Cheques and bankers' drafts
This page outlines how to complain to us about problems with cheques and banker’s drafts from UK banks and what will happen if you do.
On this page
Handling complaints about cheques and banker’s draft?
See our guidance for financial businesses on cheques and banker’s draft.
What are cheques and bankers' drafts?
Cheques and bankers' drafts are both ways to pay someone using your bank.
A cheque is a slip of paper you fill out to tell your bank to pay money from your account to someone else.
Cheques aren’t used so much anymore. But many people still use them to make payments, particularly when they’re buying goods from another person rather than from a shop.
A bankers' draft is a bit different. It’s also a paper payment, but instead of coming straight from your account, you first give the money to your bank and they issue the draft. The bank then guarantees the payment, so the person you’re paying knows the money will be there.
Can I complain about a cheque or bankers’ drafts?
Yes, you can complain to your bank if you experience problems with cheques or bankers' drafts. For example, you may be unhappy because:
- a cheque was paid into your account but later bounced
- you wrote a cheque, but the bank didn’t pay it – or paid it even after you cancelled it
- a cheque was lost, stolen, or forged
- a banker’s draft turned out to be fake or went missing, and the bank wouldn’t refund you.
How to complain about a cheque or bankers' draft
Our service is free and easy to use.
- Before bringing your complaint to us, you should complain to the company involved. If they don't send you a final response within eight weeks – or you're unhappy with their response – you can complain to us.
- Fill in our complaint form. If you're considering using AI to help you complete the form, read our guidelines on using AIread our guidelines on using AI before you start.
- As you complete the form, we'll ask a few questions about some of the things we need to know to get started.
- If we can help you, your case will be assigned to a case handler who will contact you when they start to investigate.
- To help us consider a complaint fairly, we may ask you for more information later.
How we settle complaints about cheques and bankers' drafts
We’ll assess what happened using evidence from you, the financial business and any relevant third parties. We'll also consider:
- the relevant law
- any regulations that applied at that time
- good industry codes of conduct that applied at the time
We'll tell you whether we believe you've been treated unfairly or not. If we don't uphold your complaint, we'll tell you why and explain how we reached our decision.
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If you’re complaining because your bank returned a cheque unpaid, we’ll usually look at things like:
- the circumstances around the paying in of the cheque
- your account’s terms and conditions
- the cheque-clearing process – when a cheque has ‘cleared’ the money is yours
- any discussions your bank had with you before returning the cheque unpaid
- any steps you took before discovering your bank had returned the cheque unpaid.
If you’re complaining because your bank lost a cheque during processing, we’ll ask to look at the bank’s records so that we can see whether they caused or contributed to the loss.
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If you’re complaining because your bank wouldn’t pay a cheque you’ve given someone else, or paid out on a cheque you’ve cancelled, we’ll usually look at:
- the terms and conditions of your account
- the position of your account – including any overdraft facility – at the time the cheque was paid in by the person you gave it to
- any discussions your bank had with you about whether or not they’d pay the cheque
- any history of similar situations on your account
- the effect of your bank not paying the cheque or wrongly paying it.
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If you're complaining because your bank wouldn't pay a banker’s draft because it was fraudulent, we'll usually look at:
- any discussions you had with your bank when you paid in the draft
- what options you would have had if your bank had identified the problem earlier.
If you've lost your draft and you're complaining because it was difficult to get a refund from your bank, we'll usually look at the:
- terms and conditions covering the issue of the draft
- how you lost the draft – so we can decide how likely it is that someone else will make a valid use of it.
Once we’ve investigated, we'll tell you whether we believe you've been treated unfairly or not. And we’ll explain how we reached our decision.
If your bank made a mistake that causes you to lose money, we'll tell them to put things right. This may include:
- refunding any overdraft fees or interest charged because you thought you had money you didn’t
- paying out a cheque the bank didn’t honour
- returning money the bank paid to the wrong person
- asking the bank to pay you compensation for any distress or inconvenience you have experienced.
Case studies
Josh’s complaint about a bank error and a wrongly bounced cheque
Banking Cheques
Martin’s complaint about his bank’s handling of an unpaid cheque
Cheques Banking