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cashier's checks remitter rights

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changedmymind

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Iowa

I purchased Cashier's Checks in January from a local bank where I have an account. I kept them in the bank safety box and did not distribute them. I have changed my mind about giving them to the payees and have asked the bank for a refund (not used for purpose intended) and was told I could not get a refund because they belong to the payees (who have no idea the cashier's checks even exist. The bank said they do not refund or cancel cashier's checks - it is their policy and even though I am the remitter the only thing I could do was present them to the payees and ask them to sign them over to me. How can I get my money back?
 


cosine

Senior Member
There's something seriously wrong with your bank. It is a common practice to have a cashier's check made out to a seller for major purchases like a house, and if at the closing meeting it is decided not to sell or not to buy, the cashier's check goes back to its origination account and the bank keeps the fees. While I have personally never done so, I know someone who has (he got a negative report about the house at closing and decided not to buy) and he had no trouble with the bank at all. Maybe something like this belongs on the consumerist dot com web site. If you can't actually get someone at the bank with authority to do things right, you need two things: an attorney, and a new bank.
 

changedmymind

Junior Member
can't find a lawyer to help

I definitely need a lawyer because the value of the cashier's checks is over $10,000 dollars but I have contacted numerous attorneys in my area and none are willing to take on a large bank. Any ideas would be appreciated.
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
I would suggest you escalate your concern to somebody higher up at the bank.
 

justalayman

Senior Member
the bank is correct and that is why my bank always writes the payees to be the person I name as payee OR me. That way I can cash the check just as the other payee can if I present it to them. Saves a lot of trouble.
 

changedmymind

Junior Member
I had never used cashier's checks before so it is my fault I didn't ask the bank to put my name with the payees. However, layman I have found some situations where the bank did have to allow a refund. I was never given a copy of the policy and did not sign anything so how would a consumer know there were no refunds? Hopefully because you are a layman and not an attorney an attorney will be able to help me. Thanks for your opinion.
 

changedmymind

Junior Member
I asked the bank to put my name on the check and they refused. If they will not put my name on them I don't think they will allow me to change anything else. Any other ideas?
 

cosine

Senior Member
the bank is correct and that is why my bank always writes the payees to be the person I name as payee OR me. That way I can cash the check just as the other payee can if I present it to them. Saves a lot of trouble.
What bank do you use? ... so I know which bank(s) to tell all my friends to avoid?
 

cosine

Senior Member
I asked the bank to put my name on the check and they refused. If they will not put my name on them I don't think they will allow me to change anything else. Any other ideas?
You are definitely banking at the wrong bank. I wonder what other submarine policies they have to screw people out of their money. Find a small local bank and do your banking there.
 

justalayman

Senior Member
What bank do you use? ... so I know which bank(s) to tell all my friends to avoid?
You really think so? Guess what? I never have the problem the OP is having. If I decide not to deliver the check to the first payee listed, I simply take it and endorse it and put it in my account, right where it originally came from.



so, if you can show me a law that says the bank must cancel the check, bring it on. If there is no law, it becomes a matter of bank policy. If they bank says they do not cancel cashiers checks, then the OP is where they are.

but if the OP was listed as an "or" payee, all he would have to do is endorse it and cash the thing. ;)


to changedmymind: Your only option is as others have stated: try to go up the ladder to a person with more authority. If their policy is to not cancel cashiers checks, then you will have to go high enough to find somebody that can override standing policy.








OHRoadwarrior Amend the endorsement of the checks. IE.. From John Smith to John Smith or Bob Jones. Have Bob Jones cash them for you.
this cannot be done because it is not the OP's check. It is the banks check and the OP making an alteration on the instrument would be illegal.
 

cosine

Senior Member
You really think so? Guess what? I never have the problem the OP is having. If I decide not to deliver the check to the first payee listed, I simply take it and endorse it and put it in my account, right where it originally came from.
I didn't say that I am thinking something in the post you replied to. I just wanted to know which bank to avoid. But maybe I misunderstood you. It seemed you had a bank that has the same or similar policy as the OP. Of course, the OP's bank is even worse since they refused to even write a cashier's check to "person one OR person two". I'd like to know the names of both of these banks. Of course, you and the OP are not obligated to answer my questions.

so, if you can show me a law that says the bank must cancel the check, bring it on. If there is no law, it becomes a matter of bank policy. If they bank says they do not cancel cashiers checks, then the OP is where they are.
I'm not saying there is any such law. I'm saying it has been long standing common practice, at least with the banks I've encountered this issue with. There are a number of scenarios, such as closing on a home sale, that the banks should be aware of.

but if the OP was listed as an "or" payee, all he would have to do is endorse it and cash the thing. ;)
OP said the bank would not allow that, as stated in #8.

to changedmymind: Your only option is as others have stated: try to go up the ladder to a person with more authority. If their policy is to not cancel cashiers checks, then you will have to go high enough to find somebody that can override standing policy.
Also, verify that it is genuine bank policy, and that there are no exceptions or procedures around it. It could well be that it is some lower level person making it up so they don't have to deal with some complicated paperwork. Or maybe they don't know about the exceptions that apply. The higher up people should know.

But even if the higher ups resolve it, move on to another bank with your money.
 

changedmymind

Junior Member
If only it were that simple obviously my bank doesn't want it to be simple and I have found an attorney to try to dispute this policy. If I were as smart as you justalayman I would have put my name on in the first place- but didn't. I can't just put the money back in my account - I wish it was that easy. As I said I had never purchased cashier's checks and did not consider I would change my mind but things happen. What about someone who has a cashier's check to purchase a house and changes their mind at closing because there were some inspection issues -do they have to have the company endorse the check over to them even though they didn't purchase the house. If we all had a crystal ball we probably wouldn't make mistakes and would also know which bank to avoid. I do have a checking account and loans through this bank and again if I were you at your bank and every other bank I could just go back and put the money back in my account but I'm not you and quite so lucky.
 

justalayman

Senior Member
=cosine;2853302]I didn't say that I am thinking something in the post you replied to. I just wanted to know which bank to avoid. But maybe I misunderstood you. It seemed you had a bank that has the same or similar policy as the OP. .
anonymity is a great thing. Not trying to be difficult with you. Simply prefer to remain as anonymous as possible.

I'm not saying there is any such law. I'm saying it has been long standing common practice, at least with the banks I've encountered this issue with. There are a number of scenarios, such as closing on a home sale, that the banks should be aware of.
my point is: if there is no law, then it is bank policy that controls. Why the policy? You would have to ask them.

OP said the bank would not allow that, as stated in #8.
he said the bank would not allow the check to be altered now, not that they would not originally do it, at least as I read it.

changedmymind posted: If I were as smart as you justalayman I would have put my name on in the first place- but didn't.
I didn't say anything disparaging about you nor meant to infer anything either. I am not questioning your intelligence. You simply got caught up in a bank policy.



Unless you want to hire a lawyer, there is no reason that you cannot take this up the ladder. Personally, I disagree with their policy but since I do not control that bank, what I think about their policy doesn't mean much. They may have a justification for the policy. Given the amount of fraud currently, maybe they had problems in the past concerning something such as this and made the rule what it is. I simply don't know but I do know that most bank policies are in place to protect the bank and their customers. They don't tend to make policy just because somebody said: well, what can we do to piss off our customers today.
 

cosine

Senior Member
Personally, I disagree with their policy but since I do not control that bank, what I think about their policy doesn't mean much. They may have a justification for the policy. Given the amount of fraud currently, maybe they had problems in the past concerning something such as this and made the rule what it is. I simply don't know but I do know that most bank policies are in place to protect the bank and their customers. They don't tend to make policy just because somebody said: well, what can we do to piss off our customers today.
Many banks do make policy on the basis of how to boost revenue. I'd bet most, if not all, do that. Whether that revenue boost comes from not being ripped off by fraud, or by tricking customers into losing money, might be an issue. What I have seen a lot of is banks hanging on to money for longer than necessary for the boost that gives. Perhaps what the OP's bank is doing is boosting revenue by not training tellers. Or it could be they are boosting revenue by not working out procedures to deal with issues like this.

It would not be that hard to identify cashier's checks which have been made out by them by request of this particular bank customer. It would not be that hard to "cancel" the check within the limitation that it is only for their own customers, only at the branch that made the check, only after X number of days, and only by depositing the amount into the account it was originally taken from to be made, minus the additional fee to cancel the check (banks love to charge fees that are many times the cost of actually doing things).

Like you say, to know why this bank doesn't allow this (if in fact that is the case), you have to ask the bank and I'm sure the tellers have no clue as to why policy exists. But if they don't have such a blanket policy, then the teller/supervisor people are apparently untrained or clueless about the details of this.

OP ... try as much as you can get reach a bank officer or executive to get an explanation. But plan on moving your business elsewhere as soon as the finality becomes apparent. At that point if they ask why, tell them "bank policy".
 

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