How to Find Out If Your Checks Are Still Good

Coming across previously lost checks or returning home from an extended trip to find checks in your mail can have you wondering if those checks are still good for deposit. Before depositing them and potentially risking any bounced checks, make sure they are still good before drawing money off them.

Look at the date on the check. “The Uniform Commercial Code, which applies in most states, says that a bank is not obligated to cash a check more than six months after it was written,” says Chuck Jaffe of MarketWatch. If you have a check more than six months old, do not deposit it with the assumption that it will clear.

Call the person who wrote the check and find out whether the funds are still available or whether the account has changed since the issuing date. This approach also gives the issuer a heads-up for accounting purposes.

Contact the branch manager at your bank and talk to her about the check. If you cannot track down the original issuer of the check, ask the bank to determine whether the check is still good for deposit.