Stopping Payment on a Cheque

[bizaro86]

I wrote a cheque to a company who installed some granite in a kitchen. They called me yesterday, and said they lost it, and wanted a new one. Now, I can do a stop payment of the cheque, but I'm pretty sure that's not 100% effective.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/story/2009/06...e-cheques.html

On the other hand, it's a pretty small business that I'm dealing with here, so they probably need the money. But it's enough money that if both cheques got cashed, I'd be pretty unhappy. What would you do? Could I write something up saying if the other cheque turns out and someone cashes it they're liable for repaying me the money?

I don't want to be a jerk about it, but I'm not really interested in losing the thousands of dollars involved. The cheque was written off a LOC account if that matters.

[ken0042]

I would speak to your bank; and express your concerns about that news story.

They may have you wait a couple of weeks to issue the new cheque; which the business should understand if they are the ones who lost it.

[REDVAN]

You can put a stop payment on for free (usually) if you do online banking. (source: I used to work for a bank). SO I'd do that regardless.

[bc-chris]

one of my employees had his wallet stolen before he had a chance to go to the bank and deposit his pay cheque

i just called my bank and put a stop payment on it - end of issue

[DownhillGoat]

Talking to your bank is going to be the best bet.

A tidbit from the article:

For now, one way to protect yourself is to write "for deposit to the account of the named payee only" when filling out a cheque. That may prevent cheque-cashing outlets from cashing it.

It's obviously too late now, but for future reference or anybody else reading this thread, this is a great piece of advice. For any large sums I'll write 'for deposit only'.

Originally Posted by REDVAN

You can put a stop payment on for free (usually) if you do online banking. (source: I used to work for a bank). SO I'd do that regardless.

Depends on the bank. Mine charges me $10, but I think the issue is more of the stop payment not always working.

Another option is reducing your line of credit so both cheques can't be cashed. Not an ideal solution, but would work if you don't have anything else on your line of credit, and don't mind the NSF charge...

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Call your bank.

Make sure you have the cheque number, date and payee on the cheque.

As long as you have that specific info you should be good. If you write a new one and you are worried it'll get stopped too you could always write it for like $10 more just so that the amounts are different. And tell you bank you're writing a new one and that only chq# xxx with date xx/xx/xx needs to be stopped and not the new one.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by REDVAN

You can put a stop payment on for free (usually) if you do online banking. (source: I used to work for a bank). SO I'd do that regardless.

For sure. I'm not worried about that part. My bank's website says they charge a fee, which I'm going to take out of any new cheque I write.

I'm basically just concerned that 2 months later someone show's up at a moneymart with the cheque, and they cash it for them, then sue me for the amount when the bank doesn't honor it. I researched it a fair bit, and it sounds like this scam is fairly common.

I'm not worried about the bank honoring the cheque, moreso that someone like moneymart would sue me for the money, and win.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by kunkstyle

It's obviously too late now, but for future reference or anybody else reading this thread, this is a great piece of advice. For any large sums I'll write 'for deposit only'.

Definitely wish I had done this. I almost never write cheques, and when I do they're usually for things like pledges to someone's walk/run event or whatever. In this situation, it's around 2 weeks salary, so losing the money would matter to me.

[Huntingwhale]

I do my online banking with RBC. All they need from me is the amount the cheque was for, and the total amount. That's it. I've never had an issue in my life stopping a cheque with them. I think it cost $1.50 or something, but if it's a cheque for thousands it's well worth it.

I would also call the company back and speak to the manager about employees losing cheques. I know I certainly would not appreciate someone losing something of such value.

[81flames]

You could also get the company to sign an agreement (I believe it's called an indemnity agreement) saying that they did lose it and they won't try to cash it if it's found. Maybe double check this with one of the lawyers on here as I'm not 100% sure if it gives you protection. At least you would have it in writing that they messed up if something was to go wrong.

I worked for a bank and I have seen stop payments not work (happens more than you would think).

Good luck.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by Huntingwhale

I would also call the company back and speak to the manager about employees losing cheques.

If they haven't learned their lesson after this happening, I'm pretty sure a lecture from a customer isn't going to do anything.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Huntingwhale

I would also call the company back and speak to the manager about employees losing cheques. I know I certainly would not appreciate someone losing something of such value.

It's a pretty small company. The owner=manager=guy who did the install. He knows how I feel about it.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by Huntingwhale

I do my online banking with RBC. All they need from me is the amount the cheque was for, and the total amount. That's it. I've never had an issue in my life stopping a cheque with them. I think it cost $1.50 or something, but if it's a cheque for thousands it's well worth it.

I would also call the company back and speak to the manager about employees losing cheques. I know I certainly would not appreciate someone losing something of such value.

What if you've written 10 rent cheques for the same amount? How does the bank know which to stop if you've only given them the amount?