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Home >> Checks/Money Orders >> Checks You Received
Six Months to Return a Check?
I received a check from my renter. I deposited it in Dec. 2008, and it was returned as an NSF on June 29, 2009. Is this legal?
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 There is a remote possibility that it's legal, but consider it suspect. There are two key dates to consider. The first is the date on which the check was presented for payment at your renter's bank. Assuming it was drawn on a U.S. bank, it should have been presented one to three days after you deposited it.
The second date is the date on which the renter's bank returned the check. A U.S. bank is required to return an insufficient funds check by midnight of the business day next following the business day the check was presented for payment. If the check arrived for payment on Monday, December 22, it should have been on its way back to your bank by midnight on December 23. If the bank was not able to return the actual check, it should have sent a notice of non-payment on the 23rd. It should take no longer for a check to come back to your bank than it took to get to the paying bank, so the check should have been back at your bank to be charged back to your account within 6 or 7 business days, not six months.
Your bank should attempt to send the check back to the renter's bank as a late return. That will require the other bank to submit information on the dates the check arrived there and left there. If that bank missed its midnight deadline, it is responsible for the amount of the check, and you should get your money back.
There is one loophole in this argument. If the check was delayed enroute due to a transportation problem (lost in the mail or in transit), neither bank will be responsible, and you'll be stuck, except for your ability to recover the payment from your renter.
Published on BankingQuestions.com 7/09/09
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