When Cheques Go Bad

[nannynick]

Can anyone who works in UK retail banking explain how cheques work?

I paid a cheque in to my local branch, at that point it was either miss-keyed or the person who wrote the cheque did not write it correctly (I did not spot any error on it). Cheque value £129 went through as £29.

When I spotted this a week later, I alerted the bank and they looked up on their system to see what had happened and have identified the cheque in question. The cheque by this time had been sent to clearing.

Now I thought that when a cheque goes to clearing it would be verified there, is that not the case?

What happens to the cheque next, does it eventually get to the bank branch of the person who wrote the cheque and once there does it get looked at to confirm the amount on it matches with the amount initially entered at the bank branch at which it was presented?

Anyone know how this works and what happens when things don't go to plan. First time ever I have had a problem with paying in a cheque.
The branch I paid it in to is looking in to it but it has now been a couple of weeks an no news. Will it take a long time to get a copy of the actual cheque to see what was written on it?

I'm afraid that unless its over a certain amount (used to be £5k) it won't be looked at at all. You need to get in touch with the person who gave you the cheque for the extra £100, but I would also get in touch with your own bank and ask if your paying in slip was altered to show the new amount. If it was changed and the cheque was for £129 & not £29 I would be asking for an explanation from the bank! And, finally, if you paid it over a counter the member of staff should have checked that the cheque amount matched the amount on the paying in slip.

You can contact youre bank, advise there has been a procesing error 9they are machine read for processing, and request that the difference for the correct amount be credired andthat they contact the payers bank for the diff.

It's more common than you think. who do you bank with?

Thanks. Was paid in at TSB, no paying in slip. The branch is following it up and the person who wrote the cheque is fine about writing another, as it is showing on their account at £29, not £129.

If it has debited their account and credited your account the same (incorrect)amountunless either of you raise it with your bank it won't get noticed so you can either get another cheque from person for diff or contact your bankwho should give you the dofference and then contactthe other bak to debit the persons account to collect the money

doesn't matter re the paying in slip,they should have an image of the cheque to see the correct amount