If you lose a personal check or if you think it’s been stolen, you need to ask your bank or credit union to cancel the check. You’ll want to act quickly, before the check can be cashed. Here are the five steps to cancel a check.
1. See whether the check has already cleared
In general, you can stop payment on a check — known as a stop payment order — only if your bank hasn’t paid it. Log in to your bank account and look through your transaction history to see if the check has posted. If the check was stolen and the payment has cleared, it's important to act fast to report the fraud to your bank.
2. Gather a few pieces of information
There are several details you’ll need before you contact your bank:
Your account number
The check number
The exact amount of the check
Other details you might need include the date on the check and the name of the recipient (the “payee”) and the person who signed the check, especially if you have a joint account and someone else wrote it.
3. Contact your bank
You must give your bank notice orally or in writing to request a stop payment. Banks recommend various ways to contact them, but generally you can make a request online, at a branch or by calling the phone number on the back of your debit card.
Assuming the check hasn’t already been presented to the bank, the stop payment request should take effect once the bank authorizes it.
4. Approve any stop payment fees
A few banks and credit unions don’t charge customers to cancel a check, but others have fees as high as $30 or more that would be debited from your account.
The fee amount could vary depending on how you contact the bank. You may be charged more for requesting a stop payment over the phone instead of online, for example. You have to authorize the stop payment order in order for your bank to process the fee.
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5. Note the expiration date on the stop payment order
A stop payment order typically lasts about six months to keep whoever has your lost or stolen check from trying to cash it at different times and places. Whenever the order ends, you can renew it for another period but most banks won’t cash a check that's more than six months old.
Frequently asked questions
Can I cancel recurring bill payments?
You can request stop payments for a series of checks and pre-authorized ACH debit transactions, such as recurring bill payments. Federal law requires you to make a request orally or in writing to your bank at least three business days before the transfer date. If you call, your bank may require written confirmation of the request within 14 days.
Can I stop payment on a cashier’s check?
Banks are not required to stop cashier’s checks, although they might in the case of fraud. Because these forms of payment rely on bank funds, a bank must honor them.
What if a stolen check has cleared my account?
A stop payment order is not your only line of defense if a check is stolen. If a fraudulent check goes through, you might be able to get charges removed by reporting the incident to your bank in a timely manner.
Contact the payee if necessary. In the event of an error or lost check, let the recipient know about the request to stop payment and arrange a way to send a new check.
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