The Banks wont cash their Banks Checks

the US treasury is in essence the bank of the banks.

on a recent visit to Wells Fargo Bank a patron was trying to encash two treasury Checks so they could be posted into his account for immediate use with his debit card.

But no, the bank would not do it because his balance was to low to cover the checks. When he asked why the bank would not cash it they said it is not drawn on Wells Fargo Bank.

He then asked, "which bank is it drawn on?

The manager looked at the check and said, "it does not say"

The patron said, "it is not drawn on any bank it is a treasury check which means it is drawn on Well Fargo Bank's bank, the US Treasury and therefore Wells Fargo should cash the check without question as to if there are funds to cover it."

He was correct any bank should cash them for no charge and without anything more than asking for the persons ID to prove they are the one the treasury check is issued too.

So why don't banks cash Treasury Checks?

The treasury is the Bank of the Banks of the US.

Talk about bank madness.

Do not the banks who get their cash from the treasury via the federal reserve bank (the treasury dept) not trust the treasury enough to honor their checks in good faith?

Makes you wonder

a reply to: ChesterJohn

Because of possible forgeries. Just because YOU know that the check came from the state, doesn't mean the bank knows it. They just process the routing number and account number on the check. Checks not of the bank you are in take a few days to clear, so you could potentially write a bad check, have it cashed, and then the check bounces because it isn't a real check all because you said it was a Treasury check.

Trust me, this happened to me before. I had a rebate check from my college (a state college) for overpaying my tuition. It CLEARLY was marked that it was from the Maryland Treasury, yet the bank I was in still refused to cash it because they weren't the issuing bank.

a reply to: Krazysh0t

ah it is a US treasury check. they are next to impossible to forge

So what were you saying?

a reply to: ChesterJohn

It doesn't matter how difficult they are to forge, that is the rationale behind not cashing them. The teller at the bank doesn't know you from Adam, so they wouldn't know what resources you'd have at your disposal to forge such a check.

That's been going on for a very long time.

Most banks have another policy that irritates the hell out of me. They will charge someone to cash a payroll check drawn from the very bank they are cashing it at.

a reply to: ChesterJohn
The first thing he should have done is very loudly inform them that if they didn't complete his transaction he would immediately close his account and tell all his friends to close their accounts. Yes, he would suffer time to get his cash but if he couldn't get his cheques cashed he would suffer all the same.
Apart from all the reasons that the banks take advantage of us (high interest rates, time waiting for transactions to clear and generally doing what they want because they've got your money in their vaults) banks were set up to look after your interest not their own, for a modest fee.
The only real power you have over any bank is to close youe account and move to a rival bank.

At any bank , no matter the issuer of the check , if there is not enough funds in the person's account they will not cash it. If you wish to deposit in the account there is a certain amount of time before the money will show up in that account.This has been standard practice for a long time now. I am recently retired and I had to go through this ordeal at the bank where I have multiple accounts (and have had for years) because of the amount . It has nothing to do with "recognizing someone" as they absolutely know me and ask how my grandchildren are doing by name.

originally posted by: Krazysh0t
a reply to: ChesterJohn

It doesn't matter how difficult they are to forge, that is the rationale behind not cashing them. The teller at the bank doesn't know you from Adam, so they wouldn't know what resources you'd have at your disposal to forge such a check.

the technology (like Bitcoin) exist that would allow
a bank to validate any payment 100% without any
concern for forgery.

Bitcoin - en.wikipedia.org...

... a better way to describe a wallet is something that "stores the digital credentials for your bitcoin holdings" and "allows you to access (and spend) them". Bitcoin uses public-key cryptography, in which two cryptographic keys, one public and one private, are generated. At its most basic, a wallet is a collection of these keys....

Right now, Western Union is exploring ways to use
this technology to give themselves a competitive edge.

banks will be force to change, or they will become obsolete.

"Cashing a check" is outmoded technology, becoming more rare each day. "Practically impossible to forge"? Don't be silly. It's a piece of paper. Banks would really prefer everything was on autopilot. If that treasury check or that payroll check was on electronic deposit, there would have been no questions asked and no fees charged. Some banks are moving toward charging you if a teller is involved in the transaction at all. So prepare to see tellers disappear over the next decade or so. I write maybe one check a month, always for weird situations. Everything else is quite literally online.

If you are "plugged in" you rarely have any trouble. I was 1,000 miles away from home a few months ago and suddenly found myself in a position where I needed $1500 cash, brought about by a dealer who was ill-equipped herself. I walked into a bank 15 minutes before closing, said "I need $1500 cash NOW." (Why? Was I buying drugs? It never came up.) They had never seen me before and I had never been in that bank before. They said, "Swipe yer debit card here." and I walked out less than 5 minutes later with the $1500. Had the dealer a very small device that swiped cards attached to the end of her smart phone, she could have done it herself. Indeed, I can do the same thing all over the world at any ATM. It works in Ismir, Turkey or Cairo, Egypt as easily as Manhattan.

It's always been more difficult to deal with banks if you're not well plugged-in or established. Yes, you can legitimately complain about the unfairness of it all, but it is only going to get worse. Someday you'll need an embedded chip or an iris scan instead of a card you can lose, and if you don't, you'll be a member of the great unwashed, unable to participate.

originally posted by: crayzeed
The first thing he should have done is very loudly inform them that if they didn't complete his transaction he would immediately close his account and tell all his friends to close their accounts.

If he did not have enough money to cover a check, the bank doesn't want him as a customer anyway. They granted him an account because they had to by law, not because they wanted to. "Threatening" to close his account would be a Godsend to them. And they don't want his friends either.

The only real power you have over any bank is to close youe account and move to a rival bank.

Which is mandated to have the exact same policies as the old bank.

My local bank will cash checks that exceed my balance, that's a big reason I bank with them. I think the banks mostly hold checks so that they can benefit from the funds on their books before you can spend the money. Banks have the ability to verify a check on the spot if they wanted to.

originally posted by: MountainLaurel
My local bank will cash checks that exceed my balance, that's a big reason I bank with them. I think the banks mostly hold checks so that they can benefit from the funds on their books before you can spend the money. Banks have the ability to verify a check on the spot if they wanted to.

I've done the same thing. I've never had a check refused regardless of what my balance was at the time.

Well's Fargo is the WORST ! Years ago they made me wait 2 days for a payroll check to clear, even though my employer banked with them ! They basically forced me to set up automatic deposits in order to have access to my paychecks the same day.

a reply to: wasaka

Well that's cool. I'm all for making banks obsolete. I hate banks.

originally posted by: Krazysh0t
a reply to: wasaka

Well that's cool. I'm all for making banks obsolete. I hate banks.

Yes, me too.

"Be your own bank."

That is the Bitcoin motto.

I also love to create my own paper wallets
with images of my personal heroes like
Frederick Bastiat’s (author of "The Law'.)

Didn't the us Treasury cap out at 18.3 trillion recently and they are not allowed to borrow any more from the fed? Would you cash someone's cheque that owed everybody 18.3 trillion faux dollars and had no realistic or ethical plan to pay the money back? ROFL

Shacking my head....

Cheers - Dave

a reply to: ChesterJohn

The Federal Reserve and the Dept. of the Treasury are not the same agencies.

I bank with wells, when ever I deposit a check, they front me 100$ till it clears every time.


I think this patron was in bad standing with the bank, sorry they have measures to protect themselves.


Have also cashed many pay roll checks before I got direct deposit, not always with a balance to cover the check as well.
I would cash it then put the cash in the account, cause I as well didn't like to wait the couple days.

My lil bro had a similar issue. He got a settlement and went to cash the check WITHOUT opening an account at the bank the check was written on. They wouldn't cash the check without an appointment, alternatively it would be cashed immediatly if he just opened an account.

Banks make up rules to suit their bottom line.

a reply to: Sremmos80

He was just trying to cash it to put in his account so it would be posted the same day ready for use rather than waiting 24 hours for the bank to update.

It was nonsensical

a reply to: ChesterJohn

I have done that numerous times, with checks cut form other banks as well, me thinks there is more to this story that is being let on.