From Indygal Goes to Holyrood:
... Scottish Gas have (sic) been displaying extremely poor customer service to my mother of late and they (sic) make massive profits. So EXACTLY six months after the date on this cheque and on the very last possible day, I made my way to the bank to cash this £2.20 cheque. Mean? Possibly. Pleased with myself? Surprisingly so :-)
I hate to burst Anne's bubble but, due to the Limitiation Act of 1980, cheques are legally valid for six years.
And yes, I'm struggling to understand why the above actions would be either mean or pleasing too while noting that, given that thousands of cheques are produced automatically by big companies, it's generally not worth the effort and/or cost of stopping the small value cheques from going out not to mention the small value invoices.
So if you get a £2.20 cheque or payment request any time soon, don't lose any sleep over it. Certainly don't go wasting your time marking a date in your diary six months (or six years) hence....
SNP Tax
7 minutes ago
8 comments:
Jeff, I used to respect you.
But now you've shown the world that you actually know what the Limitiation Act of 1980 is...it's all gone.
This reminds me of when Take That split up:(
Except that the Limitation Act 1980 doesn't apply in Scotland.
What is relevant is the short negative prescription under the Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973.
Which is 5 years - not 6.
Banking practice, as I understand it, is to treat a cheque more than 6 months old as stale and it is then within the bank's discretion to decide what to do with it - including refer it to the original drawer.
Banks accept cheques written in December and January with the year wrong - which in the case of January cheques means accepting cheques which on their face are 12 months old.
I would guess that this just applies to handwritten cheques only rather than computer-generated cheques.
We have a winner on the nerdy cheque based knowledge and I have clearly wrecked myself.
Tell you what though, the sooner we have a fully unified UK and iron out there legal kinks the better. What do you think? ;)
Of course, Indygal also gave Scottish Gas six month's worth of interest on the cheque amount.
Not a lot of money but hey, it's the principal...
While I see I was too slow to berate you for referring to the Limitation Act of our neighbouring kingdom when there is a perfectly good 1973 Act in operation in Scotland I should point out that the negative prescriptive period of 5 years in the 1973 Act is not generally applicable to the cheque itself because a cheque is a bill of exchange governed by the Bills of Exchange Act 1882. Any cheque is dated and is a demand bill, payable on presentment to the drawee (the bank). However, where there is a demand bill it must be presented for payment within a reasonable time otherwise the right to payment from the drawee is lost (if you presented timeously and the drawee then refused to pay when in funds you would have 5 years to sue from that point). Determining what is areasonable time is a matter of custom and practice in the case of cheques. Too late and the bank are justifiably entitled to refuse payment and the recourse of the payee is against the drawer - from whom you can demand payment again.
I trust I have out-nerded the nerds. Come 2018 of course the revolution comes.
Happy Christmas
Scott
Scott -
Yes, indeed.
The rights in terms of the underlying obligation (enforceable for 5 years) and the rights of the holder of the bill in due course (rights generally dependent on banking practice) are not necessarily the same.
jeez oh you must be the life and soul of the party... :p
For goodness' sake, it wasn't meant to be taken that seriously. I wasn't exactly losing sleep over it or wrapped up in a "bubble" and I certainly didn't mark the date in my diary, I was just quite happy that for a change instead of remembering about it the day after the 6 month deadline, I remembered ON the day - and not having read the legislation, only the instruction that came with the cheque I wasn't aware I COULD put it in after that. But now I do and for that, Jeff, I am very thankful to you - I think!
Post a Comment