How long does it take to clear a cheque?
When you deposit a cheque to your Encompass account, including Bank and ATO cheques, it will take 4 working days to clear, but may take longer in some cases, such as public holiday periods or if it is a foreign cheque. Please note that you will not be able to withdraw any of the proceeds of a cheque until it is cleared.
Crossing a cheque, ‘not negotiable’ or ‘account payee only’
If you cross a cheque, it is a direction to us to pay the cheque into an account at a bank or other financial institution. A crossing does not actually prevent the cheque being negotiated or transferred to a third party before presentation to a bank or financial institution for payment.
Crossing a cheque means drawing 2 lines clearly across the face of the cheque as shown above. When you cross a cheque or add the words ‘not negotiable’ between the crossing you may be able to protect yourself, but not always, against theft or fraud. This crossing sometimes serves as a warning to the collecting financial institution, if there are other special circumstances that it should inquire if its customer has good title to the cheque.
When you add the words ‘account payee only’ between these lines you are saying that only the named person can collect the proceeds of the cheque. These words may give you better protection against theft or fraud. It would be prudent for the collecting financial institution to make inquiries of the customer paying the cheque in, if the customer is not the payee of the cheque.
Deleting ‘or bearer’ on the Cheque
Your pre-printed cheque forms have the words ‘or bearer’ after the space where you write the name of the person to whom you are paying the cheque. The cheque is a ‘bearer’ cheque. If you cross out the words ‘or bearer’ and do not add the words ‘or order’, the cheque is still a bearer cheque. You can give yourself more protection against theft or fraud by crossing out the words ‘or bearer’ and adding the words ‘or order’.
How Do I Stop Payment on a Cheque?
You can stop payment on a cheque by:
- putting the request in writing with sufficient particulars to identify the cheque.
You must, of course, do this before we have paid the cheque. A dishonour fee will be charged should the cheque subsequently be presented.
What Do I Do to Reduce the Risk of Forgery?
When filling in a cheque:
- start the name of the person to whom you are paying the cheque as close as possible to the word ‘Pay’;
- draw a line from the end of the person’s name to the beginning of the printed words ‘or bearer’;
- start the amount in words with a capital letter as close as possible to the words ‘The sum of’ and do not leave blank spaces large enough for any other words to be inserted; also
- add the word ‘only’ after the amount in words;
- draw a line from the end of the amount in words to the printed ‘$’;
- start the amount in numbers close after the printed ‘$’ and
- avoid any spaces between the numbers; and
- always add a stop ‘.’ or dash ‘-’ to show where the dollars end and the cents begin and, if there are no cents, always write ‘.00’ or ‘-00’ to prevent insertion of more numbers to the dollar figure.
When Can We Dishonour or Not Pay on Your Cheque?
We can dishonour your cheque or not pay on it if:
- you have insufficient funds or available credit in your account to cover the cheque;
- you have not drawn up the cheque clearly so we are unsure what you want to do;
- the cheque is ‘stale’, that is, the date of the cheque is more than 18 months ago;
- we have notice of your death or mental incapacity; or
- the signature differs from that registered.
Do you have any questions about a Cheque Book?
We can provide you with a personal cheque facility which operates from your savings account. Making payments by cheque is simple, flexible and easy. Cheques are widely accepted and you don't have to worry about carrying large quantities of cash.
We also provide you with a deposit book to enable you to deposit extra funds.
Apply
Apply for a cheque facility 
Questions?
Enquire about a personal cheque facility