Someone backed rather speedily into our car while it was parked and minding its own business along the street. The car, a 96 Lumina, unfortunately was considered totaled and is in barely runnable condition.
We received the check Wednesday morning and eagerly went to our bank to cash the check to go find a replacement before our poor Lumina bites the dust. Thankfully we opted for keeping the car and had the $200 deducted from the settlement amount to keep it or we'd be in a more serious situation now. Our bank refused to give us more than $100 now for the check, stating that it would be at least 5 business days, although the lady quoted us next Friday as 5 days, since we didn't have enough in the bank to cover it. That was reasonable to us other than her 5 day calculation. We left, check still in our possession.
We decided that we didn't want to take a chance on a dead car before the check cleared and called my parents, who had enough money in their account to cover the deposit of the check and give us the cash- effectively loaning us the money until the check cleared, which wasn't something I wanted to do, but the situation called for desperate measures. My mother took me to her bank to do the transaction, I'd endorsed the check and at the window she also endorsed the check to deposit it in her account.
The bank manager came out and explained to Mom that the check was now void because according to her, federal law only allows for ONE signature and "no other marks whatsoever" on insurance checks. Even the teller looked a bit skeptical about this "law".
The bank manager went on to make a huge fuss about calling the insurance adjuster, loudly demanding to know if it was a legitimate check and then went on to tell him in a rather condescending tone that I'd made a "little boo-boo" in trying to get the cash for my check now when I should have known I'd have to wait several days for the check to clear. After the call, she gave me a long speech about how the law has made it harder than ever to cash checks and that if my bank only made me wait 5 business days they were more than reasonable, she would have held it 11 days. She said insurance checks are the ONLY type of check that can't be passed off like that. If that's the case, why don't they have some notification of that posted so people don't have to go through the hassle we will. If we hadn't bought the car back, we'd be without transportation for over a week.
So, my main question is, is there some mystical new law that states that insurance checks can only be signed by one person ever? Second, isn't there some new electronic check system that was supposed to make check cashing and clearing faster? According to her it's slower now than ever.
I talked to a car dealer later in the day and he said people come in and sign over insurance settlement checks to him all the time and the same bank, different branch, takes them with no problem. It's not like Mom's a stranger there, she and Dad have been with that bank since the 70s, never has bounced a check, keeps several thousand dollars in their bank all the time, and is on a first name basis with the bank manager.
We received the check Wednesday morning and eagerly went to our bank to cash the check to go find a replacement before our poor Lumina bites the dust. Thankfully we opted for keeping the car and had the $200 deducted from the settlement amount to keep it or we'd be in a more serious situation now. Our bank refused to give us more than $100 now for the check, stating that it would be at least 5 business days, although the lady quoted us next Friday as 5 days, since we didn't have enough in the bank to cover it. That was reasonable to us other than her 5 day calculation. We left, check still in our possession.
We decided that we didn't want to take a chance on a dead car before the check cleared and called my parents, who had enough money in their account to cover the deposit of the check and give us the cash- effectively loaning us the money until the check cleared, which wasn't something I wanted to do, but the situation called for desperate measures. My mother took me to her bank to do the transaction, I'd endorsed the check and at the window she also endorsed the check to deposit it in her account.
The bank manager came out and explained to Mom that the check was now void because according to her, federal law only allows for ONE signature and "no other marks whatsoever" on insurance checks. Even the teller looked a bit skeptical about this "law".
The bank manager went on to make a huge fuss about calling the insurance adjuster, loudly demanding to know if it was a legitimate check and then went on to tell him in a rather condescending tone that I'd made a "little boo-boo" in trying to get the cash for my check now when I should have known I'd have to wait several days for the check to clear. After the call, she gave me a long speech about how the law has made it harder than ever to cash checks and that if my bank only made me wait 5 business days they were more than reasonable, she would have held it 11 days. She said insurance checks are the ONLY type of check that can't be passed off like that. If that's the case, why don't they have some notification of that posted so people don't have to go through the hassle we will. If we hadn't bought the car back, we'd be without transportation for over a week.
So, my main question is, is there some mystical new law that states that insurance checks can only be signed by one person ever? Second, isn't there some new electronic check system that was supposed to make check cashing and clearing faster? According to her it's slower now than ever.
I talked to a car dealer later in the day and he said people come in and sign over insurance settlement checks to him all the time and the same bank, different branch, takes them with no problem. It's not like Mom's a stranger there, she and Dad have been with that bank since the 70s, never has bounced a check, keeps several thousand dollars in their bank all the time, and is on a first name basis with the bank manager.