CONTENT

  DEPARTMENTS



  DETAILS
Legend for Icons
 Article    Q&A

 Podcast  Video

 Blog  Discussions

PDF    Powerpoint
BankingQuestions.com Web

  Home >> Checks/Money Orders >> Checks You Received  
Handling 2- and 3-Party Checks

I'm a bodyshop owner. How do I handle two and three party insurance checks? Insurance claims are paid through checks made out to the owner of the car, the bodyshop, and sometimes the lien holder. My bank will not deposit them into my business account, what do I do?


If those checks are payable to multiple persons, with the word "and" or the ampersand symbol joining the payee names, the endorsements of all of the payees are required for negotiation of the checks. If the lack of endorsements is the problem, there is no way around it, but to get those endorsements.

No bank is required to accept checks it doesn't want to for deposit to customer accounts. Multiple-party checks present increased risk to the bank accepting them for deposit, because claims for missing or forged endorsements can be filed as long as three years after the facts are discovered, but a bank should not be overly concerned about such problems if its customer is financially sound and maintains sufficient balances to cover such checks.

If you are getting the required endorsements, you can try talking to your bank to help them better understand your business and the fact that you are forced to accept this sort of check. If that doesn't work, you may need to consider moving your banking relationship.

Published on BankingQuestions.com 6/19/08