Bank refused to cash check! (funds, pay, deposit, credit)

[floofymacs]

How is it legal for a bank (Chase Bank, to be specific) to refuse to cash a payroll check drawn on their bank, unless one has an account with them?

The teller told me to take it to a check cashing establishment. Good grief .....

[wealthtrader]

Originally Posted by floofymacs

How is it legal for a bank (Chase Bank, to be specific) to refuse to cash a payroll check drawn on their bank, unless one has an account with them?

The teller told me to take it to a check cashing establishment. Good grief .....

It's very legal. It's a private enterprise. They can do what ever they like within the limits of the law.

[BrianH]

Big Banks dont have time for people. Thats why I bank locally and have never had problems. They have even gone WAY above what a bank should for a customer.

[Green Irish Eyes]

Originally Posted by wealthtrader

It's very legal. It's a private enterprise. They can do what ever they like within the limits of the law.

Except it's not their money -- it belongs to the person who wrote the check and/or the person the check is made out to.

Right?

[micrguy]

Banks want to get out of the check cashing business, that's why they want you to have an account with them. One of the big banks that I used to work with as a vendor started charging 5% for cashing checks for non-account holders, if you complained they would point you across the street to a check cashing store that the bank happened to be a large investor in. A bank can chose to do business with anyone they want to.

Also, fraud with payroll checks is huge. They want to make sure that if you cash a check that you have an account that they can get the money back from if you were cashing a bad check. Sounds harsh, but it is true.

[Lindsey_Mcfarren]

I used to work for a small company that had the reputation for bouncing its payroll checks. I took my check DIRECTLY to their bank and got the cash in my hand. I had to pay an extra fee for it because I didn't have an account with them but they cashed it.

The last thing I wanted to do was deposit the check and have it bounce on my account. I would say I would be pretty MAD if the bank didn't want to cash it.

[ColoWeb]

This happens because of fraud. Anyone now days can print a check from their home computer. While the ability to do so is for legal purposes, other do it for fraud. For this reason you are seeing the result. If you have an account at that bank and the check bounces, they debit your account.

[sean98125]

Why not open a checking account?

[wealthtrader]

Originally Posted by squeezeboxgal

Except it's not their money -- it belongs to the person who wrote the check and/or the person the check is made out to.

Right?

On the bank side, it takes time and money to cash checks. It's not and shouldn't be free.

[DanielChang]

This is called "noncustomer check cashing" and is legal in most states. Banks use that excuse that it costs them money and time to check ID but that's really an excuse to increase the fees generated by in-person banking.

Noncustomer Check Fees Reinforce Financial Divide

Noncustomer check cashing charges

A load of bull, really.

If the check is drawn on that bank's accounts, the bank will have the signature on file (virtually all banks and credit unions do this electronically now) and can instantly check the account to see if there are sufficient funds to clear the check.