Checking on bouncing cheques

New rules were introduced in November 2007, under which if a cheque had not bounced within six days of being paid into an account, the recipient could be confident that the money was theirs.

Under the previous regime, a cheque could bounce weeks or even months after it had been paid in, leaving consumers uncertain as to whether the money was actually theirs.

But three years after the rules were changed, and despite the industry running an awareness campaign, only 1 per cent of people knew how long they had to wait before they could be confident a cheque would not bounce, according to the Cheque and Credit Clearing Company.

Around 79 per cent thought money paid in by cheque was theirs sooner than this while 15 per cent were either unsure or had no idea.

Businesses, for whom the issue is often more important because they may be waiting to hand over goods or services, were equally badly informed, with just 2 per cent knowing how long they had to wait for a cheque to clear and 82 per cent thinking they had to wait for less than six working days.