From: "TMOliver" 
Newsgroups: rec.travel.air uk.finance
Subject: Re: D Tel: Travellers with over ? must tell taxman
Date: Wed, 20 Jun 2007 23:09:36 -0500
Bytes: 4159


"John Boyle"  wrote ...
>
> The difference is that in the USA you have appear to have a statutory 30 
> day limit. In UK there is no such statutory limit (apart for the normal 
> statute of limitations).

No, we have no statutory 30 days.  I used that time frame as indicating the 
maximum passage of days before an account holder might be able to discover 
(in his bank statement) that a forged or fraudulent instrument had been paid 
by his bank.  US banking laws give banks some flexibility, and it's likely a 
bank would disclaim responisbility for a fraudulent check going unreported 
for an extended period, but basicly, when notified by a customer (and often 
requiring an affidavit ceertifying the fraudulkent nature of the instrument, 
the bank has every right to "charge back" the check through the transit 
system to the presenting bank which then becomes liable for the loss.  The 
bank that originally cashed/accepted the check for deposit takes the loss 
(and pursues the presenter)

>
> The other difference is that the earlier post suggested that when a 
> fraudulent item that was not noticed by the drawee and is only spotted by 
> the drawer much later then the drawee would then have an automatic right 
> to return the item to the collecting bank who would in turn immediately 
> debit the account for which the cheque was collected. In UK the drawee 
> would seek civil recourse from the previous holders of the cheque rather 
> than an automatic right of recourse to the collecting bank.
>

That would be the process here after an "extended" period,   US check 
clearing is much swifter today than it once was.  As for Brazilian banks 
(with whom my employer did much business back before I left the bank in 1979 
to seek my fortune and finding some of it, unlikely to manage in US 
commercial banks after the 70s), their instability and lack of dependability 
is legion.  Most every Brazilian businessman I ever encountered had a 
relationship with a "furrin" bank or two as a cushion against will gyrations 
at home.  On the other hand, my daughter works fro a company which does 
business in Brazil and deals with banks there, and she's convinced that the 
earlier claim is balderdash, with fraudulent instruments subject to the same 
"charge back" system as in "civilized" countries.  The US does have the 
quirk of slight differences in the conduct of state-chartered and 
"national"banks, but these days all are members of the Federal Reserve and 
the central clearing and transit system.  The US clearly differentiates 
between "commercial" banks and "merchant" banks, with merchant banks being 
sort of evil stepchildren involved in corporate ownership and equity 
financing.

TMO