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Cheques

Manage your business payments and deposits

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Cheques

Using cheques safely

Cheques

Special Cheques

We can provide you with contact details of accredited printers who can supply special cheque books personalised with your company logo and with the required Image Survivable Features (ISF) for security.

Cheque Scanning

You can now deposit cheques on your mobile banking app without the need to visit a branch. The feature lets users take a photo of a cheque and deposit it via their mobile app wherever they want, 24/7.

Payments Council

The Payments Council has announced the 2018 date for closure of cheque clearing is withdrawn, cheques will continue for as long as customers need them.

Using cheques safely

Cheques can be a target of criminals. Follow our advice to help protect yourself from loss.

Maximise your security

We will help you understand the risks and what you can do to act more securely.

Visit our Security page

Help protect yourself from loss

Using cheques for payment Close

Using cheques for payment

Write cheques in serial number order and make sure all cheques remain in the book, with none removed from the middle or back.
Write or print starting from the very left and use reasonably large writing or font size.
When you’re writing a cheque to a large organisation such as HM Revenue and Customs, never simply make the cheque payable to that organisation. Always add further details on the payee line, for example ‘HM Revenue and Customs re JJ Jones Acc Ref 1234567’.
Draw a line through unused areas, including the ends of lines. This stops fraudsters adding extra information. Don’t leave large spaces between words.
Be careful with the figure box – never put a space between the ‘£’ and the amount you are paying. Always draw a line through any spaces you don’t use after the numbers.
Account for spoiled cheques. If you do spoil a cheque, make sure you destroy it properly.
If you have to send a cheque by post, don’t give any clues on the envelope that could tell fraudsters what’s inside. Avoid using window envelopes.
Consider sending high value cheques via secure mail

Storing cheques Close

Storing cheques

Keep only the stock you need – cheque designs and layouts change to combat fraudsters – if you have lots of older cheques, you won’t benefit.
Be wary of undelivered cheque books – contact us to make sure we’ve sent them.
Flick through new cheque books to look for any cheques that have been stolen before they got to you.
Make a record of the new cheque books in your usual manner, and store all your cheques in a secure place.
Keep them separate – always store cheques away from your bank mandate.
Regularly make sure that all unused cheques remain in the book.
Want to customise your cheques? All cheque designs need to have strict anti-fraud devices and other industry standards. We’re happy to give you the advice you need.
Only have essential information on your cheques. For example, avoid labelling the signature area with designations such as ‘Director’ and ‘Secretary’. This could give potential fraudsters valuable information about your company’s signing requirements.
Keep your secrets – never print signing instructions on the cheque, such as upper limits.

Reconciling your cheques Close

Reconciling your cheques

Make a date to reconcile – you should really match the frequency of your reconciliation with the amount of cheques you produce. If you issue cheques every day, you should reconcile regularly.
Keep it separate – it’s a good idea for one person to write cheques, and another to reconcile cheques.
Go back to the paperwork – verify all the cheques you’ve written against underlying paperwork, such as invoices. This helps to make sure the cheques have been raised for legitimate purposes.
Audit your cheque stocks – to check for missing cheques and other anomalies.
Be wary of late presentation – if a cheque hasn’t been presented after a reasonable time, you need to find out why. It’s also worth remembering that a missing cheque could have been stolen and paid into a fraudster’s account. At the same time, a cheque that is presented later than expected may have been ‘borrowed’ and the information taken for use in a future fraud.
If a cheque is overdue for presentation, talk to the payee, check if it was received and put a stop on the cheque if you have to.
If you need to issue a large number of cheques, there are reconciliation services which can reduce the burden on your business. Simply speak to your relationship manager.

Where a customer is the drawer of a cheque which has not been altered and paid into an account other than that of the intended beneficiary (i.e. Payee), there is no liability on the Bank to pay the cheque / or reimburse the customer, as it has been issued in accordance to the mandate.

Bankline services

If you are a business making large payments regularly, you could benefit from signing up to our *Bankline service. Fees may apply.

Learn more about Bankline

*Bankline is available to Shostra Bank business current account customers. Fees may apply.

Manage your business payments and deposits

Cheques

Special Cheques

Cheque Scanning

Payments Council

Maximise your security

Help protect yourself from loss

Using cheques for payment

Storing cheques

Reconciling your cheques

Bankline services

Anything else we can help with?

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