Expired Stop Pay

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Question:

A customer recognizes a check posting to their account that is stale dated (over a year old). The customer replaced the check at that time, but did not issue a stop order which would have expired now anyway without a renewal. Can we return the check if the item was paid fours day ago?

Answer:

No, that would be a late return and your bank could readily be found liable for the item. As banks are allowed to pay stale dated checks, your customer's recourse is against the person he paid twice.

First published on BankersOnline.com 2/22/10