We are trying to figure out how to tell if the check is a credit card check other than a name of a credit card on it. We keep asking our supervisor but she won't give us a straight answer, we think she doesn't know herself. Is it the routing number that tells or the account number and just how can we tell? Thans

There are several ways to tell on each check. Credit card checks usually have an expiration date on them, for example "Use before October 10, 2004". A somewhat more obscure way to see is if the check is from one of the major credit card banks such as BankOne, CapitalOne, etc. Since we only cash checks for customers, the likelihood that one of our customers would have a check from a large bank would be minute. This would cause us to take a closer look at the check and then you can usually see other differences. Also the name and address usually looked typed versus the printing from regular printing companies. Sometimes it will have the customer's account number on them but the MICR line looks different from regular printed checks. In addition, many of them are not the same size as your basic check. Just a few observations I have made, hope it helps.

LS's tips are good. I'm assuming you are not receiving these checks in person, otherwise you could just ask the customer.

If you find out they are credit card checks, I suggest you refuse to accept them. Typically, customers who use these are just a few days away from going to the payday lenders - trouble on the horizon. If they get upset, suggest they close their account. You don't need the headache of dealing with these types of checks. Reg CC says you can't place a hold on a check because it is a certain type, but it also doesn't say you have to accept them either.

I'm not the expert, but I'm not sure we can "refuse to accept them" just because they are a credit card (or - as I prefer to think of them: "instant debt") check. If you're dealing with someone completely unknown to the bank, that's one thing. But I don't think we can say that "customers who use these are just a few days away from going to the payday lenders - trouble on the horizon." My experience has been that that is not always the case.

We refuse to accept them and state in our deposit agreement that all transactions are subject to acceptance by us. The customers who became upset and closed their accounts were customers we didn't want anyway. We have offered some of the customers overdraft lines of credit, but most we just let them go.

We are a small rural bank and can tell you more than a dozen stories in the past 3 years of customers who used these cc checks to fund everyday items. To us, cc checks and payday lenders are no different.

We have been burned several times in the past on these checks. Regulation CC does not allow you to place an exception hold on a class of checks, but nothing in the regulation requires you to accept an item for deposit in the first place. So, one of the options we use on larger dollar credit card checks for customers we don't know very well is to accept them for collection only. The customer is generally not very happy about this course of action, but if they were planning to use the funds in a prudent manner (i.e. the interest rate was very attractive to finance a specific purchase) they usually go along with the plan. If they get mad because they wanted the funds immediately, then it was most likely a problem waiting to happen.