Checks are simply a promise to pay an amount between the payer and payee, with the bank only acting as the intermediary. Checks have been around a long, long time, and banks have clear, well-defined rules in depositing and cashing them.

In my 30+ years of banking experience, I have never once seen a bank manager who wasn't interested in fraudulent checks. With the all-too-common 1-800-customer-service lines today, the rep may be very comfortable with the information they can pull up on their computer screen. Unfortunately, most aren't trained as tellers who know what to look for on bad checks. The blanket answer about suspect checks is almost always for you to deposit the check. What do they care? They almost always get their money back if the item is bad, and they get to charge you $$$ for depositing that bad boy!

Checks can bounce back to the depositor as much as 30 or more days since the deposit. The checks that bounce back in only a few days are usually because the computer kicks them back because of insufficient funds. If an account holder suspects fraud or forgery, it has from 30 to 90 days to report problem items. These items are investigated by hand, and are manually passed back through the banking system.

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