Legal to Postdate a Check

If you do this and notify the bank of a pre-dated cheque and the bank pays it on the cheque before the date, the bank may be liable to you for losses. This includes all bank charges and damage caused by an improper overdrawn account. While it is generally not a good idea to write backdated checks, the diligent backdated check author will inform their bank of their backdated check as soon as possible. As always, it is best to put it in writing. Don`t be surprised if the bank charges a fee to be very careful. While most bank employees know that a cheque should not be cashed until the date on a cheque they are processing, they may not even look at the date. It`s probably best not to postdate an exam if you`re not sure how many funds are available. If you follow this practice, you will not be charged any fees if the bank pays money and you have an overdraft in your account. Luckily for them, Foster is waiting to cash backdated checks, but he is not required by law. And in most cases, they`re not banks either. Yes. Banks and credit unions usually don`t have to wait for the date you cash a cheque. “From a criminal law perspective, dating a check is not inherently illegal,” says Eric Hintz, a criminal defense attorney in Sacramento, California.

Talk to the recipient. Talk to the person who receives your cheque – your landlord, a dealer, a friend or family member. Find out if they accept payment later. The Uniform Commercial Code, a set of trade laws adopted or amended by many states, gives financial institutions the right to process a properly written check with a later date. However, you can ask your bank to delay cashing a particular check, and depending on your condition and the bank, they may comply. When you make a written request to your bank, you must provide your account number, cheque number, amount owing and recipient`s name. They may contact you about this transaction. Can the bank pay a cheque after I stop paying on it? If you have already written a cheque and had someone pay for it, but you have provided a future date, you have backdated a cheque. The most common reason you backdate a check is if you`re not sure how much money you currently have in your account. By backdating the recipient and informing them that they shouldn`t cash the check until later, you`ll have time to verify your account and be 100% sure you have enough money to cover the amount owed.

While you may have written a backdated cheque in the past or know someone who made it and gave you a cheque, is it legal? You write a cheque to your landlord, but you don`t have enough money in your account. So you date the check a few days in advance – also known as post-dating – in the hope that your paycheck will be erased by then. Hintz says only criminal intent, such as deliberately not having enough money to make a payment, can be reasons for check fraud. He receives cheques from some tenants dated the first of the month following the 28th or 29th of the month. He suspects his tenants are doing this to prevent him from cashing their rent checks before they have been paid so that their rent checks do not bounce. If you`re worried about overdrafts — and prefer not to face a flipped check and the wrath of your landlord — consider switching to a bank with a solid overdraft policy. All of these fees charge below-average overdraft fees and offer free ways to avoid these fees while paying your bills. I went to the bank where the cheque was drawn to cash it. The bank refused to cash the cheque because I don`t have an account with them. Is it legal? Yes. Banks can pay cheques even if payment is made before the cheque date.

A cheque is payable upon request, unless you file a formal post-date notice with your bank, possibly for a fee. Contact your bank to find out how to provide such a notification. It is not illegal to backdate a cheque if you want to make sure you have enough money in your account to cover the amount owing. However, if you backdate a cheque and do not intend to pay a person or entity the amount owing, you are committing a crime. In all 50 states, it is illegal to defraud a company or individual by paying for services or goods when you know there is not enough money available in your account. If you try to backdate a cheque with no balance on your account, you will be held responsible for the amount owing and could potentially be fined and sent to jail. The amount you try to cheat and the severity of your crime will determine the punishment you receive. Banks and credit unions typically include rules for backdated checks in their account disclosures. For example, some of the largest banks explicitly state that they can cash cheques that will be issued for future dates.

Only cheques that are “duly payable” must be cashed by banks. But almost anything with the correct signature is correctly payable, including backdated and overdrawn checks. Backdated checks are a risky form of do-it-yourself credit. However, backdating a check can cause inconvenience and bad feelings for the beneficiary, such as when a tenant sends a rent check and may or may not have the money ready to withdraw. There is an exception to the general rule that banks can cash backdated cheques. This is when you notify your bank in advance of your backdated cheque so they know they need to be careful. The law states that you must describe the cheque “with reasonable security” and give the bank sufficient time to have “a reasonable opportunity to act.” “In short,” says Mathew Dahlberg, financial advisor at Main Street Investments in Kansas City, Missouri, “if you don`t have the money in your checking account, don`t write the check!” It`s risky to rely on post-dated or processing delays to ensure your cheque is cleared. Financial institutions now send digital images of cheques to other financial institutions so they can be cashed faster. Bad news: the test date doesn`t delay anything; Your landlord can still cash the cheque once they receive it.

Here`s what you need to know about postdating and what you can do instead. I wrote a backdated cheque to cover a promissory note. The person did not wait to cash it properly, and my bank paid for it, which caused several other cheques to bounce. Am I responsible for cheque fees that were rejected because the cheques would not have bounced if the bank had waited as expected before cashing them? If you write a check and don`t have enough money in your account when it`s cashed — whether it`s backdated or not — your bank may cover the payment or bounce the check based on their overdraft policy. If the check passes, you pay an overdraft fee. If it is not adopted, the recipient may charge you late fees and fees for rejected cheques. But it usually doesn`t get worse. However, state law may require the bank or credit union to wait to cash the check if you give them reasonable notice. Contact your bank or credit union to find out their policies.

It`s a good idea to check your state`s law before backdating a check and giving it to an entity or other person. Some states require that it be the responsibility of the person making the check to ensure that there is enough money deposited in their account to ensure that a check does not bounce. Other states take the opposite position and hold the recipient liable if a cheque is cashed before the date indicated on the cheque. Backdated controls are completely legal. If they were not, payday lenders and other crude forms of credit might not exist. The bank is not responsible because the law allows banks to cash pre-dated checks before the date indicated on the check. You can follow the person to whom you wrote your cheque on the grounds that they broke an agreement not to cash the cheque. But that might be hard to prove, and the amount — NSF fees — probably isn`t enough to continue. If you work with your bank, you may be able to write a pre-dated cheque.

You will need to contact your bank by writing to them to ask them to withhold money until the future date you write on a cheque. If you do so within a reasonable time before receiving your cheque, the bank is required to comply with your written request. You can also request it orally. However, it only protects you for 14 days, which is significantly less than the six months allowed when a written request is used. The main reason the law allows banks to cash backdated cheques is that it is too difficult to look at cheques for their date. Processing 45,000,000 checks per day is hard enough without looking at the data. “It`s a tricky scenario,” says Matt Foster, founder of rental property search site iRent and owner in Ventura, California. Schedule an electronic transfer, such as an online bill payment. It`s a much more accurate way to make future payments, and there`s no risk of sending money before you`re ready. 0.25% You are eligible for an annual percentage return of 0.25% if you unsubscribe from paper statements and have at least one electronic deposit made into your account each month, such as a direct deposit, an ATM or mobile deposit, or a wire transfer from another financial institution. APY at 0.55% are subject to change without notice.

Offers are valid for personal accounts only. A penalty may be imposed for early withdrawal of a CD.