Personal Finance

How long does money mart store the checks they cash

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  • Jan 3rd, 2011 9:26 am
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Newbie
Dec 30, 2010
5 posts
vancouver

How long does money mart store the checks they cash

So me and my brother have similar looking names. He cashes a check for $515 at money mart. The cashier is stupid, because she cashes it under my name, failing to notice the difference (i dont think shes even asked for any identification) which now screws me over because i have a $-515 on my account which has now gone to collections. (the check has bounced btw)

Because I hardly use money marts service at all, I find out this after a couple of months when I wanted to cash my check. I told them the company check that bounced was where my brother used to work and that this overdraft was on the wrong persons account.

She doesn't want to believe me, so I ask her where is the check so I can show you clearly my name is not on it. She tells me I have to come back when the manager is there as she doesnt have access to the storage.


Well now time flies by before I go back there due to being really busy and all, but i manage to make it there and find the manager there so I ask her to remedy this problem for me. I tell her that I want to see the check that her coworker told me was in storage and she tells me "Why didn't you come do this earlier, you've waited 8 months, I can't do anything"

Then she asks me why doesnt my brother pay them back then? after which i told her that has nothing to do with me, plus you guys are the one responsible for screwing up my account, and that Im not gonna go collect the money from my brother coz that isnt my job and this isnt my fault

Now Im really furious. They've sent my account to collections and expect to ruin my credit all because whoever worked there was an incompetent imbicile. I asked my brother if he had did it on purpose knowing the check would bounce because he received two by accident from the company. He told me he was doing it on his account and doesn't know why the lady put the transaction under my name.

Either way, whose fault is this? And how long do they store checks? I ask this because the damn lady doesnt wana retireve it for me so i can prove her wrong. What do i do about this
15 replies
Newbie
Dec 30, 2010
5 posts
vancouver
kneevase wrote: MoneyMart operates in Canada. They cash cheques, not checks.

Thanks for the very helpful post!
Deal Addict
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Sep 26, 2007
3960 posts
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SC
Oz416 wrote: So me and my brother have similar looking names. He cashes a check for $515 at money mart. The cashier is stupid, because she cashes it under my name, failing to notice the difference (i dont think shes even asked for any identification) which now screws me over because i have a $-515 on my account which has now gone to collections. (the check has bounced btw)

Because I hardly use money marts service at all, I find out this after a couple of months when I wanted to cash my check. I told them the company check that bounced was where my brother used to work and that this overdraft was on the wrong persons account.

She doesn't want to believe me, so I ask her where is the check so I can show you clearly my name is not on it. She tells me I have to come back when the manager is there as she doesnt have access to the storage.


Well now time flies by before I go back there due to being really busy and all, but i manage to make it there and find the manager there so I ask her to remedy this problem for me. I tell her that I want to see the check that her coworker told me was in storage and she tells me "Why didn't you come do this earlier, you've waited 8 months, I can't do anything"

Then she asks me why doesnt my brother pay them back then? after which i told her that has nothing to do with me, plus you guys are the one responsible for screwing up my account, and that Im not gonna go collect the money from my brother coz that isnt my job and this isnt my fault

Now Im really furious. They've sent my account to collections and expect to ruin my credit all because whoever worked there was an incompetent imbicile. I asked my brother if he had did it on purpose knowing the check would bounce because he received two by accident from the company. He told me he was doing it on his account and doesn't know why the lady put the transaction under my name.

Either way, whose fault is this? And how long do they store checks? I ask this because the damn lady doesnt wana retireve it for me so i can prove her wrong. What do i do about this

interesting.
whose fault? obviously the place where your brother used to work.

8 months ago...and its for 500 bucks. not worth taking legal action.
so imo you're pretty screwed. the damage to your credit has already been done so not much you can do.
ask yourself this how do they know they didn't give you the money? as far as they're concerned you're screwing them.

my advice screw money mart.
"We don't have a soul... We are a soul. We have a body." ~C.S Lewis
Deal Expert
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Aug 18, 2005
21223 posts
5939 upvotes
Burlington-Hamilton
1. Make sure you keep written records of what you did on which dates, who you talked to, what was said, etc.
2. Make sure you send Money Mart and the Collectors a registered mail note indicating that it was a clerical error and that you want it fixed within a certain amount of time, say 30 days.
3. If they do not do it, lawyer up.
4. If they put it on your credit, sue them for defamation of character.
- casual gastronomist -
Sr. Member
Sep 29, 2007
747 posts
345 upvotes
Ontario
Way to go OP, you waited 8 months.
Deal Addict
Jan 7, 2005
1127 posts
660 upvotes
Toronto
Just curious.

I though they would use the account number in the bottom of the cheque to identify which account to use?
How does display name in cheque makes a difference?
Deal Guru
User avatar
Nov 18, 2005
11955 posts
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Kingston
Op, even though Money Mart made a clerical error, you have to take some accountability for leaving it too long (especially after you knew there was a problem) and your brother has to take some accountability for cashing a cheque he knew he shouldn't have and then stiffing MM. If he hadn't done that, you wouldn't have any problem right now.

Lastly, I wouldn't have thought that Money Mart would have the cheque once they cashed it. The bank of the company that issued it would be holding it wouldn't they?
Newbie
Dec 30, 2010
5 posts
vancouver
No Rsx, this is money mart, people who cash their checks there don't really have account numbers or anything of the sort. they just cash random checks for anybody. If it were a bank then yea

yes JWL i concede that its my fault I waited so long. But thing is I didnt even know this account was in the minus until 2 months later. Would they have still had the check then? Who knows.. if they did have it, shouldn't it still be there somewhere.. If the bank of the company which issued this (the staffing agency Adecco) then should I go to them? If Adecco had the records and checks and stubs or w/e then how i do get their help and show money mart the mistake they made?


Tbh , its not really the 500 bucks that bothers me. Just the fact they made this error and now they don't wanna listen to me cos theyre already mad that my brother had stiffed them. I know if I make a case against them I can win it and get this sorted out. And i really wanna do it now just based on the principle that I wont let their error slide.


Anyone here with legal expertise tell me please what are all of the cases I could make against them and what do I stand to gain from it?
Sr. Member
Sep 29, 2007
747 posts
345 upvotes
Ontario
Oz416 wrote:
Anyone here with legal expertise tell me please what are all of the cases I could make against them and what do I stand to gain from it?

You'd just end up making a couple lawyers really rich at this point
Deal Addict
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Nov 23, 2001
4486 posts
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Calgary
I dont think its their fault. Regular banks have customers with multiple accounts (CDN currency, savings, high interest, US dollar, chequing, etc..) You can easily have a dozen accounts with one bank under your one name or even multiple names with a joint account (family and/or spouse)

The responsibility is on you to make sure the money is taken from and goes to where you want it.

Just like the stock market, accounts are usually settled at the end of the day. You have about that much time to straighten out any errors.

Cheques are legal tender if written to "Cash" in which case, the person who presents it to the teller decides where the money goes. To avoid this in the future, just use real cash, or silver and gold coins :P
A US nickel is worth more than 5 cents.
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Oct 5, 2003
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ZenOps wrote: I dont think its their fault. Regular banks have customers with multiple accounts (CDN currency, savings, high interest, US dollar, chequing, etc..) You can easily have a dozen accounts with one bank under your one name or even multiple names with a joint account (family and/or spouse)

The responsibility is on you to make sure the money is taken from and goes to where you want it.

Just like the stock market, accounts are usually settled at the end of the day. You have about that much time to straighten out any errors.

Cheques are legal tender if written to "Cash" in which case, the person who presents it to the teller decides where the money goes. To avoid this in the future, just use real cash, or silver and gold coins :P

What does this have to do with OP's situation?
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Aug 16, 2009
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I know how this can be resolved....never use Money Mart again.

Are you hiding income or not paying child support? Why doesn't your brother or yourself just cash the cheque at your Banking Institution?
Deal Addict
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Nov 23, 2001
4486 posts
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Calgary
Justin wrote: What does this have to do with OP's situation?
Money mart is technically a bank (actually a trust). They just happen to deal mostly with sub-prime employment cheques instead of things like mortgage cheques.

Don't accept cheques if you don't know how to use the banking system (money mart or otherwise)

He should have asked for payment in silver :)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/3 ... 02618.html
A US nickel is worth more than 5 cents.
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Nov 18, 2005
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Kingston
Oz416 wrote: yes JWL i concede that its my fault I waited so long. But thing is I didnt even know this account was in the minus until 2 months later. Would they have still had the check then? Who knows.. if they did have it, shouldn't it still be there somewhere.. If the bank of the company which issued this (the staffing agency Adecco) then should I go to them? If Adecco had the records and checks and stubs or w/e then how i do get their help and show money mart the mistake they made?

Anyone here with legal expertise tell me please what are all of the cases I could make against them and what do I stand to gain from it?

I agree that you were behind the eight ball since you had nothing to do with the transaction and that you didn't know about it for 2 months. But that was the time to address it. And it makes your case a lot less believable for MM since you dropped it for 6 months.

Don't bother with Lawyers. It will cost way more than you could make sense of.

Could you contact Adecco and get them to write a letter that there was never a cheque written to you for that much around that date. Now they may also be pi$$ed with your brother for cashing both cheques so you might be SOL there too.

Or your brother could re-pay the ill-gotten gains, take accountability (for screwing MM and inadvertently screwing you) and direct MM to correct the credit reporting for you and him. This is the most plausible remedy IMHO.

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