How Long Are Checks Good For?

By not cashing a check in a timely manner, it may cause the account to be out of balance. However, if you’ve ever found a check several months after it was issued, you may have wondered, “Do checks expire? ” It’s a good question to ask, and the answer will likely depend on the type of check. When attempting to deposit an expired check, it is possible that the bank will refuse to release the funds. The issuing bank and the recipient’s bank might also honor the expired check and process it without difficulty.

They may then reverse the deposit if the funds were not placed on hold. In either case, banks are under no obligation to accept a check once it is deemed stale. Some banks stale dated checks may do it, but they may charge a fee for depositing or cashing a stale check that is older than 6 months. Assume a person receives a check that is more than 180 days old.

Do You Want Help Opening Bank Accounts?

Depending on the circumstances, a bank may refuse to honor the check and will not allow the person to deposit or cash the check. Ruled that banks can retrieve funds after the issuer’s requested void period unless that person specifically instructed the bank not to honor the check after that time frame. BankersOnline is a free service made possible by the generous support of our advertisers and sponsors. Advertisers and sponsors are not responsible for site content. Please help us keep BankersOnline FREE to all banking professionals.

In addition to creating a new check, you should also issue a stop payment on the old check. Every state in the United States has what are called escheatment laws that require a business to hand over unclaimed property after a specific period. One of the most significant problems with checks is that it’s easy to lose them, giving rise to what’s known as stale-dated checks.

Do blank checks expire?

If a bank does elect to cash or deposit a check for you, this does not mean the balance of the check will be immediately available. Each bank has its own check hold policies, check endorsement requirements, and clearance period. It’s important to read the fine print as provided by the issuer. After 1-3 years, Western Union will charge a fee against the value of the money order. If this goes on long enough, the money order will be worthless.

So, whether you’re reading an article or a review, you can trust that you’re getting credible and dependable information. Our mission is to provide readers with accurate and unbiased information, and we have editorial standards in place to ensure that happens. Our editors and reporters thoroughly fact-check editorial content to ensure the information you’re reading is accurate. We maintain a firewall between our advertisers and our editorial team. Our editorial team does not receive direct compensation from our advertisers. If you don’t have any luck contacting the check issuer, consider working with your bank.

Save Time and Money – Speak With a Lawyer Right Away

There is no kind of penalty or fee for not cashing or depositing a check before its date of expiration. If you try to cash it after the expiration date, it might not be accepted by the bank. However, you might be contacted by the person who issued the check to verify that the check was received and that it has not been lost or stolen. When a check is stale-dated, the recipient of the check will need to inform the issuer of the check and request that they provide them with a new check for the payment. This includes filling out a new check with the proper information.