I Received A Rebate Check For One Cent!! (used, cost, service)

[WellShoneMoon]

Yesterday I received a check in the mail from First Clearing, LLC, One North Jefferson, St. Louis MO 63103. The amount of the check is ZERO DOLLARS AND ONE CENT!

It's a real check, not one of those "If you cash this, you're signing up for one year of .... " phony things. It's drawn on a Wachovia Bank in Oakton, Virginia, and there's an account number on it as well.

It looks like it's supposed to be a rebate check, but there's nothing on it anywhere to indicate what product I bought that I sent in a rebate request for. I don't remember what I've requested a rebate for (I guess I should keep a record of those things), but I certainly would not have requested a one-penny rebate.

I'm really scratching my head on this one. Anyone got an idea about how I can find out what this might be?

[Exitus Acta Probat]

Sounds like part of that scam from Office Space.

[Flamingo13]

Wow - now you too can go to Disney World

[harry chickpea]

Puzzling.

Here:
First Clearing, LLC. > Contact Us

Give em a call.

Interesting, this has the same initials and address:
First Clearing Correspondent Services: Clear Conversation


If I had to guess, I'd say that you bought stock in a company that went out of business (bankrupt), and that is the clearing of the stock off the books.

[Nelly Nomad]

Sad when you think about how much it cost to prepare, process and mail that one-penny check.

[Asheville Native]

Read the fine print, but there is a 'catch' if you deposit that check.

[texdav]

Definely read teh fine print. many such checks even for larger amounts sign you up for a service many times.

[WellShoneMoon]

Thanks, Harry Chickpea, for the contact information for First Clearing. I called them this morning and, after wandering around in a menu of options that made no sense to me, finally got to talk to a live person. It turns out that some time ago I closed an account that I had with Wachovia, and in clearing the account they found out that I was owed another penny. So they sent me a check for a penny.

As Nelly Nomad pointed out, how much must it have cost them to send me that one-cent check?! What genius thought this was a useful business practice?

I'm throwing the check away. My husband says that will really mess up their bookkeeping because now they'll never be able to reconcile the account.

[harry chickpea]

I thought it might be something along those lines. Those companies are all interrelated. They will be able to reconcile, because they can just show the check never cleared. It'll take 'em longer, but they'll do it.

[Ceece]

I got a one cent check from AT&T. I have no idea why. I tried to deposit it at a ATM machine, the kind that scans the check and doesn't use envelopes, but it was rejected. Twice. So I carried it around for a couple weeks thinking I would take it to the bank but I never did. Eventually I just threw it away when I cleaned our my purse.