Business Account Chaos

One small business owner, three business names, one acronym, and SO MANY QUESTIONS!!!

Can (or should) we accept a check for deposit made out to the acronym of a business corporation (i.e. check made out to ABC, but business is actually titled Abby's Basketball Court, Inc.).

What do we do if have a lockbox for this customer and his checks come made out to two of his business names on one check (i.e. made out to Abby's Basketball Court, Inc on first line, and second line is another business name, no 'and' or 'or'). Is this just something we clarify in our lockbox agreement?

Whether or not your bank accepts a check made out to the initials of the business is a business decision that takes into account the risk that the initials actually belong to another party, the bank's knowledge of its customer and the bank's appetite for risk. If the checks are meant to be payable to another business that coincidentally has or uses the same initials, the bank could be on the hook for losses. Ideally, checks should be payable to the full name of the business or its DBA name, if it uses one (my preference is the legal name of the business).

A check such as you describe in your second question, with "stacked" names but without conjunctions or ampersand would be considered in most states to be ambiguous as to whether it's payable to the payees alternatively or not alternatively. That means that the check is payable to the payees alternatively, and either of the payees can negotiate it without the other's endorsement. Review subsection 3-110(d) of your state's UCC for the wording of the law.

Thanks, John!

John here is another -- I have a Incorporated account in the name of (as example: ABC Incorporation DBA Tell It All. One of the signers on the corporate resolution is John Doe. An insurance check made payable to "Tell It All dba John Doe and Jim Brown and Ted Smith (we do not know who Jim or Ted are - they are not on any account information). John Doe endorsed the check as John Doe and had the other two individuals sign. He brings the check to the bank and wants to deposit into his personal account. The account established with us is a Corporation with EIN, with a dba Business Name. He was told that he could not deposit the check into his personal account (at this time we haven't even gotten to the blind endorsement). He told us that his CPA told him to deposit the check into his personal account so he would not have to count this as income (being it was for insurance payment from the storm on his business building)I am taking over $140,000+ Is their a regulation or UCC that I can go to being this is a Corporation and explain or is this just standard practice that we are doing? I have explained it is the business that owns the funds not the individual. His response I am the business the owner.

You are not "required" to accept anything for deposit to any account. If you can't validate Jim and Ted's signatures, then you should not accept it. To make matters worse, I wouldn't even know who the rightful payee is with this in the payee line: "Tell It All dba John Doe and Jim Brown and Ted Smith". ABC Inc does business as Tell it All and Tell it All does not do business as John Doe.