Any American equivalent for a 'crossed cheque', please?

[Mehrgan]

Hi,

I'd appreciate any reply. Thanks.

[BobK]

Perhaps speakers of Am English may have difficulty answering this, because the lack of a word reflects the fact that the thing doesn't exist. But maybe it does exist....

They've stopped being used in the UK, but maybe the concept of 'crossing a cheque' still has weight. My first cheque book, in about 1970, had blank cheques that one could cross in ink - you drew two parallel lines from top to bottom and wrote "& co.' in the space between them. This had the effect of imposing a restriction on the recipient - it could only be credited to a bank account, and not simply exchanged for cash.

Shortly after that (mid-seventies...?) the banks started printing pre-crossed cheques. A while ago they stopped. Because of bank-laundering rules, you can't now exchange a cheque for cash anyway (unless you do it in the normal course of events at a bank because you hate ATMs ). So I don't think crossing has any force anyway.

b

[Barb_D]

I need to understand what a "crossed check" is before I answer. I don't quite follow Bob's description. Do you mean the person had to deposit it in a bank account? But if you have an account at that bank with funds sufficient to cover the check, they would essentially give you cash for it anyway, right? You deposit your check and simultaneously withdraw cash in the same amount, essentially cashing the check.

I suppose if you wrote the words "For Deposit Only" next to the person's name, they could only deposit it.

[Tdol]

You could get cash from an uncrossed cheque . A crossed cheque would transfer the funds to another bank account. The account holder can withdraw cash with a crossed cheque from their account if they have ID and make the cheque payable to Cash.

At least that was the state of play the last time I did it, though Bob suggests that things have changed.

A crossed cheque has two vertical lines on it.

[SoothingDave]

The entire thing sounds foreign to me. When one receives a check, he can sign it on the back with "for deposit only" on it to prohibit anyone who steals the check from cashing it.

When one is giving a check I have never heard of putting any kind of prohibition on its use.

[Tdol]

Must be a cultural difference- the standard cheque in the UK was a crossed one that transferred funds to another account. Uncrossed cheques were much rarer.

[5jj]

Must be a cultural difference- the standard cheque in the UK was a crossed one that transferred funds to another account. Uncrossed cheques were much rarer.

You are revealing your youth! Like Bob, I remember my first cheque book (in 1964) having uncrossed cheques. I usually crossed them as a precaution, but as a lazy student, I would occasionally give an uncrossed cheque to a friend who was going into town. He could then get cash for me.

[Tdol]

I would have had to ask for uncrossed cheques- the standard issue ones were crossed.

But then a tram home cost more than a farthing and a thick ear when I were a nipper.

[SoothingDave]

Cross-checking - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The only cross checking I know about happens on the ice.

[5jj]

But then a tram home cost more than a farthing and a thick ear when I were a nipper.

You had farthings? When I were a lad the only farthing I saw were the one me pa gave me mam when he handed over his week's pay for her to get the family's food.