Almost Canadian

The accounts have been running for over 4 years. I have never issued a cheque that has been rejected.

I also have had cheques accepted for deposit (from clients) that a day later have been rejected. So I understand what you are saying.

However, I have also had cheques refused at the deposit stage (by the teller) drawn against other banks. I used to think that the client had a black mark against their account but, on every occasion (this has happened to more than one client) they have written me another cheque drawn against the same account that has been accepted.

I have no idea what caused the initial rejections.

orly

I was of the impression it was down to the teller to use their discretion.

They can choose to "pay" the cheque instantly or they can choose to "hold" it for a few days.

Auld Yin

Tellers do not have unlimited discretion.

Siouxie

You normally have to arrange this with your banks' customer advisor when you set up the account, but once arranged, cheques under a certain value are treated as 'cleared funds' upon deposit.

biddyk8

On the limit thing. Tellers all have a limit they are allowed to make a decision on. A newbies is normally $1500, the $3000, the $5000. A teller is never usually allowed above $5000 without a manager signing off on it due to risk. But id you regularly get large ones some tellers will ignore this and get it signed later but again it depends how long the teller has worked there and if they know you.

On it taking so long I can only speak for TD from when I used to work there. but when they go into your account and select deposit check, the system forces them to go through the employer, history etc to see if the check is regular or not. Then they make the decision based on that. (you can just hit ok,ok,ok without looking at it if you know it will be fine)

So in general if you get someone who has been there for ages they will be less concerned about the risk and will do it quicker, if you get someone newer they will still be double checking every single thing and take forever!

If any of that helps lol. Next time you are in ask what your atm approval is, it will tell you what size check you can put in the atm without it being held.

Zoe Bell

I appreciate you taking the time to reply , but no it doesn't !!
I know about cheque limits and stuff. Our limit is quite high for various reasons. This isn't about when the money is available to me , It's about how long it takes the person in front of me to actually go through the motions of entering it into their system.

UK - cheque plus card ran through machine transaction over
Canada - card swiped , PIN entered, multiple clicks through what I presume to be multiple fields/screens, stamps , initialing and all kinds of gumpf taking up to 3 minutes

Its not an isolated event. The system is obviously very different and I'm not just ranting here I'm genuinely curious as to what they are seeing on their screen and what they have to do in order to pay it into my account

Siouxie

I think she answered that in the post - see bold.

biddyk8

in the uk. if i was depositing a check on the system (i was a teller there aswell) all i had to do was type in the amount and hit enter it was done.

here it doesn't let you do that. you type in the amount, then it brings up names on account, where you work, if you have an agreement to allow high limit checks go through with no holds, when your last deposits where, then roughly 3 months account history. then you have to reinput the amount, which account etc etc. all before you can hit deposit. Each one of them things would be on a different screen which is the typing and why it takes ages.

I dunno why the systems are actually different but in the UK the little teller had no part in the decision so they didn't have to look at anything that was all back room. Here all the risk comes back on the teller. It comes directly back on the teller for disciplinary if checks bounce, are fraudulent etc.

scrubbedexpat091

I like the ATM's banks in the US are using now, no envelopes needed. Put in a check, it scans it, shows you a photo on the screen to confirm the amount, and they are especially nice because they take cash, count it, and credit it to your account instantly.

But I haven't seen any in Canada, but banks here seem to be using ATM's that went out of style in the late 90's....lol

Almost Canadian

This comes back to the point I was making above. How can the teller tell if the cheque will bounce?

Zoe Bell

my apologies . I skim read

biddyk8

Sometimes the checks are obviously fraudulent and the more you see it gets easy to recognize. But the teller is meant to be checking if the check is one you get regularly, if its a pay check or a gift etc, if the amount is different or not. If the check doesn't match your account history and the teller puts it in without a hold and it comes back they can get disciplined, even if it doesnt come back they can get asked to explain why they bent the rules for you. Generally if the teller has covered their ass and the check comes back they are grand but if the teller bent the rules a bit for someone they know who got say a check from grandma for their birthday or a wedding present and they come back, thats all on the teller.

orly

Educated guesses probably.

I'd guess they'd view a cheque issued by the CRA as a bit more likely to be paid than from Joe Bloggs.

Almost Canadian

I was talking about cheques deposited to a business account (a law firm). Why would a teller refuse to even deposit the cheque, with our without putting a hold on it?

I have been told on numerous occasions that they cannot accept a cheque (but can't tell me why they can't) and when I informed the clients what had happened, they gave me a replacement cheque, drawn on the same account as previously.

This is on accounts I hold with TD too

biddyk8

If the checks are also drawn on TD accounts I would bet there is an alert on the other account that they are not to accept checks on it. Business accounts have the same rules for check deposits but they will usually accept it and just hold it unless there is an alert on it. If you give them a client check and its from a td account they will look at the account its drawn on and see if there is anything to cover it. But all tellers I know ill be honest and just say this is not negotiable right now and to try again.

If they are from other banks, then I dunno why they are refusing it, they should be taking it and just holding it.