Check acceptance: Legal line or Courtesy box

We are struggling with this subject yet again. We process in excess of 7 million checks a month, and frequently encounter checks where the legal line and courtesy box is different.
Our dilema is, that when processing these checks, we can often see from the source document what the customer intended, but there are cases when we still screw it up. either from the customers point of view, or the paying bank.

Currently we are taking the checks strictly for what is written on the legal line (UCC.3.114). While we don't get any returns from Paying banks anymore, we still get customer complaints.

It is really amazing to me how many people out there just don't know how to write a check.

How do you handle these at your bank?

Quote:

---

Our dilema is, that when processing these checks, we can often see from the source document what the customer intended, but there are cases when we still screw it up. either from the customers point of view, or the paying bank.

Currently we are taking the checks strictly for what is written on the legal line (UCC.3.114). While we don't get any returns from Paying banks anymore, we still get customer complaints.

---

While you are technically correct in taking the legal amount you have to weigh in the customer service aspect as well. (You can lose customers - not Paying banks!) While it is true banks can return checks that are written for the courtesy amount they will typically only do so when the check is brought to their attention (ie NSF, Customer complaint, high dollar, etc.) We have found taking the check for what the customer intended (up to a certain dollar amount) results in fewer complaints as customers are not being charged late fees and incurring additional interest because their $100.25 was taken for the legal amount of $100.00. It is important to note that if we use the courtesy amount from the check the courtesy amount must match a dollar amount from the coupon (ie: full, minimum, or customer written)