Certified Checks

[chrisphilipps]

We just installed a printer yesterday and received a certified check from the customer as form of payment. We have done this several times in the past it normally works great, this time not so much. The check is actually a customer’s check that the bank just rubber stamped in red ink so it says certified. Someone at the local branch also signed it saying that it was a certified check. The bank then proceeded to punch out the account # on the bottom of the check. I just went to Chase to deposit the check and the local branch manager said that they can't deposit it because there is no account number on the check anymore.

We called the customer and he told us that the bank gave him the check like that. He then gave us his bank’s number so we could call them. I called his bank and they confirmed that it is their procedure to punch the account # off the check when they certify it. She said that my bank should be able to deposit it still and someone within Chase should be able to see that it was a certified check and process it. I asked her how this is possible without an account number and she never really answered me. She said that we could go to one of her bank’s local branches to cash it. Unfortunately the closest branch for this bank to us is about 7 hours round trip.

My question to you is have any of you ever heard of this before and if so how was it resolved?

 

[player]

It would seem that there is no account because the bank is now saying the check is a bank cheque and the money is guarantied to be there, regardless of the original cheque's account. Your bank needs to call the other bank...

 

[chrisphilipps]

I just got a phone call back from my bank's Branch Manager. She called Chase corporate and they said that they have never seen a certified check like this. She said that I could put the check into Chase's collection department and that it would take 4 to 6 weeks and that there would be a charge for this service. She also said that there is no guarantee that they would be able to get payment on the check. I guess I will call the customer and ask for a new check with an actual account number on it.

 

[GaSouthpaw]

Sounds a lot like a scam. Even checks on a new account have account numbers on them.
Hope you don't get burned.

 

[Gino]

Wow............ hope it all works out for you.

If I might ask, since we've had numerous people over the years try some sort of finagling..... do you think the cusomter is in cahoots or do you think the bank is pulling a fast one.... or do you just plain think something odd has happened ?? Personally, I've never heard of such a transaction. I know we don't deal in the numbers you do generally, so we would've demanded a new check immediately, but I can't believe you can't get a definitive answer other than it's gonna cost you and you'll have to wait and see how t all pans out. That's like at church when they take the offering. They throw it up in the air and whatever God catches is his..... the rest belongs to the church.

Again.... good luck.

 

[signed off]

Being an ex banker and from Canada ( so ours may be different) we don't do CC that way anymore. We used to remove the funds from the clients account and it was held in trust until the chq with the punched out hole came in for clearing ( this was done "In branch") we knew to watch for it and we would debit the trust account and all was good. As the years went on and we started using a central clearing house we could no longer issue chq's that way and had to issue money orders. I do not know how your banking system works in the states but I would ask your client for a Money Order couriered to you ASAP and when you receive it you will return the unused chq to them.

 

[chrisphilipps]

I have googled his bank and it does show up in the search engine. I called the customer support number on their website, different number for what the customer gave me, and got the same person we talked to earlier. She said that the only thing we can do is to send the check back to the customer and he has to then go to his local branch and request a cashiers check instead of a certified check. His bank will then destroy the certified check. We are doing a little more research on our end before I send the check back but I don't think this is something that the customer has done. I also confirmed that the bank does exist in the FDIC listing so it is an actual bank.

 

[chrisphilipps]

I know we don't deal in the numbers you do generally, so we would've demanded a new check immediately.

If I was on the install I would have but one of my two technicians installed the printer and I don't think he looked at the check. I noticed it right away when he handed it to me this morning.

 

[chrisphilipps]

Being an ex banker and from Canada ( so ours may be different) we don't do CC that way anymore. We used to remove the funds from the clients account and it was held in trust until the chq with the punched out hole came in for clearing ( this was done "In branch") we knew to watch for it and we would debit the trust account and all was good. As the years went on and we started using a central clearing house we could no longer issue chq's that way and had to issue money orders. I do not know how your banking system works in the states but I would ask your client for a Money Order couriered to you ASAP and when you receive it you will return the unused chq to them.

This sounds like what could have happened. The customer's bank is a very small bank in the Ohio/Western Pa area.

 

[GaSouthpaw]

I'm glad to see it was an honest error instead of a (more) major hassle for you.