Free Stop Payment on Check

The stop payment order must identify the drawer's account (either by name or by account number) and the check (by number and/or by name of payee, and preferably including the date and the exact amount of the check). Often, banks will use a computer to search for the check by looking for a specified dollar amount. This method can create problems if the EXACT amount of the check is not provided. To the computer, a one-digit mistake in cents is the same as a one-digit mistake in the thousands-of-dollars. Therefore, if one or more items used to identify the check are given in error by the drawer to the bank, it is likely that the bank will not be held responsible if it fails to stop payment on the check.

Occasionally, a bank will pay a check and debit the drawer's account even though it had received the stop payment order in sufficient time and with sufficient identifying information to prevent the payment. Nevertheless, the bank may not be liable to the drawer unless the drawer can show that he or she ultimately suffered a loss. In other words, if the drawer rightfully owed the payee, then there is no loss to the drawer even if the bank paid the check. The drawer has only suffered a loss if he/she can show that they did not owe the payment to the payee.

For example, assume the drawer wrote a check to Shade E. Dealer for a "Rolex" watch and later discovered that the watch was a fake. The drawer notified the bank well before the check was paid and accurately identified the check. The bank paid the check through oversight and debited the drawer's account for the amount of the check. The drawer may be able to recover from the bank for the amount of the check. However, the burden of proving the drawer's loss is on the drawer.

1. Sign the letter.

2. Keep a copy of the letter for your records.

3. If the stop payment order relates to a check drawn on a joint account, both co-owners may sign the letter, but it is not necessary. The signature of either owner is sufficient.

4. If the stop payment order relates to a check drawn on the account of a deceased person, any person "interested" in the account (i.e. a beneficiary or family member) may sign the letter.

5. It is not necessary that the signature(s) be witnessed or notarized.

In the Stop Payment on Check letter, the "drawer" is the person who writes the check (or share draft, etc.). In nearly all states, a drawer may, by order to his or her bank, stop payment of any item payable on his or her account, but the order must be received at such time and in such manner as to "afford the bank a reasonable opportunity to act on it." This means that the stop payment order must both: (a) identify the check with reasonable accuracy, and (b) be received "in time."

The stop payment order, whether oral or written, must be received by the bank in sufficient time for the bank to put in place the procedures necessary to ensure that the check is not paid. The required amount of time will vary from one bank to another.

Generally, any person who is an owner or co-owner of the account can order the bank to stop payment on a check (for example, a spouse can stop payment on a check written by the other spouse on a joint account). Additionally, upon the death or incompetence of the owner, any person "claiming an interest in the account" (for example, family members or beneficiaries) can order a stop payment.