How long can someone legally hold a personal check w/out cashing it??

Question

I wrote two checks one dated 5/20 and the other 5/28...they were held and not cashed till last week. The money was in there when I wrote them. But, when they sent them thru there wasn't quite enough to cover both of them. Now, I have NSF fee's along w/ who I wrote the checks out to. Then I get a letter in the mail today from the prosecutors office about it. What can I do? I am going to pay them. But, is there something that I can to about them holding them????

Answer 1

Ouch. Most banks will let an account holder cash or deposit a check that is within 90 days.

All you have to do is balance your checkbook based on the checks you write not on "today's balance."

My babysitter just cashed four checks I wrote her back in April!!!

Answer 2

A check is considered "stale dated" six months after it was written. You can order your bank to return the checks as "stale dated" to the person that deposited the check or the person that last endorsed the checks. Your bank should be considerate of your situation and refund the NSF fees, most community banks will, Bank of America types probably won't.

If you want to prevent this in the future, you should consider placing a "stop payment" order on the check. The negative to a "stop payment" order is that there is a fee by the bank of $25.00 or more per stop payment.

As to your leading question of how long a person can legally hold a personal check without cashing it, the answer is indefinately. This is why you should keep your checkboo register up to date and consider placing stop payments on checks that have not cleared your account within six months of the issue date.

Answer 3

Ahem, 6 months for stale-dated checks.

There are some banks that can accept and process checks staler than that, but the presenter of the check is responsible if the check bounces.

The problem is . . . you obviously are not keeping a running total of checks you are writing in a check register.

Let me help you out--UNLESS YOU have significant amounts of money remaining in your checking account at all times -- like say $500 - $1,000 at all times. . . it would be wise to keep a record of every check you write and deduct it from your balance in your own personal checkbook.

You aren't rolling like that . . . which is why you have NSF fees.

Chuck this up to experience, and never write a check that your account can't cash.

And when people are sitting on checks, CALL THEM!!! and make them cash it!

Answer 4

Legally, I believe you can hold checks for up to 90 days. I'm not 100% sure though.

I don't think there's anything you can do, but I think there might be sympathy for you if you tell your side of the story.

Answer 5

90 days a check is good for they can cash it on any day durring the 90 days Checks from an employer are good for 180 days they also can be cashed at any time.

Answer 6

a cheque is not stale dated until it is 6 months old
otherwise they can hold the cheque
you would be able to tell if the cheque wasn't cashed by your statement or balance so you have to leave the money there for it

Answer 7

Six months. Go to bank and show them the date on the check.

Answer 8

no not really-you spent that money twice-someone can hold that forever and you have to count that money as not there-sorry its a bummer but cant go by bank statement have to keep a running total yourself-old hippie here

Answer 9

90 days is enough I think

Answer 10

i believe it's 90 days.