How to cross cheques

I'm still none the wiser! I suppose, I just continue crossing them with "not negotiable" and "a/c payee only"!

Here is the UK Cheques Act 1992. This is the Act that brought in legal backup for 'account payee' which was not there up to this. (And still isnt in Ireland).

As there is no equivalent legislation in Ireland, 'Account Payee' has no legal significance at all in Ireland, other than a normal 'crossing', which means it has to be paid through a Bank. It does not mean the Bank is liable if the wrong person cashs the cheque.

One cannot get the Bills of Exchange on line

Here is the extract from UK Cheques Act for Tomas and others:

Cheques Act 1992 (c. 32)
1992 Chapter c. 32



An Act to amend the law relating to cheques.
[16th March 1992]




Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—

Amendment of Bills of Exchange Act 1882: non-transferable cheques.

1. After section 81 of the [1882 c. 61.] Bills of Exchange Act 1882 there shall be inserted the following section—
"Non-transferable cheques.

81A. — (1) Where a cheque is crossed and bears across its face the words "account payee" or "a/c payee", either with or without the word "only", the cheque shall not be transferable, but shall only be valid as between the parties thereto.

(2) A banker is not to be treated for the purposes of section 80 above as having been negligent by reason only of his failure to concern himself with any purported indorsement of a cheque which under subsection (1) above or otherwise is not transferable.
"

You should always write a/c payee only and draw the lines yourself so it stands out more.. This means it can only go to there a/c and should not be cashed under any circumstance.. It really all depends on the experience of the cashier.. If you want the cheque cashed just write it to the person with no crossing they will need id and will have to go to the branch it is drawn on unless they are very well known in their own branch with a good credit score..

thats all very well laurajayne, it just has no legal basis what so ever in Ireland.

Here is another technical extract:

By § 3 of the act a bill of exchange is defined to be "an unconditional order in writing, addressed by one person to another, signed by the person giving it, requiring the person to whom it is addressed to pay on demand or at a fixed or determinable future time a sum certain in money to or to the order of a specified person, or to bearer."'

The words 'or order' makes the instrument transferable in the first place.

Hi, For many years I have been crossing cheques where my intention was for the cheque to be lodged in the account of the payee ONLY. I crossed a cheque with 2 parallel lines with "and Co." but for some reason I lapsed into crossing with the parallel lines and no further wording. Anyway I read somewhere that cheques are on the way out.

I have been in banking for over 10 years and this is what we abide by.. A bill of exchange is a completely different document it is not a cheque so you would be right in what your saying as far as a bill of exchange stands... If the bank the cheque is presented in was to cash a cheque that is crossed a/c payee only and the payer was to discover this believe me the bank would be making some apologies and would have to refund the amount if it had been lost or stolen ar cashed to the wrong person third party etc.. Also if it was e reacurring problem with the cashier they would be taken off cash and or sent on a refresher course..

frando said:

Anyway I read somewhere that cheques are on the way out.

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Yeah - I probably write less than five cheques a year at this stage - often to organisations who charge a credit handling fee usually c. 2% . Otherwise I use CC, Laser or cash.

Four types of crossing

1 / /
2 & Co
3 Account payee only
4 Not negotiable

Crossings 1, 2, 3 have no legal standing and therefore a cheque with any of these crossings is capable of being endorsed to a third party. Bank will have full protection under Cheques Act 1959 if they negotiate a cheque in this way.

4 means what it says. Cheque cannot be negotiated by anybody else other than the payee. Bank is negligent if misused.

Unfortunately - the vast majority of cashiers are trained to take a cautious line and will interpret crossings 1, 2 and 3 at face value i.e. will not permit endorsement to a third party.

nlgbbbblth said:

Crossings 1, 2, 3 have no legal standing and therefore a cheque with any of these crossings is capable of being endorsed to a third party.

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...for the purposes of lodging the cheque not cashing it.
The third party becomes the 'payee' and the cheque should be lodged to their account.

In practice it's not the end of the world if Mr X cashes a crossed cheque made payable to him instead of lodging it. A problem only arises if the cheque is returned unpaid by the drawee bank.