Our store is located in Atlanta, GA. A customer who lives in NJ came to our store while visiting family and placed an $800 deposit by debit card on $14,000 worth of merchandise. After she returned home, she mailed us a check for the balance. What is the time limit for the NJ bank to notify my GA bank of NSF? If the check turns out to be fraudulent, what is the time limit for notification?
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The New Jersey bank has until midnight of the banking day after the check is presented there for payment to send the check back if it dishonors it. It should also notify your bank of the return by 4 p.m. on the second business day after the check was presented. Your bank is entitled to withhold access to the deposited funds until as late as the eleventh business day after you deposit the check (two weeks plus one weekday) if it gives you a notice that it is holding the funds.
Although there is a time limit for the New Jersey bank to return the check, there is no reliable way to set a true limit by which time your bank should have received it back, because transportation delays (if the check is handled in its original form) aren't counted against anyone, but it should be pretty safe to assume the check is paid if you haven't heard anything within two weeks. If you still have a copy of the check, you can try to contact the bank it's drawn on after about a week from your deposit date and see if it will tell you if the check was paid by them. Some banks will give you such an answer; others won't.
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The New Jersey bank has until midnight of the banking day after the check is presented there for payment to send the check back if it dishonors it. It should also notify your bank of the return by 4 p.m. on the second business day after the check was presented. Your bank is entitled to withhold access to the deposited funds until as late as the eleventh business day after you deposit the check (two weeks plus one weekday) if it gives you a notice that it is holding the funds. 