A cheque is only bankable for a limited period. Present it after that and the bank returns it unpaid as a stale cheque.
India: three months
The validity period in India is three months from the date on the cheque. It used to be six, reduced in 2012 by the Reserve Bank of India.
Three months is the common period in many markets, but it is not universal — confirm your own country's rule rather than assuming, particularly if you are dealing with cheques across borders.
Counted from the date written, not the date handed over
This is the part that trips people up with post-dated cheques. A cheque you receive today but dated three months ahead is not close to expiring — its clock has not started. It becomes bankable on its date and stays valid for the period after that.
So a post-dated cheque given in January for an April date remains valid into July.
If you are holding cheques
Bank them promptly. A cheque in a drawer is not money, and letting one go stale means asking for a replacement and hoping the issuer is still willing and solvent.
If you take cheques regularly, a periodic look for anything approaching its limit is worth the few minutes.
If you issue cheques
An uncleared cheque is a live commitment. Two things follow:
- Keep the funds available. A cheque presented on day 89 must still clear.
- Do not assume an old uncleared cheque is dead. It may be banked at any point in the window, and forgetting about it is how an account gets caught short.
In ChequeMaster the Missed status marks cheques past their expected date without clearing, which is the list to review. See reports and advanced search.
Do not alter the date
Rewriting a date to revive an expiring cheque is an alteration to a financial instrument, and banks treat it accordingly. The correct route is a fresh cheque from the issuer.
