cheque refused - missing inital

That's why you give them an account number and a sort code as well.

I once got a row for daring to write the date on a cheque in ISO8601 order.

They've evidently updated their dimwit recently.

Very well put, with the caveat (IMHO) that the database is actually more of a "call centre prompt screen" style of thing.

Careful, now! It would seem that the arrangement of squiggly lines / mouth noises "security" has achieved totemic status in eyes of the illiterate, innumerate customer servicing agents we're forced to deal with these days. Which, of course, is not a good thing for real security.

Some airlines charge per letter to change the name on a ticket to match the passport. People who insist on using OBE or Dr are often caught out to much amusement.

I don't see any issue, except if a database structure is incompatible with common sense (and therefore incompatibe with other databases).

At 19:49:20 on 20/02/2007, snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.co.uk delighted uk.finance by announcing:

Caught out in what way?

On the driving licence thing there's a bit about any professonal names you use... Can you do that with a bank account?

Your name needs to match what is on your passport otherwise the airline may refuse you boarding, or charge you to change it. Or ask you to buy a new ticket. Someone with O.B.E got caught out that way.

BTW one of the reasons airlines insist on passport even when not legally necessary is to a prevent a secondary market in tickets. Yes, you could buy all those 0.01p Ryanair tickets and then re-sell them closer to the flight time...

It should be common sense. If B is part of the name then the bank should have accepted it just like if a cheque made out to T Jones could be paid into the account of A Jones where the T stands for Tony and the full name of the customer is Anthony. To summarise if the bank holds your full name (as they should) this should not have been refused.

And you appear to believe that this is not only OK, but in fact terribly funny, when it visits misfortune upon an individual who uses his hard earned title or honour when giving his name.

And you seem to also believe (when I split an infinitive it stays split) that it's news that airlines misuse the security totem for revenue protection.

A brilliant and well argued riposte..not.

No. In English law (dunno about elsewhere) its perfectly legal to use your 'common' name, so you wouldnt be lying. If you decide to change your name to Arbuthnot Wbble, then its perfectly OK to fill that in on forms etc, (as long as you arent doing it with the intention of fraud), and its not even necessary to use a Deed Poll to change it except for certain legal documents such as a passport.

In message , Eric Jones writes

The collecting bank would need to enquire to ensure that A Jones is entitled to the cheque payable to T Jones and if it is satisfied with the answers to its enquiries it should ask A Jones to endorse the rear of the cheque as 'T Jones' and I would suggest that A Jones also writes the circumstances on the rear of the cheque.

Agreed.

That's all very well, but returning to the OP's original scenario, If a cheque made out to A Jones is being paid into an account in the name of A B Jones (or even B A Jones) it should be accepted. So should a cheque made out simply to (say) "Mrs Jones".

Indeed which is what I said at the time.

In message , Ronald Raygun writes

Yes, my own bank account bears the initial of my second forename but most of the cheques I have ever received do not bear that second initial. I would take issue with BA Jones though. If the bank is aware that the customer is often known by his second forename, then fine. If they are not aware then the bank should enquire so as to be satisfied that the account holder is entitled to the cheque in order to protect it from a claim for conversion.

Yes. The drawer is recklessly careless of course.

In the case of the OP though, the cheque was a Premium Bond win and if a cashier had referred the case to me then I must admit that I would have asked the customer why she had a formal investment bearing a name other than that in which she maintained her bank account. I would believe such a judgement is beyond the authority of a cashier who was not previously aware of the customers accustomed name.

I think it is worth pointing out to all contributing to this thread that I have had first hand experience of a very similar situation in which the customer was not entitled to the cheque and she (it was also a female) was subsequently arrested and was convicted. That was a number of years ago and I cant remember what the exact charge was. On the hand I have had experience of a chap called Barry Edward Frost but all through his life he had been called 'jack' Frost and almost everybody thought that Jack was derived form John and he used to regularly get cheques payable to John Frost. The bank collected the cheques because it was aware of nature of the confusion, but when the first cheque was collected it took quite a while to establish the facts. In coming to its judgement the bank was aware of the financial status of the client and was comfortable that it would have been able to easily recover the sum from the client in the event of the cheque having been wrongly collected.

It is all very well the OP complaining but it is not unreasonable for the building society to act in the way it has, especially as the cheque is from an institution with whom the client has an account, she has not established a practice of collecting cheques in the manner of the cheque in question and it was not a hand written cheque from a friend (say).

Enquire of whom? Ask the payee for an explanation, and if not fully satisfied attempt to contact the drawer (presumably via the drawee, since the payee can't be trusted to provide accurate contact details for the drawer, and might give details of an accomplice)?

I've just been given a fee/expenses cheque bearing my name with several mistakes in it. People often mis-spell foreign names. It says something like Ronnald Reaygunn. Am I going to have difficulty paying this in?

yes.

I have never known it go that far and I cant see it ever doing so,

That will depend on what your bank already knows about you.