How to cross cheques

WizardDr

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There is a lot of confusion about cheque crossings and all that.

I wont go into the legal technicalities but if you want to write a cheque and ensure that it can ONLY be cashed by the guy whose name you write on it here's what you do:

Pay : Joe Bloggs (delete the words 'or order' at end of line. Initial the change.
Put two parallel lines on the cheque and write 'Not Transferable' on them.

In Ireland currently, this is the only way to ensure a cheque has to be cashed by Joe Bloggs.
 
I always cross them "a/c payee only". Is this no use? :confused:

Perhaps you could go into the legal technicalities for anoraks like me? :eek:
 
2 paralell lines across cheque with A/C Payee Only

This (spposedly) means that a cheque can only be lodged into an account in the name of the person to whom it is made payable. But, as can be seen from another current thread in this forum, that does not necessarily happen.
 
So crossing it "a/c payee only" can be ignored who is to say that this alternative might not also be ignored? What makes the alternative way presented here different?
 
I have never heard of 'not transferable' being used when crossing cheques, so I'd be interested to hear more on this.

A/c payee only means that the cheque should only be cashed to the payee's account, i.e. it cannot be endorsed (signed over to someone else), which in effect means that it is 'non-transferrable'.

Of course this does not preclude any bank/institution from (incorrectly) ignoring the crossing.

This previous thread has some more info.
 
I've also seen "Not negotiable" on checks. I'm not sure how much attention is paid to the actual words. As long as the cheque has the parallel lines across the corner with some kind of scribble between them, it should be payable only to the person named.
 
I have never heard of 'not transferable' being used when crossing cheques, so I'd be interested to hear more on this.

Never heard of "not transferable" either. I have, on occasion, written "not negotiable". This is essentially the same I suppose. Sometimes, I cross it twice - once with "not negotiable" and then with "a/c payee only" - I suppose a bit overkill.

Just read the inside cover of my BoI cheque book and it just says "cross all cheques to be sent by post". It doesn't give any indication as to how to cross.

Some large companies seem to cross their cheques "not negotiable" and "& co".

I'd like to know the best way once and for all!
 
'A/c payee only' would appear to be the safest, as it means that they cheque can only be lodged to the payee's account-assuming of course that the bank follow the order.
 
Sorry I was away for a while:

The crossing 'Account Payee' has no legal significance in Ireland, though it does in the UK after they changed the legislation a few years ago.

The key to what I was saying is to REMOVE the words 'OR ORDER' at end of cheque, as it this creature that gave the instrument its transferability in the first place.

Then placing the words NOT TRANSFERABLE in parallel lines will copper fasten this.

Believe me this is the one.
 
The crossing 'Account Payee' has no legal significance in Ireland, though it does in the UK after they changed the legislation a few years ago.

Do you have a link to any legislation/official information to back this up?

Or the 'not transferrable' crossing?
 
There is no legal back up for 'Account Payee' in Ireland.
UK change is as far back as 1998
Its 'OR ORDER' is what makes the instrument negotiable in the first instance.
 
I see references to the Bills of Exchange (Crossed. Cheques) Act, 1906 on IrishStatuteBook.ie (e.g. [broken link removed][broken link removed]) but I can't find the act itself and don't know if it's the authoritative legislation on the matter...
 
Look
its 'Or Order' that makes the item negotiable in the first instance.

Just letting people know that it works.

Dont use it if you dont want to.
 
Look
its 'Or Order' that makes the item negotiable in the first instance.

Just letting people know that it works.

Dont use it if you dont want to.
It's fair enough for people to ask you on what basis you are recommending this. A link to the relevant legislation would help. If you can't provide it then that's fine but don't expect people to take your advice seriously or as authoritative if you can't provide anything that independently corroborates your claims.
 
I just wrote a crossed cheque and while doing it realised that my crossed
lines were going through the "or order" at the end of the payee line.
I always cross in that part of the cheque between where the amount
in words is written and the amount in numerals goes in where a banker
told me to.

I've been unconsciously taking the first of WizardDr steps (excluding
initialing the removal of "or order").

So assuming "acc payee only" and "not transferable" have the same legal
interpretation there doesn't appear to be a difference between the two
supposedly different methods mentioned in this thread.
 
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