Loans Answers

Lost Check – Advice?

Question: I wrote a check to company that lost the check. They called wanting a replacement, which I don’t have a problem with, but I don’t know how to handle the lost check fee. My bank wants $25 and the lost check info stays in the system for 12 months. After that, another $25.

So, what would you do? My feeling is that two years worth of lost check fees is fair and that I’m willing to assume the risk of a lost check ($300) after 2 years. They didn’t seem too thrilled, but said they would “get back to me.”

Answer: Some options (not necessarily mutually exclusive):

* Get a bank account at a bank that doesn’t rip you off by charging a fee to stop a check. Yes, they do exist, although some of them have a minimum balance requirement to waive the fee (personally, I pull this off by having my home equity loan at the same bank as my checking account).

* Ask to speak to a manager at the bank, tell him that you almost never use this service and expect him to waive the stop-check fee as a courtesy to a good customer, and suggest to him that perhaps you might wish to take your business elsewhere if he is unable to do that. Point out to him that you can close your bank account and reopen it elsewhere, thus most assuredly stopping the check, for free.

* Tell the company that lost the check that they are certainly going to reimburse you for the stop-check fee for the first year, and that they are also going to give you a letter, signed by someone with the authority to make binding contracts for the company, promising to reimburse you if the lost check is ever cashed.

* If the company balks at indemnifying you against the possibility that the check might be cashed some day, then never, ever do business with the company again, and make sure you let them know why you’re leaving them.

* If the check is ever cashed, you can certainly file a small-claims suit against the company that lost it for the amount of the check plus the fee for the lawsuit.

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Filed under: Home Equity Loan