Comments on: Do Checks Ever Really Expire?

By: mrsmicah

mrsmicah — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 03:10:22 +0000

@Salad Fixings, I don’t know. If they’re from the government, then you could probably just hold onto them. Otherwise, it’s probably better to deposit than to have them expire. Better, but not necessarily good.

By: Salad Fixings

Salad Fixings — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 18:48:07 +0000

“Nice to know in Canada gov. cheques aren’t stale” Exactly. What happens when cheques are coming to an unstable person and you are left holding onto a wad of them and having to clean up their estate. What happens?

By: MrsMicah's Mom

MrsMicah's Mom — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 08:15:45 +0000

On the other hand, some of us have a hard time getting to our banks to deposit checks, though I’ve never had one go stale.

By: mrsmicah

mrsmicah — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 00:47:06 +0000

@theweakonomist, so far I’ve never had trouble with businesses cashing the check, I guess they want money. But it would be nice if we could be sure they expired at some point.

@Suburban, so far I haven’t had a stale check problem either, I try to deposit them within a week (ATM is accessible but means a side tripe). Ditto on the waiting.

@Stephanie, good reminder!

@Penelope, we had one of those signs at the library. Of course it makes sense for them to penalize you, but between bank penalties and store penalties…that’s a LOT of $$.

@vinelady wow, I guess they thought you wouldn’t notice? Glad to know you can appeal stale deposits!

@Alice, I think they do in the States but I’m not sure. I used to get my tax returns as checks when I was 14 and 15 and they did have a note about expiration. Don’t recall, but I think it may have been a bit longer.

@MrsMoney, you’re the kind of bank I’d like to be with. It’s the wondering that would get me. Knowing you have a policy means no wondering.

By: Mrs Money

Mrs Money — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 23:59:31 +0000

Great post! I manage a bank and every so often this comes up. We don’t cash them if they are over 6 months old but I have seen where they’ve been deposited at another bank and clear our customers’ accounts. I have a pet peeve of people holding on to checks too long!!

By: Alice

Alice — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 21:25:13 +0000

Don’t know if this is true in other countries, but it’s good to know that here in Canada government cheques never go stale. I used to save up my “baby bonus” (universal child benefit) cheques until I had enough to buy big stuff like snowsuits.

I had a bank teller refuse to honour an older government cheque once, and when I called the government office about it, the person I spoke to was livid.

By: vinelady

vinelady — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 17:07:47 +0000

I had a former landlord deposit a check 5 years after I moved out (It was a rental deposit). While it initially cleared…I was able to have the bank return the check as Stale Dated.

By: Penelope @ Pecuniarities

Penelope @ Pecuniarities — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 16:18:52 +0000

I hate checks. OK, actually I love writing checks – I have a sort of form filling mania and love filling out all the blanks as neatly as possible.

But I hate everything about paying for things in check because it feels insecure – the worry that someone will find a way to change the amount, the check gets lost or stolen in the mail, and the overdraft issue if someone holds on to it for ages.

These days, I only use checks to pay taxes because the credit card fees for taxes are absurd.

And the signs you see at the grocery store and library saying you’ll be charged a $35 penalty if your check bounces just makes me never want to pay for anything by check.

By: Stephanie PTY

Stephanie PTY — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 16:13:24 +0000

Mmm… about those business checks… I had a leftover affiliate check for $1.70 from July 2008 that I found, so I threw it in with a pile of checks to deposit last month. The deposit was reversed the next day. I’m not going to cry over that $1.70, but it’s a lesson for larger checks!

By: SuburbanDollar

SuburbanDollar — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 16:12:56 +0000

I don’t ever have a problem with my checks going stale, I deposit them when I get them but I sure wish the checks I write would go stale.

Nothing like writing a $20 check that takes 4 months for the receiver to deposit it… blah.