For how long is a draft check valid, and where do the funds sit?
"To answer length validity and security implications of draft checks issued and negotiated within the United States, I am heavily addressing the common erroneous assumptions of where the funds sit while they're ""in"" a draft check and how to get them out. Tl;Dr The existing answers are incomplete and in some ways dangerously misleading. Jerry can still be potentially defrauded by Tom, and even if the check is legitimately drawn and negotiable, Jerry may still experience delayed access to the funds. The funds sit in an account held by the issuing bank. As long as the bank has sufficient funds, the check does. However, there are significantly more factors that go into whether a check will be returned unpaid (""bounce""). If I hand you $5000 in cash, will you give me $5000 in cash? Probably, and you'd probably be pretty safe. How about I give you a $5000 draft check, will you give me $5000 in cash without doing anything except looking at it to verify the check? I hope not (Cash America sure wouldn't) but people sell expensive goods with the ""same as cash"" attitude. Remember: The only non-cash form of payment which cannot somehow be held, reversed or returned unpaid in the U.S. without consent of the receiving party is a payment order (a.k.a wire transfer)! The draft check is ""as good as cash"" in the sense that the money for a draft check is withdrawn from your account before the check is negotiated (deposited). This does NOT mean that a draft check will not bounce, so Jerry is NOT as secure in handing the goods to Tom as if Tom had handed him cash, as it is still a check. Jerry's bank will not receive the funds for Tom's draft check for an average 3 to 5 business days, same as a personal check. Jerry will probably have access to the first $5000 within two business days... provided that he deposits the draft check in person at his bank's branch or in a bank-owned ATM. In the United States, Regulation CC governs funds availability. Regarding official, draft, or tellers checks: ""If the customer desires next-day availability of funds from these checks, [your bank] may require use of a special deposit slip.""  Mobile deposit availability in the U.S. is NOT regulated in this way and will likely be subject to a longer hold on more, if not all, of the check! Draft checks, don't, as a habit, ""bounce"" in the colloquial sense of ""returned for insufficient funds."" This is because they are prepaid and drawn upon a financial institution's account. Banks are insolvent far less frequently than other businesses or individuals. Draft checks, tellers checks, official checks, bank checks, etc CAN, however, be returned unpaid if one of the following is true: As an aside: an institution is not obligated to honor a stale dated check, but may do so at its discretion. If you have a personal check outstanding for over 6 months, it may still clear and potentially overdraw your account. In this case, contact your bank ASAP to process a reversal. The depositing bank mis-scans the check and the issuing bank refuses the resulting data. I have seen systems mis-read which data field is which, or its contents. Also, there is the possibility the image if the check will be illegible to the issuing bank. The draft check has been cancelled (stop paid). This can happen if:  a) The check was fraudulently bought from the issuing bank using Tom's account  b) Tom has completed an indemnification agreement that the check was lost or otherwise not used for its intended purpose, without fraud having occurred against Tom c) The draft check is escheated (paid to the state as unclaimed property). This case is a subset of case 1, but will lead to a different return reason stamped on the (image replacement document of) the check. The draft check was never any good in the first place. Because of the perception that draft checks are as good as cash (they're not but are a lot better than personal checks), forgery and attempted fraud is shockingly common. These aren't actually underwritten by a real bank, even if they appear to be. The only money ""in"" them is what the fraudster can get out of you. Jerry did not properly endorse the check before presenting it for deposit or otherwise negotiating it. In my time in banking, I most commonly saw cases 3 and 4. Unlike most counterfeit cash, case 3 will fool Jerry and Jerry's teller. Tom gets an immediate payout (a car, a wire transfer, a payday loan, etc) and Jerry's bank doesn't know the check isn't valid until they call the alleged issuing bank to verify its negotiability, or in the case of smaller checks into lower-risk accounts, it is simply returned unpaid as fraudulently drawn. To conclude: Call the alleged issuing bank's verification line before handing over the goods, always properly endorse your deposits, and address what happens if one does not receive or collect on prompt payment in your contracts." A bank check is drawn on the bank itself. You gave the bank the funds backing that check at the time you purchased it. You can not get that money back except by returning the check to them. So, yes, effectively that check behaves like cash; the money us already gone from your account, and once you hand it over you can't claim it was forged or otherwise try to cancel the payment.
I had a situation like this also. A client deposited an IRA check to his local P.O. prior to collection p/up, thinking this meant it would be postmarked April 15. It may have been picked up, but wasn't postmarked until the next day, and my firm refused to consider it as timely. I do remember discussing it w/my Retirement Services Dept. Maybe they made an exception for me and my client, but maybe not. I don't remember. Good luck. The check clears when the receiving bank successfully pulled the money from the issuing account. However, the receiving bank may hold the money for an additional time before giving it to you. Sometimes this is done for good reasons (to prevent Check kiting) and sometimes this is about the bank having the money interest free for a bit, or just their own processing convenience. "You can spend the money quite quickly. The problem is that if there is something wrong with the check, the bank will ask you for the money back. If the check is from a trusted source (a trusted friend, a business with good reputation etc.) that's fine. If the money is from an untrusted source, make sure that having to pay back the money doesn't get you into trouble. Since most people are honest, this is fine for a small amount, but if it's more than you can afford to pay back, don't spend it.  A simple scam is that people send you checks, ""by mistake"" the check is for the wrong amount, say $910 instead of $190, and they ask you to send the difference back. So you put $910 into your account, send them $720, and six weeks later your bank asks for their $910 back. If someone pays you too much on a check and asks you to pay them the difference, you know it is a scam." So does a post-dated check have any valid use in a business or   personal transaction? Does it provide any financial or legal   protections at all? Yes, most definitely. You're writing a future date on the check, not past, to ensure that the check will not be deposited before that day. Keep in mind that this may change from place to place, since not every country has the same rules. In the US, for example, such trick would not work since the check may be presented any time and is not a limited obligation. However, in some other countries banks will not pay a check presented before the date written on it. While in the US the date on the check is the date on which it was (supposedly) written and as such is meaningless for obligation purposes, in many other countries the date on the check is the date on which the payment to be made, thus constitutes the start of the commitment and payment will not be made before that date. For example, in Canada: If you write a post-dated cheque, under the clearing rules of the   Canadian Payments Association (CPA), your cheque should not be cashed   before the date that is written on it. If the post-dated cheque is cashed early, you can ask your financial   institution to put the money back into your account up to the day   before the cheque should have been cashed. "You withdrew the 'cash' portion, and will pay tax on it. How was the check ""another for move remaining to B"" issued? Was it payable to you? If so, it's too late, it's your money and the whole account was cashed out.  If it was payable to B, you should have had it sent directly to their custodian, are you saying you still have that check? You might need to ask A to reissue the check to you, since you are no longer in the US. I'm not sure if you can roll it to an IRA at this point." If you roll your funds from a 401k to an individual Vanguard account it will be in an IRA. Some people talk about IRA loans, but what is happening is that you are given a check for the value of the IRA and you have 60 days to deposit that full amount in another qualified account before being assessed a distribution penalty. The IRS also has rules to prohibit you from making several back-to-back rollovers to try to float the money for longer than 60 days. If the check was payable to you, you had 60 days to deposit to an IRA.  But, it needs to go into the same type of IRA as the 401(k) was. i.e. if the 401(k) was traditional, it goes into a traditional IRA, If 401(k) Roth, it goes into a Roth.  The 20% is not the penalty. The penalty is 10% for early withdrawal. The 20% is the tax withholding. If the 401(k) had $1250, and they kept $250 for taxes, you'd want to deposit the full $1250 into the IRA. At tax time, you'll get the $250 credited to your taxes, and either owe less or get a higher refund. This happened to me in the mid 90's. I wanted to withdraw enough cash from my account to buy a new car and they nearly panicked. I took a bank draft instead.  I discovered afterward that they can require up to a week's notice for any withdrawl. The bottom line is something in your story is not adding up.   You had two checks one that is voided, and one that is not.  Lets say they are both written against your account for $100.  Lets also assume that have exactly $100 in your account. You give the Liquor Store the voided one, they give you $100, but when they attempt to cash the check at their bank they are denied and assessed a $20 fee.  You spend the $100 they gave you; however, you still should have $100 in your account as the check was not cashed. You want to make things right with the liquor store.  You should be able to withdraw the $100 you still have in the bank and give them that much.  While they will still be out the $20 fee, that should make them feel much better about you as a customer.  Tell them when you will be paid and that you will give them the $20 on that date.  Then do so. The only way this problem is not solvable is that you spent the $100 that was left in the bank.  In that case, the Liquor store is correct you stole the money.  More accurately you spent money that wasn't yours. "Checks (in the US, anyway) are only good for six months after they have been written. After that. under the US Uniform Commerical Code they are considered ""stale checks"" and banks need not accept them. My experience is that they generally won't -- but you probably shouldn't count on that, either when figuring out whether to try depositing an old check or figuring out how much cash you need to keep in your checking account to cover recent stale checks. The check you now hold is certainly a statement of intent to pay you and thus is a useful document to supplement other evidence that they still owe you the money -- but since checks can be cancelled and/or a replacement check may have been issued, its value for that purpose may be limited. You can try depositing it and see what happens. If that doesn't work (or you don't want to bother trying it) you can contact the retirement plan, point out that this check went uncashed, and ask them to send you a replacement. If they haven't already done so (you might want to check your own records for that), there shouldn't be any problem with this. (Note: Many business checks have a statement printed on them that they're only good for 90 days or so. If yours does, you can skip trying to cash it; just contact the retirement plan offices.)" "How/when does my employer find out? Do they get a report from their   bank stating that ""check 1234 for $1212.12 paid to John Doe was never   deposited"" or does it manifest itself as an eventual accounting   discrepancy that somebody has to work to hunt down? The accounting department or the payroll company they use will report that the check was not deposited. The bank has no idea that a check was written, but the accounting deportment will know.  The bank reports on all the checks that were cashed. Accounting cares because the un-cashed check for $1212.12 is a liability. They have to keep enough money in the bank to pay all the liabilities. It shouldn't be hard for them to track down the discrepancy, they will know what checks are outstanding. Can my employer punish me for refusing the money in this way? Do they   have any means to force me to take what I am ""owed?"" They can't punish you. But at some time in the future they will will tell their bank not to honor the check. They will assume that it was lost or misplaced, and they will issue a new one to you.  When tax time comes, and I still have not accepted the money, would it   be appropriate to adjust my reported income down by the refused   amount? You can't decide not to report it. The company knows that in year X they gave you a check for the money. They are required to report it, since they also withheld money for Federal taxes, state taxes, payroll taxes, 401K, insurance. They also count your pay as a business expense.  If you try and adjust the numbers on the W-2  the IRS will note the discrepancy and want more information. Remember the IRS get a copy of every W-2.  The employer has to report it because some people who aren't organized may not have cashed a December check before the company has to generate the W-2 in late January. It would confuse everything if they could skip reporting income just because a check wasn't cashed by the time they had to generate the W-2." "First, congratulations on the paycheck!  :-) On the holds: Is it possible that by allowing your account balance to go negative (into overdraft) that you triggered such treatment of your account?  Perhaps the bank is being more cautious with your account since that happened.  Just how long did you have their $150 on hold?  ;-) Or, perhaps it's not you specifically but the bank is being more cautious due to credit conditions that have been prevalent these last years.  Consider: allowing you to cash a check immediately – when it technically hasn't cleared yet – is a form of credit.  Maybe it isn't you they don't trust well enough yet, but the company that issued the check?  Checks bounce, and not by fault of the depositor. I once had a new account, years ago, and discovered a 5 day hold on deposits.  The irony was it was a check drawn on the same bank!  I called my banker and asked about it – and suggested I'd take my business back to my old bank.  I was in the process of applying for a mortgage with the new bank.  Holds were removed. But you may have some trouble with the ""I'll walk"" technique given the climate and your recent overdraft situation and no leverage – or if you do have some leverage, consider using it. But before you assume anything, I would, as JohnFx suggested, ask your bank about it.  Pay your branch a visit in person and talk to the manager.  Phone calls to customer service may be less successful.  If it's not a big issue and more a minor technical policy one, the bank may remove the holds.  If they won't, the manager ought to tell you why, and what you can do to solve it eventually." I suspect @SpehroPefhany is correct and that your bank will cash a check from the US Department of the Treasury.  Especially since they're the same ones who guarantee the U.S. Dollar.  They may hold the funds until the check clears, but I think you'll have good luck going through your bank.  Of course, fees and exchange rate are a factor.   Consider browsing the IRS and US Treasury Department websites for suggestions/FAQs.   I suggest you line up a way to cash it, and make sure there's enough left after fees and exchange rate and postage to get the check that the whole process is worth it, all before you ask it to be shipped to you.   If there's no way to do it through your bank, through a money exchange business (those at the airport come to mind) or through your government (postal bank?), and the check is enough that you're willing to go through some trouble, then you should look into assigning power of attorney for this purpose.  I don't know if it is possible, but it might be worth looking into. Look for US based banks in your area. One's paycheck typically has a YTD (year to date) number that will end on the latest check of the year. I am paid bi-weekly, and my first 2012 check was for work 12/25 - 1/7. So, for my own balance sheet, brokerage statements and stock valuations end 12/31, but my pay ended 12/24. And then a new sheet starts. It depends on a couple of things.  One is your age -- if you're recently out of college that's totally fine; if you've been a professional for a long time then you may want to go a bit more formal.  It also depends on the kind of investment firm and how client-facing the role / firm is.  For example, I used to be at a firm where interviewing in shorts and a t-shirt would've been completely acceptable but I wouldn't suggest that at a white-shoe bank.