Can i cash a check anywhere

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The information on this site does not modify any insurance policy terms in any way. Approximately 8. There are ways to cash a check without a bank account, but they cost more money, often require more time and involve more risk than cashing a check at a bank where you have an account.

Here are five options. Banks and credit unions are not required to cash checks for non-customers, but many banks will cash a check is written by an account holder at that bank, even if it is payable to a non-customer. Also, the payee i. The payee also should expect to pay a fee. And there may be restrictions, such as limits on check amounts and refusal of two-party personal checks.

Checks that are six months old or more might be declined. There are a number of big retail stores like Walmart, Kmart and grocery chains that offer check-cashing services. Joining the program is free. Grocery chains often provide check-cashing services. Prepaid cards are similar to checking account debit cards.

Your spending is limited by how much money you have loaded onto the card. Prepaid cards have different options for check cashing. Some prepaid cards let you set up direct deposit so that checks are automatically loaded onto the card.

Other cards come with an app that lets you snap a picture of your check to load it onto your card. Or, you might be able to deposit your check at an ATM to load the money onto the card. Fees are a big drawback of prepaid cards. Reload fees can be steep. This covers paychecks, government checks, etc. To get cash for no fee, just make a purchase from any retailer providing cash back.

There are no monthly usage fees, but ATM withdrawals are costly. It is far speedier to do that this way, than wiring the money, and also precludes a necessary trip for them to the WU agent. To get a card, there is a shortcut page to go directly to the debit cards www. Ooh really wanna get that prepaid card. I thought that checking is not used anymore because they are easy to forge and copy. In Sweden and Spain is blocked we check property sales and they can only be redeemed at the issuing bank.

All these are great options except the last two. And loading on to a prepaid card is generally a bad idea for any kind of money. I have used the WalMart option before and I find it the best alternative to a bank. Of course, with a little hard work you should be able to find a bank that will set you up with an account, unless you are illegal or have committed serious bank fraud in the past. Notify me of followup comments via e-mail. Free signup to get a free ebook on How to Save Money on Everything!

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While writing a check is quite simple, cashing one can be a chore. To avoid any problems, review these top reasons a bank may not cash your check. A bank is not obligated by law to cash a check for you if neither you nor the writer of the check has an account with that bank. If the check was written by someone with an account at that bank, the bank may honor the check assuming there's enough money in the account. Banks have to protect themselves against check fraud.

Without proper proof of identity, a bank can legally refuse to cash a check made out to your name. The bank may demand that these proofs be "valid," or current, even though your picture is right on it. Say a business owner wants to cash a check written to the business. That may seem harmless enough, but it might not be cashable if the owner has not followed through with a few simple—and necessary—procedures.

He tries to cash that check at a nearby bank, but the bank teller refuses to complete the transaction unless John can provide proof of valid business registration with the state. Business owners need to take two steps to prevent the problem:. Both these steps are needed for other purposes, notably for tax filing, but they'll also save aggravation at the bank. If you don't have an account at that bank, you may be charged a check-cashing fee, especially if you go to the payor's bank.

Not all bank branches can handle a large cash transaction without advance notice. Credit unions and smaller branches of large national bank chains may not have the necessary cash on-site to clear a very large check. It will not be willing to hand most or all of it to a single customer and tell the next customer that the bank is out of cash. When you have a check for a very large amount of money, call ahead to the manager of the bank branch you intend to visit.

The bank manager will advise you whether you should go in by appointment, go to the main branch, or even go to another bank that can handle the transaction. Some checks carry notices indicating that they will become void after a certain period of time. Once that date has passed, these checks are referred to as stale dated.

Some checks can become stale-dated as early as 60 days, while others may be 90 to days. While the Federal Reserve considers those notices to be guidelines, some banks are very conservative and won't budge. If you wait too long to cash a check, a bank can refuse to cash it. Legally, a bank can refuse to cash any check that is older than six months.

Some banks may decide to cash it anyway as a favor to a long-time customer, but that is entirely at the bank's discretion. Another reason a bank may not be able to cash a check that is too old is that the routing number of the institution issuing the check may have changed as a result of a merger or acquisition. If you try to cash a post-dated check one with a future date on it and a bank refuses to cash it, the bank may be following instructions from the person who wrote the check.

When someone gives advanced written notice to your bank to not cash a post-dated check, the request is valid for six months under state law.