I’ve been pretty stupid. I was issued a cashier’s check for a lot of money (to me) about 14 months ago. Recently a family member reminded me that while some cashier’s checks do not have “Void By” dates, others do, so I’d better check mine.
I just looked at it a few minutes ago and sure enough, right there on the check it says “VOID AFTER 180 DAYS” which would have been around December of 2016.
Surely all this money can’t be gone. Surely it doesn’t now suddenly belong to the bank that issued the check?!?! I know I can call the bank and ask but it’s too late for that today and I’m so worried I can barely function.
What can I do? What will happen to all that money I so desperately need?
Contact the bank, and explain the situation. If it’s a bank you do business with on a regular basis, they should have a reasonable solution. Maybe a money order might be used in the future if it has no expiration date.
Go to or call the bank that issued the check. With any luck, they’ll cash it.
Cashiers or “official” checks are as good as cash, and don’t really expire, but there is an “escheat” process where after some time period, (generally a couple of years) the issuing bank sends the funds to the state’s department of unclaimed property.
Just because he didn’t need it then doesn’t mean he doesn’t need it now. Plus, he could have been making decisions based on the assumption that he could cash the check, and have committed money he currently doesn’t have.
I would hope that, if the check wasn’t cashed, the money would go back into the person who authorized it. So hopefully sister has the money and can reissue it.
That said, I’m more used to regular checks and money orders. So I don’t know. Just mostly an educated guess. Surely the bank doesn’t just pocket the money.
Since less than a year has passed, you really don’t need to be stressed about this over the weekend, assuming that the bank is still solvent! Don’t worry, the money is absolutely not “gone”. State rules vary, and procedures vary between banks, but in no case will the money disappear to the state as “unclaimed property” in such a short timeframe.
Obviously, talk to your bank on Monday. If you have the check in your possession, and your sister is on hand if she’s needed, you will be able to sort this out and get your money, probably without too much hassle.
I’m sure you’ve learned your lesson, but in future - don’t treat any check like a bond that you should cash in only when you need it! A check is a means of transferring money, not saving it.
It can’t be that much money to you, if you sat on an uncashed check for 14 months. If I wrote you a check and you didn’t cash it after 14 months, I’d refuse to reissue it. Part of being an adult is being responsible and taking care of important matters, and not causing additional work and grief for others. This is the very reason why they have void after 180 days on them, to prevent slackers from screwing up the books. Like if they wanted to close out the account, they couldn’t because you didn’t cash the check. Live and learn.
Technically a reasonable observation, but one that doesn’t seem to apply in this case, based on what the OP says. Apparently the only reason the OP is now anxious to cash the check is because ‘a family member reminded me that while some cashier’s checks do not have “Void By” dates, others do, so I’d better check mine.’
Had this family member not spoken up, or had the “void by” date been well in the future, it appears the OP wouldn’t be doing anything to cash the check.
Meanwhile the government protects users by not encouraging the situation that banks profiteer somehow on the value of cashier checks not being collected. (what you spell as check it seems ). Such as requiring strict ID and then saying that neither the bearer nor the issuer has valid ID to claim it… And that Moral is in LAW … while your moral is not law.
This is not an issue with a cashier’s check. A cashier’s check is not drawn on a customer’s account, but rather drawn by the bank on its own account. The person purchasing the cashier’s check need not even have an account (although many banks will only sell them to account holders). Or, for example, when you close your account, the bank may give you a cashier’s check for the balance in the account.
Putting an expiration date on the check limits the bank’s liability in case the purchaser claims the check was lost or stolen. A bank that stops payment on a valid cashier’s check takes the risk of being sued for the amount of the check and consequential damages if the legitimate payee tries to use it and it is dishonored.
Yes, well… sometimes there are circumstances beyond which are easily covered in a SDMB post. As it happens, I sat on the check too long. Faux pas, faux pas. My bad, ya know?
But now I’m in a fix. I know I need to call the bank and I’ll do so Monday. I guess I was looking for some reassurance that everything’s not going to go to hell just because I fucked up.
ETA: there are bookkeeping reasons why I put off cashing it. And yet I waited too long. Its dumb, but it happened.
LOL, typical Teeming Millions responses: Good advice mixed with unsparing criticism.
Smart people do dumb things at times. I’m very good at taking tests successfully, and I certainly have done my share of dumb. My wife, who is much more sensible than I (tho not quite as good a test taker) even has done dumb things. On occasion.
No, but you can avoid having the funds seized or frozen.
I have some cashier’s checks and money orders from two banks, and none of them have expiration dates; I just checked. So not all bank instruments expire.
It’s not just explicit time limits printed on the check that determine validity, it’s also the rules among interbank payments associations and potentially laws in various jurisdictions; in most cases AFAIK, an ordinary business or personal check is considered stale-dated after six months. This doesn’t mean the check is no good, but the bank would not be obliged to accept it, and may subject it to extra scrutiny if they do. I wouldn’t keep any check around for an extended period of time.
). Such as requiring strict ID and then saying that neither the bearer nor the issuer has valid ID to claim it… And that Moral is in LAW … while your moral is not law.