgery, that business takes the loss, not the bank.[/li][/ul] Those technical limitations may have changed now, but I still don’t think such systems have been implemented – last summer, I had surgery on my writing hand, and could write only with difficulty, and my signature looked quite different from my normal one – but all my checks went through, without any question from the bank.
Interesting - my elderly father in law is at the point where it’s really hard for him to write out checks (and he forgets things…like paying bills on time). So I come over once every couple of weeks to write out his checks and make sure they get mailed. Another local cousin does the same when he has time (my husband is homebound due to illness and can’t help). So far, I haven’t noticed any of the checks being refused for having different handwriting (mine or cousin’s) on the check and FIL signature in the signature line. (And yes, I’m going to get him to give me power of attorney so I can just take care of it all for him).
<sigh!> You know how women’s jeans have much shallower pockets than men’s jeans? (they do. argh.) Well, I was riding my bike with the wrong pair of jeans on, and my ID fell out of my pocket. … I hate purses. They’re a big pain.
So, until I grit my teeth and go down to the DMV to replace it, I have no ID. The check cashing center knows me because it’s right near where I work, and I go there a lot. And when I say a “large check,” I probably mean something different than you would.
That may be for personal accounts, but businesses generally have a stamp that says “for deposit only” with the account number and no accompanying signature.