Losing a Cheque

kida

Paid someone last week by cheque and they called this morning and said they had lost it and could we cancel it and give him another one.

Its a friend of a friend so we are going to do it. Just wondering could we refuse as we had already paid. I mean if you piad cash and they lost it it would be tough luck.

Stephen

Not really, if you paid cash then you would be down money and it would be his problem. It costs you bugger all to make out a new cheque. You can have your bank cancel the old one easily enough anyway afaik.

I'd be wary if the person wasn't a friend but you say they are.

Cheques should be confined to the past, they're more of a hindrance than they are useful. The amount of bounced cheques we used to get when I worked in a shop. We had to make a policy of only accepting cheques with a cheque card so as we would be guaranteed payment. Needless to say all the usual unreliable ****ers wouldn't give their cheque card numbers.

seamus

Originally posted by kida
Paid someone last week by cheque and they called this morning and said they had lost it and could we cancel it and give him another one.

Its a friend of a friend so we are going to do it. Just wondering could we refuse as we had already paid. I mean if you piad cash and they lost it it would be tough luck.

Not sure. Cheques aren't exactly legal tender. I'm sure someone here could fill you in on exactly what type of contract it entails.

To me, the fact that they lost it infers that they received and took ownership of it, at which point it becomes their property. So it's their problem. Whether receipt of a cheque is legally payment of a debt though, depends on what type of contract a cheque is, I suppose.

Sleepy

Once you've cancelled it, the cheque becomes worthless anyway so what's the point in not doing it. As it stands, if he's lost the cheque and you haven't cancelled it, some scumbag can probably pass it off on some unsuspecting shop assistant / dumb bank teller. In fairness, the guy either gave you goods or services in exchange for the cheque, it costs next nothing to make a phone call to cancel the cheque and give him a new one.

To do anything else would just be making a boll0x of yourself.

kida

Sleepy - read my post - I have gave him another cheque - i was wondering whether legally I needed to.

All cheques I write are crossed (exactly for the reasons you stated)

Victor

Originally posted by kida
i was wondering whether legally I needed to.

You need to pay him, the cheque is only an instruction to pay, not actual payment. Deduct the cost of the bank's cancellation fee if you want to be snotty about it.