Check question

Can someone deposit a check written to them by a company into my checking account??  I know in the States you can do this, any help would be great.

Do you mean where you endorse the check and then sign it over to someone else to deposit into their account? I'm not sure you can do that in the UK...

Do you mean where you endorse the check and then sign it over to someone else to deposit into their account? I'm not sure you can do that in the UK...

Yes, much better worded.

I had this situation a few years ago, and when I called up the bank they would not do it.  I ended up having to have the cheque re issued to the person depositing it and then they handed me the money over.  The only way you could do this is if someone has your bank card and pin details then they can do a deposit through the cashpoint machine by filling out the deposit slip as well.   but that's risky

Third party cheque? I think I tried once years ago but my bank (Lloyds TSB)wouldn't do it.

One of my student loan cheques was made out to both me and my uni (literally "Andrea M___ & X University") and my bank (Natwest) wouldn't touch it.  I had to get the loan company to reissue it in my name only.

Most banks won't touch because if the cheque has "account payee only" on it's subject to the Cheques Act 1992 (if I remember correctly) this covers something called conversion i.e cheque drawn on B Smith paid into W Smith's account, later BS says he had nothing to do with it and the bank is obliged to refund immediately.

Might be easier for friend to open an account or more expensively take it to a bureau who will take the risk on production of id

It can also cause problems with married/maiden names although the marriage cert should be sufficient to stop that.

Final point our systems are always on the look for people who may be using their account contra to account rules. You could find your account frozen or closed if that cheque is investigated or if it's returned.

NB conversion can apply to all cheques in the UK

Thanks for all the information.

I asked my bank about this recently and they said definitely not. The cheque has to be made out to the account holder.

I asked my bank about this recently and they said definitely not. The cheque has to be made out to the account holder.

Darn, seems everything is so complicated.  Thanks for sharing   I will have to see if the cheque can be reissued.

It used to be possible to deposit a third-party check/cheque here years ago by simply endorsing it over to somebody else, but it's become more and more restrictive over the years.  The vertical or diagonal "crossing" with "A/C payee only" has already been  mentioned.  At one time these restrictions were added individually by the drawer if he felt it necessary; now they're pre-printed.

If you look at the payee line, you'll see that most, if not all, U.K. checks now also say "Pay _______ only" instead of "Pay _______ or Order" / "Pay to the order of ________."

The last time I asked my bank if they would issue me with uncrossed checks (and that was several years ago) I was told I could only get a book with about a dozen at a time, and that I would have to make a special request every time I wanted such a book.

You could ask, but it may well be that the banks won't even do that now.

One of my student loan cheques was made out to both me and my uni (literally "Andrea M___ & X University") and my bank (Natwest) wouldn't touch it.  I had to get the loan company to reissue it in my name only.

This happened to me and I had to let the University deposit it their bank and let them handle the currency exchange.  It took a while...2 weeks.  Then they took whatever I owed to them and issued me a check for the remainder...this took another week or more.