Predated vs Postdated Checks

[John Galt III]

Hi. My garbage company has a warning on their bill stating there will be a service fee for any 'predated' checks. Surely they mean 'postdated', right?

(Yes, I will call them and ask, if needed.)

Thanks.

 

[disneysteve]

Yep. They mean postdated. Every check they receive is "predated" as it was written a few days before they received it.

 

[Sunset]

If you write a pre-dated check using last year, they may charge a fee if it is refused

 

[GrayHare]

Maybe they want you to leave the date field empty and let them fill it in? That would be odd.

 

[Texas Proud]

Just did a search and predated checks did not come up except for one instance... lots of postdated articles...

I think they got it wrong...

 

[GrayHare]

Pre- and post- are farily common yet people confuse them. I heard a sports report that said, "Tomorrow's game is postponed to today." The game had indeed been rescheduled a day sooner because of weather, but that's not what postponing means.

 

[John Galt III]

Maybe they want you to leave the date field empty and let them fill it in? That would be odd.

That was one of my thoughts, too, lol. Or, maybe they are visualizing a timeline graph, in which they they think a date in the future is 'pre' because it is in 'front', in the lead, like a garbage truck in the lead spot winning a race.

Not making fun of these guys, by the way, because they are good guys, inexpensive, and polite. Just trying to understand the logic.

 

[calmloki]

Maybe they have habitual and contentious late payers who argue they shouldn't be charged a late charge because - see? the check was dated by the due date?

 

[John Galt III]

Thanks for the replies. Going to mail a check in to them, tomorrow, with today's date on it.

 

[CaliKid]

This is a trick post because nobody actually writes checks still. You got me!

 

[CaptTom]

I wonder whether a post-dated check, deposited early, would even be noticed. But I suppose if it were, the bank wouldn't honor it and would probably charge a fee to the company trying to deposit it.

But, yeah, they made an honest mistake. Nobody knows anything about how checks work any more. You're hiring them to collect your trash, not for their financial or grammatical skills.

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

I wonder whether a post-dated check, deposited early, would even be noticed. But I suppose if it were, the bank wouldn't honor it and would probably charge a fee to the company trying to deposit it.

But, yeah, they made an honest mistake. Nobody knows anything about how checks work any more. You're hiring them to collect your trash, not for their financial or grammatical skills.

I've been told by a couple of people in banking that they don't check the dates any longer, since they are not legally obligated to in the first place, it should really be considered more of a request to the payee not to deposit it until that date.

 

[Koolau]

IIRC the pay-day loan companies are happy to accept post-dated checks when someone takes out the loan. YMMV

 

[rayvt]

Banks don't even look at the checks. They don't look at the signature. They don't look at the date.

They don't even look at the amount, that's done by running the checks through an OCR machine.

 

[athena53]

Pre- and post- are fairly common yet people confuse them. I heard a sports report that said, "Tomorrow's game is postponed to today." The game had indeed been rescheduled a day sooner because of weather, but that's not what postponing means.

I once heard that action referred to as "pre-poned".

I've heard the same thing others have said: checks are processed by a scanner and the date is ignored. I'd never post-date a check with the hope that someone would wait to deposit it till that date.

 

[Carbon8]

This is a trick post because nobody actually writes checks still. You got me!

That's what I would have thought but curiosity made me look it up. According to atlantafed.org:
The Federal Reserve System continues to process billions of checks every year: 3.66 billion checks were collected in 2021 with a total value of $8.76 trillion.

Who knew?!

 

[Turbo29]

Chase tells you not to do it but says if you do they may pay the check anyway.

From their "Deposit Account Agreement:"

https://www.chase.com/content/dam/chase-ux/documents/personal/checking/deposit-account-agreement.pdf

10. Incomplete, future-dated, conditional or stale-dated checks

You agree not to write a check that’s incomplete, future-dated or tries to limit the time or method of payment with a condition, such as “Void after 180 days” or “Valid only for $1,000 or less.” We have no duty to discover, observe or comply with these conditions and may pay such checks. If we pay a conditional check, the conditions do not apply to us.

We may choose to pay or not to pay a stale-dated check (dated more than six months before it is presented), regardless of how old it is. If we pay it, you will be
responsible for the check.

 

[Texas Proud]

Banks don't even look at the checks. They don't look at the signature. They don't look at the date.

They don't even look at the amount, that's done by running the checks through an OCR machine.

Yes they do.... those machines are really good at what they do... and they do reject checks if the signatures are way off...

If a check is rejected it is then reviewed by a human... or if the machine cannot 'read' the amount... it does make mistakes, but I was really surprised how accurate they are...

 

[Texas Proud]

Chase tells you not to do it but says if you do they may pay the check anyway.

From their "Deposit Account Agreement:"

https://www.chase.com/content/dam/chase-ux/documents/personal/checking/deposit-account-agreement.pdf

10. Incomplete, future-dated, conditional or stale-dated checks

You agree not to write a check that’s incomplete, future-dated or tries to limit the time or method of payment with a condition, such as “Void after 180 days” or “Valid only for $1,000 or less.” We have no duty to discover, observe or comply with these conditions and may pay such checks. If we pay a conditional check, the conditions do not apply to us.

We may choose to pay or not to pay a stale-dated check (dated more than six months before it is presented), regardless of how old it is. If we pay it, you will be
responsible for the check.

Who knows what happens now... it has been years since I worked there...

BUT, if you set up your account for those conditions they did honor them... not a one off but the whole account...

Now they are pushing to businesses where you have to tell them what checks you sent out... if a check comes that does not match what you said you sent they reject it... and they charge you for that service...

 

[motley]

I want to make a joke about how archaic checks are, and yet......a brokerage wants to mail me an inheritance check

 

[Koolau]

That's what I would have thought but curiosity made me look it up. According to atlantafed.org:
The Federal Reserve System continues to process billions of checks every year: 3.66 billion checks were collected in 2021 with a total value of $8.76 trillion.

Who knew?!

From reading about check usage here on the forum, these numbers would surprise me. Knowing our situation (and watching people still write checks at the grocery store and elsewhere) I'm not surprised. YMMV

 

[athena53]

I want to make a joke about how archaic checks are, and yet......a brokerage wants to mail me an inheritance check

That's because they get a few more days of float! Years ago I rolled over a 401(k) from the employer I'd just left to Fidelity. They mailed it to ME but, thank heaven. properly made it out to Fidelity. Fortunately I live half an hour from a Fidelity office.

I use checks mostly for mobile deposits. Yesterday I deposited 3 checks from my Fidelity account into the kids' 529s at another brokerage. Sure beats mailing them. I'm the Garden Club Treasurer and many members like to pay their dues in cash. I come home from a meeting, document it all carefully and then put it in my cash supply and do a mobile deposit of a personal check to the bank. That way I don't have to deal with the bank in person. The members who audit my work know this and are OK with it. The State and District Treasurers also need checks. Archaic but I can't drag them all into the 21st century. It was hard enough getting on-line access to the checking account, which no Treasurer had ever done before.

 

[rayvt]

Yes they do.... those machines are really good at what they do... and they do reject checks if the signatures are way off...

If a check is rejected it is then reviewed by a human... or if the machine cannot 'read' the amount... it does make mistakes, but I was really surprised how accurate they are...

Banks used to have a "signature card" you sign when you opened an account. The last half-dozen checking accounts I have opened.....they did NOT have me sign a signature card. So they don't even have my signature to check against.
With the online bill pay services, you can send money to a person or a vendor that doesn't take electronic payment. The bill pay service creates a paper check and mails it. Your signature is not on that paper check.

So maybe the bank OCR machines compare signatures on large checks, but they sure don't on small checks.

 

[MarieIG]

This is a trick post because nobody actually writes checks still. You got me!

I don't write a lot of checks, but I do write some. In September I wrote checks for my estimated taxes (they just cleared), and in October I gave the AC installer a check to save him the service fee charged by the CC. I also pay for my dental (to the extent not covered) via check as he charges a service fee for the use of CCs, and I don't like to pay extra for the privilege of paying my bill.

Most of my payments are linked to CCs, and I pay my credit cards online.

 

[CaliKid]

That's what I would have thought but curiosity made me look it up. According to atlantafed.org:
The Federal Reserve System continues to process billions of checks every year: 3.66 billion checks were collected in 2021 with a total value of $8.76 trillion.

Who knew?!

Must be going steadily down every year. If that was the number for 2021 I'd put the over/under at 3b today and I'd take the under.