Due to abusive cashing of NSFchecks at our outlets we have installed check verification readers to deny accepting multiple bounced checks from checkwriters, but we can not keep the system up-to-date because some banks tend to not return the checks to us for three or four weeks. By the time the NSF check is scanned into our system we have accepted several more checks from the same person. We've had some as old as three months and the account is already closed by the time we get the NSF check back.
Is there a number of days in which banks are required to return the NSF checks to the business that accepted them or be liable for the check? This is very frustrating.
Banks in the U.S. are subject to the Uniform Commercial Code and the Regulation CC. Both of these rules required that a bank decide whether to pay or return a check that is drawn on them by midnight of the business day next following the banking day the bank receives the check. For example, if a bank receives a check drawn on it (this is usually called presentment of the check) for payment on Monday, its various reports typically reflect that fact on Tuesday morning.
On Tuesday, the bank must decide whether to pay the check. If the bank doesn't return the check by midnight Tuesday, the bank is then accountable for the amount of that check.
The unknowns when checks are deposited, are the time it takes for the check to reach the bank it's drawn on, and the time it takes for the check to complete the return journey to the bank of deposit if the check is bounced. Normally, when there are no unusual transportation problems, the round trip should take no more than two weeks. In many (if not most) cases, that trip should be even shorter.
If a check takes three weeks to get back to you, you should ask your bank to check out the dates involved. It might want to send the check back as a "late return." If most of your customers have bank accounts in the area in which your outlets are located, checks should never take very long to come back.
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Banks in the U.S. are subject to the 