# Time limit for cashing a check? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 21, 2001, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-limit-for-cashing-a-check/77411 "2001-08-21T20:16:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![lather\_rinse\_repeat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/977dab/32.png) [@lather\_rinse\_repeat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lather_rinse_repeat)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2001, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-limit-for-cashing-a-check/77411/1 "2001-08-21T20:16:35Z")
About two years ago, I wrote a check at a grocery store. For some reason, the check has never been cashed. I haven’t stopped payment on the check. If the check came through now, would the bank cash it, or is there a time limit on how long a check can be cashed? ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2001, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-limit-for-cashing-a-check/77411/2 "2001-08-21T20:21:49Z")
Some checks will have a time stamp “void after 60 days” my accountant tells me to reissue a check if it’s much later than that. But realisitically speaking, it’d probably go through your account without even being noticed. ---
**Author:** ![screech-owl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@screech-owl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/screech-owl)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2001, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-limit-for-cashing-a-check/77411/3 "2001-08-21T20:31:19Z")
Check with your bank. Some have a limit of how long the check is good for (most I’ve seen are about 6 months). [unsolicited advice] More importantly, check with the store as to why the check was never cashed. It’s possible the check was cashed against someone else’s account (happened to me with overdraft protection - someone wrote a bad check, and the money was taken from my checking account - our account number was a couple digits different). Or it is possible the check was lost or stolen (and especially with identity theft running rampant, you want to be very careful about this - check your credit reports for anything odd such as new credit cards and loan applications). If you do a stop payment, it is always possible that the check could slip by if someone is not paying attention. Best to do a little background checking (haha) than have a really nasty surprise, such as a warrant for your arrest on a bad check charge or fraud. Or is it possible that the check may have been cashed an you did not record it correctly? Always the possibility of a minor oversight on your part, too. [Not being snide, merely a possibility.] ---
**Author:** ![Random](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/57b2e6/32.png) [@Random](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Random)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2001, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-limit-for-cashing-a-check/77411/4 "2001-08-22T01:28:10Z")
6 months. (Although some places won’t cash a check after it is 3 months old because of a holder in due course defense.) Both limits are set forth in the UCC. Sorry about the lack of cites, but my copy of the UCC is at the office. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2001, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-limit-for-cashing-a-check/77411/5 "2001-08-22T01:32:28Z")
It’s suppose to be 6 months but I have wrote out checke w/ the wrong year (2000 instead of 2001). Also I have heard that if you sign your check ‘mickey mouse’ or such it will go through - in short nobody reads that stuff - just the amount. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2001, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-limit-for-cashing-a-check/77411/6 "2001-08-22T01:37:53Z")
Wouldn’t this be considered a stale-dated check by the bank? I thought they frowned upon those in a similar way that they frown upon post-dated checks. Once, when hurriedly writing out a check, I got the date wrong (missed the month by one- don’t ask me how). The clerk refused to accept it on the grounds that it wouldn’t be honored by the bank because it was stale-dated. ¦:¬þ ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2001, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-limit-for-cashing-a-check/77411/7 "2001-08-22T15:35:12Z")
It should be cashable as long as the acct remains open. I once asked a bank clerk (major bank, Bank of America) why they cashed a check right away that I post dated two weeks into the future & she said the date doesn’t matter that it’s between me & the person who cashed it. shrug.