why did the check i deposited come back to me?

January 17, 2008 4:54 PM

i deposited my roommate's rent check into my account via atm at a branch of my bank, but not my branch, although it's one in the same city. why did they mail the check and my deposit slip back to me?

i've deposited checks there before without problem, some made out to my full name and others made out to my nickname (a diminutive, like tina from christina), but this one came back to me in an envelope labelled from that branch and with my full name and address handwritten on the front. nothing else inside, so i don't know why it came back—i endorsed the back of the check, so that's not it. so why was it mailed back to me?

p.s. posting anonymously in case i did do something wrong, and because i don't want friends or employers finding out i am kind of dumb about bank stuff and money matters in general.

posted by anonymous to work & money (10 comments total)

did you endorse the check?
posted by thinkingwoman at 4:56 PM on January 17, 2008

why don't you just phone your bank? You can get one correct answer versus the multiple theories you'll get here. And it's not that hard to do.
posted by Kololo at 4:57 PM on January 17, 2008 [2 favorites]

???

Kololo has it. This is the sort of thing to ask the bank, not a bunch of strangers on the internet. This has happened to me a couple of different times, always for a different obscure (and seemingly arbitrary) bank rule.
posted by jdroth at 5:05 PM on January 17, 2008

Any chance the cheque bounced?
posted by pseudostrabismus at 5:25 PM on January 17, 2008

Check your account statement. There may be a fee there, perhaps for a bounced cheque.
posted by acoutu at 5:51 PM on January 17, 2008

Oops. Also check the date. Did your roommate write 2007 instead of 2008 or something? The cheque may thus be more than 6 months or 12 months old.
posted by acoutu at 5:52 PM on January 17, 2008

Call or go back the branch.
posted by Divine_Wino at 6:10 PM on January 17, 2008

i should have read the question more slowly. yes, call the bank.
posted by thinkingwoman at 6:26 PM on January 17, 2008

Was it made out to your nickname? I've had enough checks come back from ATMs for that reason that that would be my first hunch. That's one of those rules that I imagine gets uneven treatment from the processors.

"Yessir! The account says Charles Wagon. This check is made out to Chuck! Send it back!"

as opposed to

"Dude, whatever. Is it time for lunch?"
posted by GPF at 8:15 PM on January 17, 2008

Were the funds debited from your account (or even ever credited)? If your roommate's bank returned the check (for insufficient funds or a stop payment or something on her end) then there should be stamp from them on the front indicating the reason. Otherwise, it was probably something on your bank's end... having a check made to your nickname instead of your full name can can cause it to be returned, depending on who at the bank was verifying the item and how much they care (as GPF states above)... but it's really something you're going to have to talk to your bank about, probably just at whatever main 800 customer service line they have, or go into the branch and talk to a teller and try to redeposit the item. It's not a big deal--I used to work in a bank department that handled returned items, and they were returned all the time, for many different reasons, sometimes even just due to an error--it's a little strange that the check was returned by the branch instead of a processing center, but I'm guessing you must bank with a pretty bank. Feel free to me-mail me if there's anything else!
posted by logic vs love at 9:03 PM on January 17, 2008