cheque refused - missing inital

What do you mean by my bank? My branch? What would they know about me? I've been my bank's customer for over 30 years, but that counts for nothing.

I first opened an account or two at branch A, because it was the nearest to where I (that is to say my parents) lived. Then, when hunting for my first mortgage, I visted an IFA who was recommended by my solicitor through whom I was buying my flat. The FA seemed to have a "thing going" with the loans manager at branch B (near the FA's office but nowhere near my parents' house nor where the flat I was buying was), and I was encouraged to agree to move my account to the FA's cronie's branch, as this would "oil the wheels" of my loan approval and would obviously earn brownie points for the bank manager. All against my better judgement. Meanwhile branch B has been amalgamated with branch C, despite continuing to maintain a presence in both locations, so whilst my account is held at branch BC, I'm actually within walking distance of branches A and D (now that Ronald senior is dead I've moved back in with mother Nancy).

So branches A and D are the ones I visit, even though my account is actually kept at branch B or BC. The staff at A and D may or may not recognise me, but I wouldn't say the "know" me in any meaningful sense of the word, and neither really would staff of the branches B and C which I as good as never visit.

Reply to
Ronald Raygun
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I should have been clearer. The onus is on the collecting bank and it was them to which I was referring in the belief that you were probably paying in at your own branch, but of course there is no reason why that should be the case. (see below)

They would know if you had a strange name and may have become accustomed to collecting cheques for you with different spellings of your name. I am sure that by now they had figured out that you werent trying to use them to convert cheques which were originally intended for a ham actor.

You exhibit the modern way of banking which banking law has yet to accommodate which is why many so called 'banks' these days show no sign of any ability to use discretion in cases such as yours. So they would likely refuse even the smallest error 'cos the computer says no'.

The onus is still on the collecting bank branch, be it A, B, C, D, or any combination thereof. None the less a member of the set of branches (A...Z) (which accommodates future branch combinations which are no doubt being secretly planned) could contain sufficient personal and 'reference note' knowledge to enable the bank to claim protection against them for a claim for conversion. That is their main concern, not helping you. If you have regularly presented cheques before (and most people dont) and the spelling differences are immaterial then you should be OK, thats assuming the cashier can spell of course.

If you had a more noticeable name, such a M Thatcher, then things might be different of course..

Reply to
John Boyle

Who exactly is the collecting bank branch? Although there seems to be increasing reluctance these days to let you pay in at a bank other than that with which the payee account is held (as opposed to a different branch of the same bank) (except possibly for a fee), the Bank Giro Credit network seems to have been designed to make this possible and easy. What actually happens behind the scenes? Does the branch at which you physically present the cheques, cash, and BGC slip collect the cheques from the drawees and then forward the funds to the payee branch, or does it just forward the lot (cash excepted perhaps) to the payee branch and let it get on with collecting? In any case, do branches still collect at all? Surely they just pass it up to one of their bank's collecting centres. The banks really just have one huge computerised legder system, don't they, with branches much less independent than perhaps they may have been in the good old days, and the branch identifiers on each account are little more than cosmetic, right?

I seem to remember, from the dim and distant, that you had once said the collecting bank has no discretion, and that the payee can insist that they collect despite a cheque bearing technical irregularities. Am I misremembering, or would in such cases the payee be deemed to be indemnifying the bank against a claim for conversion?

Helping me may not be their main concern, but surely it is their contractual obligation under the service provider/customer relationship.

Most people don't present cheques? I find that hard to believe.

Reply to
Ronald Raygun

No, its 'what' is the collecting bank branch?. 'Who' is at first base.

Thats right. It isnt a fear of a suit for conversion, but money laundering rules that have caused this.

The collecting bank separates the cheque from the bank giro credit and they get sent in different directions. The BGC gets sent to the account holding branch via the credit clearing (Eric, is this now fully automated) to credit the account holder account two days later (i.e. day

3) and the and the cheque gets sent to the drawee via the debit clearing although truncation now allows for the cheque not to be

Yes, in effect it is the bank which collets the cheque.

right.

Thats correct, but a question as to the validity of the title of the supposed payee is not a 'technical irregularity'.

No. Strange, I thought the real RR had alzheimers.

No. Such an indemnity would need to be agreed in advance and wouldnt be 'implied'.None the less, if a bank collected a cheque was sued for conversion then it may have a case against the presenter.

No. There is no obligation to collect a crossed cheque bearing the normal 'a/c payee only' restriction for whom the bank is not certain as to the title of the presenter.

You doubting Thomas! I actually said 'regularly'. Many people get a cheque from time to time, but very few get the regularly, unless they have just bought the maximum value of Premium Bonds and live in Kent, of course.

Reply to
John Boyle

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