- 1). Contact the bank at which you have your checking account to ask about their policies concerning stale checks. A stale check is a check that has not been cashed within six months of its issue date. The policy at most banks is that they must cash the check within six months of the issue date on the check. After that six months, the bank does not have to cash the check legally, according to the FDIC, but they may choose to at their discretion.
- 2). Balance your checkbook using all historical transactions since your last balance statement. List your current balance, and subtract all withdrawals and payments made on individual lines for each item. Make sure each is dated. Write down all deposits, and add these to the balance. Leave your uncashed check until the end.
- 3). List the uncashed check as its own separate line item. Make it as a payment, and subtract the amount of the check from the balance. Although the funds may not have yet been withdrawn from your account, they could be at any time. This will require you to have the funds in the account if you do not want to be caught off guard or incur overdraft fees. Write the date the check was issued in the checkbook, and also write the check number.
- 4). Call your bank to cancel the check if you realize you will not have the funds to cover the amount or if you personally feel the amount of time that has passed is too long for you to be retaining these funds. You will be required to provide your bank account number and the check number to the bank when you are canceling the check.
- 5). Enter another line item in your checkbook to make the check cancellation only after you receive confirmation that the check has been canceled officially. Mark this line as a deposit, and add to your current balance the exact amount of the check. You are now free to use these funds for other purposes.
previous post