Getting old checks reissued?

August 24, 2020 5:46 PM

I have 5 year old checks I miraculously found that might help me get through a couple months of rent. They're from companies I consulted with, and they're large established companies. One got absorbed by another company and the other is still around. Should I get them reissued or go to the bank? Both say void after 180 days, but I assume that does not void the check?

Who do I ask for to reissue the checks and what can I do to make this as easy for the issuing company as possible? The checks are from two companies and split over $20k. I found them cleaning out my mom's place who kept them from me for whatever reason was going through her head at the time.

Should I just call up the companies and ask for a re-issue or what? My bank refuses to cash checks past the void by date. What are my chances of seeing any of this? As far as I'm aware they still owe me as I paid taxes on it. Thanks!

posted by anonymous to Work & Money (7 answers total)

It is absolutely worth your time to contact the companies and ask them to re-issue the checks. Reach out to their accounting office, specifically accounts payable (though, I dunno, this might vary by company). I don't know if it will work with all of them, but having done this kind of work, I know it's entirely plausible that they'll help. Send an image of the check, and any associated invoice if you have it.
posted by hought20 at 6:08 PM on August 24, 2020 [1 favorite]

In most states, this should have been turned over to the state as Unclaimed Property.
posted by politikitty at 6:13 PM on August 24, 2020 [10 favorites]

Unclaimed property kicks in after five years in most states. With the checks, reclaiming from the state should be easy. If it's less than five years, go through accounts payable as suggested. They might just ask for the check number and reissue them. If not, they'll want some documentation. If you have none, write up a description of the work you did, who it was for, etc., and send that. One way or another, you should be able to collect, even from the absorbed outfit.
posted by beagle at 6:18 PM on August 24, 2020 [3 favorites]

Tangent based on politikitty's comment: I will warn you that, at least in my state, unclaimed property claims take a looooooooooooong time to process. I did one last year that was almost five months from submission of documentation to payout of claim. Plus, before that, I had to get proof of right to the money - in my case, this was an old utility deposit from my dad who has been dead for 20 years, so I had to get a copy of my birth certificate sent to me before I could submit it with my claim (I live in a different state from where I was born). There are hoops to jump through before the state will give you unclaimed property, particularly if it's not yours, and those hoops can take time.

Not that claiming money owed isn't worth doing, of course, but if you need money urgently to pay rent/bills, I wouldn't count on unpaid property claims to happen quickly.
posted by pdb at 7:19 PM on August 24, 2020 [4 favorites]

On the other hand, some states make it really easy to claim your unclaimed property. In Illinois you can do it all on their website in 10 minutes. Don't know where you are, but give it a look.
posted by JoeZydeco at 8:14 PM on August 24, 2020 [2 favorites]

As long as the account they're drawn on still exists, the bank might honor them.

Commercial bank accounts do not generally refuse older checks, so you may as well give it a try before you do anything more complicated.
posted by ananci at 10:27 AM on August 25, 2020

In most states, this should have been turned over to the state as Unclaimed Property.

If their AP department is competent, which is a pretty big if.
posted by Jacqueline at 7:02 AM on August 27, 2020 [3 favorites]