From: Ronald Raygun 
Subject: Re: invoices or not
Newsgroups: uk.finance
Date: Tue, 04 Sep 2007 15:23:41 GMT
Bytes: 2254

Graham Murray wrote:

> Ronald Raygun  writes:
> 
>> Do banks still store original cheques or microfiches thereof for
>> a suitable number of years?  Is it easy to trace where the cheque
>> was presented and into whose account the money went?
> 
> At one time was the cheque not returned, endorsed with the details of
> the account into which it was paid, to the drawer?

Yes, and in USA it seems still to be current practice [haven't you
heard Judge Judy bellow "show me the cancelled cheque (sorry, check)
as proof of your payment"?].

It was discontinued (in my case in 1990 or 1991) on pretext of cost,
and instead banks undertook to store cancelled cheques for a
reasonable time, on the understanding that they would make any cheque,
or a copy of both sides of it, available should the need arise (for
a fee, of course).

It must have cost more to store them than just to bung them in the
envelope with the statement.

Perhaps these days they just scan them.