Tax refund sign out to third party?
question on my parent tax refund they got a check, but don’t have a bank account at all. They sign the back of the check and made is payable to me, where I have a bank account. When I try to deposit for them the bank said they do not deal with government check that made payable to someone else. I went to walmart to see if I can cash the check refund for them. They look at the idea and everything was good, but since the back is have written payable to me and cross a line through with their initial on it, walmart said they cannot cash it. I ask them are they sure both cashier said they are sure and cannot do it. What can I do with the check refund for my parent now, send it back and wait for the government to reissue another one, or can they go open an account at the bank and deposit in?
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7 Answers
In Canada, citizens have the right to have a government cheque cashed for free at any bank, whether or not they have an account there. Assuming you are in the US, have you checked to see if the same is true of US banks?
I think the problem is that you want to cash it and there is not enough funds in the bank for them to put a hold on an equivalent amount of funds. If you deposit it and wait 3 days for it to clear you will be able to withdraw your cash.
@LuckyGuy Why would a cheque from the US government need time to clear? There is no doubt that they have the funds.
It sounds like the problem is that they don’t want to deal with a check made out to someone else. Maybe if you went to your bank with one of your parents and they showed their I.D., it would work. You could go to a check cashing service but then you will have to pay a fee. Or as was suggested, maybe they can open an account there and deposit the check.
@dappled_leaves Sure, the gov’t has the money. The bank might want to hold it to make sure the check is not stolen, or is a duplicate, or has been replaced, or who knows what. If there are sufficient funds in the account to cover the check, very likely they will gladly cash it and put a 3 day hold on the account for the amount of the check. Sadly, they need to be careful to prevent (reduce) abuse.
I think the problem might be those checks can’t be signed over to someone else. Look at the back of the check to see. I believe it used to be prohibited for them to be signed over.
@LuckyGuy Well, that is a pretty nonsensical state of affairs. If the person can prove they are who they say they are, then who is the bank to refuse to cash a cheque from their own government?
In any case, after doing some digging, all I can find is that a US bank doesn’t have to cash a US government cheque, but that does not mean they can’t or won’t. I would advise the OP to have his parent call on different banks in the area to see if any will do it. Probably at least one of them will offer to do it via opening and closing an account. Not the easiest way to get a free toaster, but still…
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