While working at Bank of America, I learned a magic phrase that I hadn’t heard before: “verify funds.”
When someone writes you a check (I know, it’s 2009, but even I use them sometimes for plumbers or whatnot), you may feel uncomfortable about whether the check author has enough money to cover it. If you’ve ever deposited a “funny” check, particularly for a large amount, you know how painful it can be to have the money credited and then later taken back out. Fortunately, sometimes you can find out in advance if the check is good.
In general, you call the bank that houses the check author’s account, provide them the check information and they’ll tell you either yes or no. Of course, even if they say yes, that information is only foolproof for about the next 3 seconds, since any number of things could happen before you deposit or cash the check, but it’s better than not knowing.
Ironically, it’s more useful when they tell you, “No, funds aren’t currently available to cover that check,” because now you have options.
- You can keep trying every day until funds are available
- You can contact the check author and work out a different method of payment
- You can decide never to do business with that person again
I did a little research for us all and called the top 6 national banks (some of them several times) and asked whether they would verify funds for a third party (the recipient of the check). Here are the results:
| Name of Bank | Over the phone? | In person? |
|---|---|---|
| Bank of America | No | Yes |
| Chase | Yes | Yes |
| Wells Fargo | Yes | Yes |
| Citibank | No | Yes |
| PNC Bank | Yes (for a $5 fee) 1-900-988-4762 |
No (but every other bank said Yes, so…) |
| U.S. Bank | Yes | Yes |
If you’ve had an experience lately that doesn’t match the table, please leave a comment and I can revisit my findings.
Email this article
Print this article
Share this article: Twitter | Tip'd | Facebook | Delicious | Reddit | Digg
About the Author
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Smithee,
My Pops is a landlord and he has been burned SO MANY times with bounced checks, after witnessing this for the 90th or so times, I just asked, “why not just verify before depositing?” He had never thought of it!
Good advice.
Also another trick is…cash it at their bank, right on the spot after verifying. Then bring the cash to your checking account where it will credited right away. It may take a few mins longer, but at least you know all is safe.
I routinely call Bank of America to verify funds available on my tenants’ checks, never had a problem, maybe it depends who you talk to and whether or not you give a reason.
Also, I used to always just cash checks at the bank they were drawn on, but I have found that in the past few years most banks have changed their policies so that a fee is charged (usually $10 or more per check) if the person cashing the check does not have an account with them. I couldn’t believe it the first time this happened to me.
I should have done what MyJourney suggested a few months ago. I got burned by a previous employer of all things.
How you ask? Well, in 2008 I was part of a downsizing. Not that big of deal really, b/c I had other reasons to quit. But part of the severance was getting the bonus for the % of the year worked (roughly 50% of what I could have gotten if I had stayed). Time passes and here in Feb 2009, I get that promised check. Within a few days, I deposit the check.
Here’s the kick in the teeth. Not 3 days after I deposited it, my ex-employer filed for bankruptcy. The bank then came back, withdrew the “given” funds”, and hit me with a bounced check fee. Took about a month to find someone to remove that fee. Luckily enough my wife and I didnt -need- that money. But if we had been less careful in general that stunt could have caused major problems.
Wells Fargo will NOT verify funds, only that the account is valid and open. Their policy regarding such is here: https://www.wellsfargo.com/biz/help/verification.
I am a branch manager at Chase and it is the bank’s policy not to verify funds on a check over the phone. However, like it is stated above, you can verify funds in person. You may have contacted a rogue branch or two that wasn’t familar with this policy. And like someone else said, if you always work with the same person on that branch then they may extend that courtesy to you on an exception basis.
A credit union in Wisconsin also refused to verify fund over the telephone. The banker requested that I either came in in person or fax in a copy of the check. Didn’t they know that not all people would have a fax machine. I was over 50 miles away from the credit union physical location, so get there in person is not possible.
In my opinion, the credit union is responsible to protect their clients financial data, however, by refusing the verification of a check written in the name of their institution, the credit union is also unintentionally committed fraud as they are encouraging their clients to go ahead and issue bad checks as their clients are now known that the bad checks wouldn’t be verified.
You did great on this issue, please keep on doing what you have done.
Regards,
Nhut Truong
I went to US Bank about two weeks ago to have them verify a rental deposit/first months rent check that I was going to cash on the spot (since the tenants wanted to move in on the 15th). They told me they could not verify it unless they tried to run it through, and since I wasn’t a US Bank customer, there was a $5 charge to do so. Same with Bank of America – $5 charge and they won’t verify without running it thru. Banks have started doing it this way because when they attempt to run it thru and the funds aren’t there, they still get to charge the check writer a bad check fee. And, you end up paying the $5 charge and may or may not walk out of there with any cash.