You CAN'T stop pay a Cashier's Check

[bankworking]

Really. You can't.

There are alternatives, and the term "stop pay" may even be thrown around involving them, but the way you can place a stop pay on a personal check simply CANNOT happen.

No, not even if some @#$%^&* employee in the call center tells you that you can.
(Which ALMOST makes this a Cursing Out Coworkers, except the customer had absolutely NO information about the person they talked with and was back and forth enough to make me really have to wonder what that person actually told her as opposed to what she thought she heard.)

The Tale:
So, customer comes in wanting to make a stop payment on a cashier's check so she can instead wire the funds out to the recipient of the check. This is a groaner for me before I even sit down with her because I KNOW she's not going to be happy with the alternatives I can offer, and this is a circumstance where I have absolutely ZERO wiggle room. But, I plaster a smile on my face and take her back to my office to get the details so I can find out what I can do.

SC got a cashier's check in the amount of $1000 payable to her brother in order to pay back some money she owed him. Says she sent it out certified mail. Got a tracking number and everything. Once the tracking said it had arrived, her brother went to his post office to pick it up... and it wasn't there. They can't find it. It's lost.

Now, I feel for her and her desire to NOT have to mail another check to him, considering the first was lost, but unfortunately what she wants to do--have the funds put back into her account and wire them out--is not possible. As in, NOT POSSIBLE. No, really. NOT. POSSIBLE. Because we can't just "put a stop payment" on a cashier's check. See, from the day we issue that cashier's check payable to your brother to the day it expires (90 day from issue), those funds are a BANK CHECK payable to your brother. The bank is liable for the payment of those funds, via check. Legally liable.

And the bank does NOT write bad checks.

Now, this does not leave you without options. You CAN sign an affidavit that a cashier's check has been lost/stolen/destroyed and receive a replacement check. Payable to your brother.

Yes, another cashier's check. An exact duplicate of the old, except with a different check number.

Yes, I understand that you do not trust the mail service after they've lost the check the first time, but it has been NINE days since we issued the check. For the 90 days following issue, the ONLY thing we can do is replace the check. And yes, technically we will be placing a stop payment on the old check in that circumstance, but only because we have a legal paper trail showing that we REPLACED the check.

I understand that you have returned cashier's checks in the past. And you could do that now, IF you had the check. We get back the item of negotiation that we are liable for honoring, and we're happy to return you the funds from it. (And no, you cannot return a replacement cashier's check, because there is a check somewhere "out there" that we are responsible for paying, and only by having a replacement check for it can we get away with refusing to pay it.)

No, it was not YOUR check. It was a BANK check. A cashier's check is drawn off of the bank. Yes, your funds paid for it, but once paid for, it is separate from your account. That is rather the point: a check that CANNOT bounce.

So, your choices are as follows:
1) wait to see if the check turns up in the mail
2) let us reissue you a replacement check payable to the same person
3) wait for the original check to expire in 90 days, at which point we can return the funds to your account.


Those are your ONLY options.

No, the CEO himself will not make an exception. Even he listens to legal.

And the more you verbally abuse me for not being able to change the facts, the less sympathy I have for your plight.

[MoonCat]

Another customer trying to change reality.

This is pretty interesting stuff, because I never really understood how these worked. Now it makes sense.

[thehuckster]

Yep, part of the whole reason one asks for a cashier's check for large down payments or purchases is because they are guaranteed to not be bounced or held. To stop a cashier's check would kinda ruin that notion.

[Food Lady]

I tend to think of a cashier check as the same as cash. As in, do not lose it. I'd be afraid to mail it.

[Amadan]

Probably daft question, but couldn't she have got a replacement check, waited a couple of days and them asked for the money back with the replacement?

[sms001]

I feel for you bw. SCs are now so used to EVERYthing being flexible (in their favor) that when they run into the legally/physically/etc. impossible they keep flailing away.

couldn't she have got a replacement check, waited a couple of days and them asked for the money back with the replacement?

(And no, you cannot return a replacement cashier's check, because there is a check somewhere "out there" that we are responsible for paying, . . . .)

[mhkohne]

I tend to think of a cashier check as the same as cash. As in, do not lose it. I'd be afraid to mail it.

At least she had a tracking number, so she wasn't a complete fool on that end. But clearly she had no idea what the next step would be if the PO failed. I hate it when stuff like that happens too, but I sure don't take it out on the bank people!

[Aethian]

I'm wondering if the PO didn't fail at all and she is just trying to get the money plus let him have the money. I have a feeling that cashiers check is going to go through.

[PepperElf]

maybe it's me but... i always thought it kinda clear that a cashier's check is exactly that - a check that's guaranteed by the bank no matter what, with the funds already taken from the account etc, and no way to withdraw them if you change your mind etc.

and it sounds like the SC wasn't keen on accepting reality

[thehuckster]

I tend to think of a cashier check as the same as cash. As in, do not lose it. I'd be afraid to mail it.

I was under that notion, too, but one time I asked a teller what would happen if I were to lose a cashier's check and they said it's a misnomer that you'll never recover the lost money. For one thing, it's explicitly made out to one payee, so not anyone can just cash it in. For another, after 180 or so days IF the check was never deposited or cashed, it can in fact be "stopped," and the funds can be returned to your account.

It is still a big pain in the ass if it happens, and you're definitely out of the funds for that period of time, which means you can't just "try again" and make out another one to your payee, unless you happened to still have those funds remaining in your account.

[Seshat]

Why didn't she wire the funds in the first place?

I'll use a bank cheque or a money order as a kind of escrow: if buying a car 'with cash' (so to speak), I'll take out a bank cheque/money order in the amount. Then I give the cheque to the seller when he's signed the transfer of deed.

He knows the bank is good for the cheque, and I haven't had to carry around cash that I can be mugged for. And if the seller is fraudulent, there's a paper trail which doesn't exist if I pay cash.

(Yes, if he fails to sell me the car and steals the cheque, well, it's made out to his name so the bank is legally obliged to pay him. But that's where I get the Federal Police' fraud department in on things - and banks tend to be cooperative with them. )