Hi,

I've recently been in an accident and my car insurance is under both my name and my mother's name. I went to the bank today (BofA) to deposit the check from my insurance company (State Farm) so that I could make payment to the body shop to get my car back. Now the problem is that the bank would not accept the check for deposit as it was made out to both me and my mother. They said that my mom would have to come into the bank with me to sign over the check to myself. The check is made out like this; "Payable to: John Doe and Jane Doe". Now the problem is, my mom went home to visit her native country and will not return for about 3 months. I absolutely need my car back as I've been without it for 2 weeks already. Is there anything I can do? Will the insurance company be able to issue me a check using only my name? If they refuse (and I hope they wouldn't), would one of those check cashing places be able to cash the check without my mother's presense?

Your help is greatly appreciated... Thanks in advance.

If a check cashing company did cash the check without the endorsement of all payees, your insurance company would almost certainly refuse payment of the check due to "Missing endorsement" When this occurs the check is returned to the check cashing company unpaid. At that point the check cashing company would come after you to get their money back, taking you to court if needed. Your options are working through your insurance comapny and getting the check reissued in your name only or using FedEX, DHL, UPS, etc sending the check to your mom to sign, and having her send it back to you.
The second way does not guarantee your bank will accept it as they may wish to verify your mother's identification before accepting it for deposit or cash.

I have been in banking over 8 years and we have always had all parties the check is paid to be present when negotiating the item. I don't know of a bank that will negotiate the item for you UNLESS they know both you and your mother personally. Good Luck!

One other thought - is there any bank where you and your mother have joint account (both of you are authorized signers)? If so, (and it is not contrary to instructions on the check), you may ask them to deposit the check into the account using an "absence of endorcement" stamp.

Good luck

Thank you for your responses. Fedexing the check is not an option as the bank requires my mom to be physically present even if her signature is already on the check. I've sent State Farm an email in the hopes that they can resubmit the checks with only my name on it. Is there a reason why the insurance company would issue a check to multiple payees even though I'm the one who filed the claim and basically own the policy?

THE ONLY THINK YOU WOULD WORK THOURGH YOUR INSURANCE, WISH IF YOUR MOM COULD GIVE THEM A CALL AND SAY THAT SHE WOULD AUTHORIZE YOU BE THE ONLY ONE ON THE CHECK...