<p>As D was packing for college, she found 2 paychecks from her job she had not deposited. They said something to the effect of “invalid after 90 days”. I suggested she call the employer and see if they could reissue them, but she didn’t. Anyway, she apparently did try to deposit them in her new school bank account (B of A), only to have them returned with a NSF and a $24 fee. I’ve told her to getvcopies of the checks and a) throw herself on the mercy of BofA to see if she can get a waiver of the fee and b) contact the employer to see if they could reissue the checks, though I fear it’s probably too late at this point. (I doubt she has a record of when these checks were issued). I feel bad for her but at the same time I want this to be a life lesson in depositing paychecks or any check promptly. Thoughts? (and yes, I know about direct deposit, but she was putting her paychecks into a long term account at the time manually)</p>
<p>They will end up going back to your state governments unclaimed property funds if they are never cashed.</p>
<p>Huh? Wouldn’t they just sort of disappear? If I write someone a check and they never cash it, the money doesn’t go anywhere – it just never gets taken from my account.</p>
<p>I would ask the employer to re-issue her those checks. I don’t see why they wouldn’t do that. I get letters from insurance company about checks I didn’t cash sometimes.</p>
<p>My daughter had an uncashed payroll check- it went to the state & I think she was even notified ( you can check online).</p>
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<p><a href=“http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/moneymatters/a/unclaimedabout.htm[/url]”>http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/moneymatters/a/unclaimedabout.htm</a></p>
<p>Is it still considered uncashed if it was presented for payment and rejected?</p>
<p>I didn’t realize it would get an NSF charge – it’s not as though the employer didn’t have funds.</p>
<p>PG- the State protects you by requiring uncashed payroll checks from going back to the company. They do not have a similar rule for individuals that get lucky that our checks do not get cashed.</p>
<p>I agree with oldfort my guess is the checks can be reissued. PG you do realize our kids have it easy (mine also does not cash or deposit paychecks) if they can not bother to to cash their checks. Poor kids never have that issue.</p>
<p>Oh, okay! Learn something new. Should she still contact the employer though?</p>
<p>Yes, she should talk to her employer. I handle payroll at our office and we have young people who come and go—some of whom end up in the same situation as your daughter. I have a record of what checks haven’t been cashed and will always re-issue when asked (if I haven’t reported them as unclaimed, which only happens rarely).</p>
<p>Mary- I believe it is at least several years before you would report them as unclaimed.</p>
<p>It is several years before the employer would report them as unclaimed. And no, the money doesn’t just disappear. It remains on the books as a liability. The company doesn’t get to just keep it; it must eventually go to someone, either the payee or the state.</p>
<p>Pizzagirl, this really isn’t a big deal; just have your D contact the Payroll Department. Since it’s a payroll check, they MUST re-issue it (otherwise, they didn’t pay her for her work, which state governments kind of frown on. :)) I guarantee they’ll have a record of the original checks, and also a record of the fact that the checks were never cashed. One phone call should do it.</p>
<p>BTW, the term “NSF fee” is a sort of shorthand for “Returned check fee.” Most checks are indeed returned for non-sufficient funds, but other possibilities are checks written on closed accounts or frozen funds, unsigned checks, or as in this case, stale checks.</p>
<p>Thanks all!</p>
<p>PG - lesson learned for your daughter is next time if she has a potential expired check, deposit it in person, the cashier would tell her if it’s cashable. I did that one time with an insurance check, my bank told me that they couldn’t honor it. I had contact the insurance to get them re-issue.</p>
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<p>The old account may very well have been closed. My D is late on cashing gift checks. Drives me crazy! Once a gift check bounced because the sender had closed her old checking account for identity theft concerns. She’s much more prompt about cashing checks now.</p>
<p>This is very coincidental. S just got a letter from his former employer notifying him that he had an uncashed paycheck from 2010. They sent a form for him to sign and required him to provide a copy of his DL in order for them to issue a replacement check. The letter stated that if he didn’t respond by a certain date, the funds would be turned over as unclaimed property to the state treasurer’s office. </p>
<p>As to the B of A fee, I have heard from friends who bank at B of A that they are notorious for having the most ridiculous fees. Good luck with that!</p>
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<p>This is the funniest thing I have read in years. BofA HAS no mercy. I am currently working with a small non-profit group that had a single employee an elderly man. He died suddenly and I was brought in to clean up the office. The finances were a mess and it soon became clear that the local BofA branch had been advising him very badly for a number of years – they now want to charge us almost $5000 for copies of statements that they never provided in the first place. I have had to get the State Auditor and the DCI involved.</p>
<p>I recently had a notice from the state that I had an uncashed check from a year ago. How that could be is utterly beyond me, but I couldn’t find a stub so I returned the claim form and they sent a new check. OP remember your D has to claim that pay at tax time whether she actually got it or not, so best to try to get it replaced. (I realize she probably won’t owe tax, just saying. :)</p>