Question & Answer

Question: Income tax refund is coming up. When we get a check at the teller's window that is payable to both husband and wife, and only the wife is here, can we cash the check?

Answer: Better not! This is one of the most claimed of all Treasury checks for forged endorsement. And for goodness' sake, don't buy that "I-always-sign-my-husband's-name-we've-been-married-for-22-years-and-I'm-allowed-to-do-that" routine!

Actually, if the wife presents the check, the safest thing you can do with the check is deposit it into the husband's and wife's joint account. Even if it only has her endorsement on it, you can stamp it "Credited to the account of within named payee", as long as it is going into their JOINT account. Just be real sure it is not going into a single name account.

If it is cashed, and if one of the endorsements is forged, you are liable for the check for one year and six months if a claim is made on it, according to Title X of the Competitive Equality Banking Act. (It used to be SIX years, six months!)

Copyright © 1991 Bankers' Hotline. Originally appeared in Bankers' Hotline, Vol. 2, No. 2, 3/91