Would You Cash a Check for 5 Cents?

[+ ArVaGuy]

I received a refund check for an overpayment today in the amount of five cents. Seriously, a whole nickel. As in "pay in the amount of $0.05". The check even states it will become invalid after 180 days if not cashed.

 

Seems ridiculous to me to waste time and effort to cash a check for five cents. The processing cost has to exceed the amount of the check. The vendor could have just credited my account for a nickel. That makes more sense to me than cutting a check for $0.05 and spending the postage to mail it.

 

Would anyone here make the effort to cash a check for five cents? Has anyone ever received a check for an even lower amount like a whole penny?

 

[+ sam.fitzpatrick]

I use electronic bill payment. Last month, I accidentally paid my cable bill twice. This month's invoice was for $.01. I paid it.

[MikeBiDude]

I received a refund check for an overpayment today in the amount of five cents. Seriously, a whole nickel. As in "pay in the amount of $0.05". The check even states it will become invalid after 180 days if not cashed.

 

Seems ridiculous to me to waste time and effort to cash a check for five cents. The processing cost has to exceed the amount of the check. The vendor could have just credited my account for a nickel. That makes more sense to me than cutting a check for $0.05 and spending the postage to mail it.

 

Would anyone here make the effort to cash a check for five cents? Has anyone ever received a check for an even lower amount like a whole penny?

 

Sure, I'd deposit it at an ATM, or more likely snap a pic of it with my banking app and it's deposited.

[+ ArVaGuy]

I use electronic bill payment. Last month, I accidentally paid my cable bill twice. This month's invoice was for $.01. I paid it.

 

I originally tried to pay this via electronic payment and the vendor informed they only accepted actual checks. That's rather a strange practice this day and age. Antiquated to say the least for sure.

[gallahadesquire]

The State of Illinois and I disagreed on my tax return for three years running. They submit a form with what they THINK the number should be, and expect you to fix it.

 

The last time this happened, I wrote them a letter:

 

"I do not understand you're calculations. The amount is $4.35.

Do your realize how much this is costing each of us everytime we exchange correspondence?"

 

I never heard from them again.

 

PS. As an MIT graduate, I'm pretty sure my math was correct/.

[+ ArVaGuy]

This reminds me of someone I know who got into a similar situation with the Internal Revenue Service. She was a retired US Treasury Department employee with a PhD in economics.

 

The IRS claimed she owed back taxes on interest income that was not reported. Long story short, because of her background by the time she was done the IRS wound up issuing her a five figure refund for several years of overpaid taxes.

 

She handled the case herself and let the IRS have it with absolute vindictive glee. I read some of her correspondence and she listed every rule, regulation, and statute that applied to her case. The tone was professional but certainly not deferential. Her letters read exactly like an IRS demand letter.

 

Several agents got assigned to her case, each more senior than the one prior, because I think they realized she was no pushover. In fact I think she may have intimidated the IRS agents by the time it was all settled.

 

 

 

The State of Illinois and I disagreed on my tax return for three years running. They submit a form with what they THINK the number should be, and expect you to fix it.

 

The last time this happened, I wrote them a letter:

 

"I do not understand you're calculations. The amount is $4.35.

Do your realize how much this is costing each of us everytime we exchange correspondence?"

 

I never heard from them again.

 

PS. As an MIT graduate, I'm pretty sure my math was correct/.

[jawjateck]

When I receive a check for cents, I throw it in a drawer or in the trash. Inevitably, the issuer will cancel, re-issue, and mail it again; sometimes 2 or 3 times. I recently canceled a service and received a check for 60 cents. I threw it in the drawer, and when I get the subsequent checks in the mail, I will laugh at their stupidity.

 

I just love making a few cents become a many dollars expense for idiots. I am a mean sumbitch.

[mike carey]

When I receive a check for cents, I throw it in a drawer or in the trash. Inevitably, the issuer will cancel, re-issue, and mail it again; sometimes 2 or 3 times. I recently canceled a service and received a check for 60 cents. I threw it in the drawer, and when I get the subsequent checks in the mail, I will laugh at their stupidity.

I haven't received a cheque for anything in maybe 10 years, they are very much out of favour here. If I were receiving cheques regularly and I received one for a small amount, I would bank it with the others that I'd received, but wouldn't go to the bank just to deposit it.

 

That said, Australia Post operates a bill payment service with which you can pay almost all corporate bills, and you can use credit cards or cheques to pay. Australia Post is a crown corporation but unlike the USPS many of its outlets are franchise operations. I'm tempted to use them rather than direct on-line payments to help keep my local outlet open. They also accept bank deposits so if I had a random small cheque I could bank that at the same time.

[gallahadesquire]

This reminds me of someone I know who got into a similar situation with the Internal Revenue Service. She was a retired US Treasury Department employee with a PhD in economics.

 

The IRS claimed she owed back taxes on interest income that was not reported. Long story short, because of her background by the time she was done the IRS wound up issuing her a five figure refund for several years of overpaid taxes.

 

She handled the case herself and let the IRS have it with absolute vindictive glee. I read some of her correspondence and she listed every rule, regulation, and statute that applied to her case. The tone was professional but certainly not deferential. Her letters read exactly like an IRS demand letter.

 

Several agents got assigned to her case, each more senior than the one prior, because I think they realized she was no pushover. In fact I think she may have intimidated the IRS agents by the time it was all settled.

 

When I last changed employers, in 1988, I managed to overpay my Social Security. They DEMANDED that they owed me money, about $600.

 

The IRS also tracked down a professional fee that I had not included in my income. (For those of you who care, medical institutions use a little loophole in the IRS tax code that, if they state as policy that ALL professional fees go to the institution, and that the practitioner is salaried, 1099-R need not be issued). It was for $1000, and included a tax-payer ID.

 

I contacted both institutions I had worked for and received letters that they had received all of my income. I also contacted the company with the taxpayer ID, and there was no record of it. In fact, the IRS had no record of it.

 

So the IRS decided that was a non-issue. I received a DEMAND letter that they DEMANDED that they owed me the over-paid Social Security, to the tune of $600 ...

 

Plus 8% per annum, compounded for three years.

The ultimate government anti-screw. (Maybe it's just left-handed).

[gallahadesquire]

I haven't received a cheque for anything in maybe 10 years, they are very much out of favour here. If I were receiving cheques regularly and I received one for a small amount, I would bank it with the others that I'd received, but wouldn't go to the bank just to deposit it.

 

That said, Australia Post operates a bill payment service with which you can pay almost all corporate bills, and you can use credit cards or cheques to pay. Australia Post is a crown corporation but unlike the USPS many of its outlets are franchise operations. I'm tempted to use them rather than direct on-line payments to help keep my local outlet open. They also accept bank deposits so if I had a random small cheque I could bank that at the same time.

 

Nice.

[Beancounter]

I received a refund check for an overpayment today in the amount of five cents. Seriously, a whole nickel. As in "pay in the amount of $0.05". The check even states it will become invalid after 180 days if not cashed.

 

Seems ridiculous to me to waste time and effort to cash a check for five cents. The processing cost has to exceed the amount of the check. The vendor could have just credited my account for a nickel. That makes more sense to me than cutting a check for $0.05 and spending the postage to mail it.

 

Would anyone here make the effort to cash a check for five cents? Has anyone ever received a check for an even lower amount like a whole penny?

 

Yes, it appears preposterous to issue a check for only $0.05 but from a legal standpoint you are owed that money and the company is required to make sure you get it. What you do with the check is your concern.

 

While this isn't your case consider if the company inadvertently overcharged each of its 10 million customers $0.05 and nothing is ever done about it. From a consumer's standpoint a nickel is hardly anything to protest about. From the company's standpoint overcharging each of its 10 million customers $0.05 results in an extra $500,000.

 

Alas, there are days I wish I could take off my beancounter hat and be a normal human being.

[mike carey]

Yes, it appears preposterous to issue a check for only $0.05 but from a legal standpoint you are owed that money and the company is required to make sure you get it. What you do with the check is your concern.

A further comment from a non-US perspective. All of this is totally understandable when transactions are not electronic (in which case they can all be finalised easily). In Australia and New Zealand the smallest coins are 5c and 10c respectively, so if the issues are resolved in a cash environment small debts can be rounded down to zero and they therefore vanish.

[LADoug1]

I would deposit it. Nickels add up to dollars.

 

On a tangent, I hate receiving charity solicitation with a nickel in it and visible from the outside of the envelope. I can think of many reasons why they do it but it drives me crazy.

[+ Axiom2001]

I would smile and perhaps frame and hang in my study!

[KennF]

Would anyone here make the effort to cash a check for five cents? Has anyone ever received a check for an even lower amount like a whole penny?

 

Yes, I would. Not because of the nickel, but because it will be an open item.

 

If I don't cash it, I'm going to get a letter stating I have an open uncashed check. After waiting the years (varies depending on state), the amount will be recorded with the state as unclaimed property. And then my information will be publicly posted.

 

etc... etc... etc...

 

So the $0.05 isn't important, but the years of bullshit later can be.

[+ purplekow]

I would cash the check with my next deposit. I also take the nickels and add them to my change jar. Had about 2 and 1/2 appointments worth of change the last time I cashed it in. Small change made two (and one half) big smiles.

As for the IRS, I was audited three years in a row in the 90's. I handled it myself and instead of the 18,000 14,000 and 22,000 dollar they say I owed them, I wound up owing them $16; then they owed me $23; and they owned me $150. The difference centered around a purchase for a rental property which I took as a single year deduction and it should have been depreciated over time. The other monies were related to legitimate deductions which looked a bit suspicious in view of my total income and the amount of tax I paid.

After three straight years, the same red flags raised the specter of another audit. I wrote to complain, saying I had been audited three years in a row. They informed me that if one is found to be deficient in one's tax payment, even if it is $16, that year is considered a justified audit year and as a result I did not have three years in a row of unproductive auditing, which at the time was the limit.

However, soon after, I received another letter which informed me that the fourth audit had been waived. That year, I opened a business and hired an accountant. Somehow I feel that I am not getting every nickel I deserve, and we all know nickels may add up.

[bigvalboy]

I recently cashed a check for $0.08. The balance owed to me on a canceled phone service. I do a lot of banking for the association, so I'm at the bank all the time. I simply deposited it. I never once thought about tossing it in a drawer or the trash.

[+ sam.fitzpatrick]

When I receive a check for cents, I throw it in a drawer or in the trash. Inevitably, the issuer will cancel, re-issue, and mail it again; sometimes 2 or 3 times. I recently canceled a service and received a check for 60 cents. I threw it in the drawer, and when I get the subsequent checks in the mail, I will laugh at their stupidity.

 

I know these small ones sound silly, but class action lawsuits have resulted in these checks getting issued. There was a time when banks didn't go to the expense to research a deposit that was out of balance less than $1, to either the customer's or bank's favor. A class action lawsuit settled that and now deposit adjustments are made for a penny. If the customer's account is closed when the error is uncovered, a check gets mailed.

 

When the small ones are put in a drawer and never cashed, many states have laws requiring them to be treated as abandoned property and turned over to the state even for rediculous small amounts. (P.S. the abandoned property laws apply even if a check isn't issued, and issuing a check and getting it processed costs companies less than the express of completing the abandoned property paperwork and remitting the funds to the state.)

[+ ArVaGuy]

I know these small ones sound silly, but class action lawsuits have resulted in these checks getting issued. There was a time when banks didn't go to the expense to research a deposit that was out of balance less than $1, to either the customer's or bank's favor. A class action lawsuit settled that and now deposit adjustments are made for a penny. If the customer's account is closed when the error is uncovered, a check gets mailed.

 

When the small ones are put in a drawer and never cashed, many states have laws requiring them to be treated as abandoned property and turned over to the state even for rediculous small amounts. (P.S. the abandoned property laws apply even if a check isn't issued, and issuing a check and getting it processed costs companies less than the express of completing the abandoned property paperwork and remitting the funds to the state.)

 

 

Ok, after reading the various comments I've decided to take this check to the bank. I'm not about to allow the Commonwealth of Virginia get this nickel.

[OCClient]

Side note: I attempted a deposit of a payroll check at an ATM at Chase, and the ATM repeatedly registered nothing for the cents digits, while the dollar portion registered correctly. Their ATM deposit image of the check clearly showed there was money in cents column, something like 35 cents. I registered a complaint at their Website, and let them know my receipt (and their database) included an image showing the correct amount, that the Chase ATM transaction made this error. Eventually they agreed, and then corrected my balance, by 35 cents. The small amount was not so critical as was making a record of their error, and that a customer is watching.

[RM]

I would deposit it. Nickels add up to dollars.

 

On a tangent, I hate receiving charity solicitation with a nickel in it and visible from the outside of the envelope. I can think of many reasons why they do it but it drives me crazy.

I always get a dime in my envelope.

[RM]

The Internal Revenue Service never sends a check for 5 cents unless you request it. If it's less than a dollar, you don't get it unless you request it.

[gallahadesquire]

Unfortunately, pennies are only legal tender up to 25¢. I'd love to pay the IRS in pennies.

 

I had a disability "settlement", that was issued as 23 checks rather than a lump sum. My bank nearly had a fit!

"Did you fill out a deposit slip?"

"no ... it's 23 checks! I checked my addition on excel."

"We'd better redo it."

"Yes, that's why I asked to speak to a bank officer."

[sincitymix]

I received a refund check for an overpayment today in the amount of five cents. Seriously, a whole nickel. As in "pay in the amount of $0.05". The check even states it will become invalid after 180 days if not cashed.

 

Seems ridiculous to me to waste time and effort to cash a check for five cents. The processing cost has to exceed the amount of the check. The vendor could have just credited my account for a nickel. That makes more sense to me than cutting a check for $0.05 and spending the postage to mail it.

 

Would anyone here make the effort to cash a check for five cents? Has anyone ever received a check for an even lower amount like a whole penny?

 

yes. i received a check for 1 penny.

[sincitymix]

Unfortunately, pennies are only legal tender up to 25¢. I'd love to pay the IRS in pennies.

 

I had a disability "settlement", that was issued as 23 checks rather than a lump sum. My bank nearly had a fit!

"Did you fill out a deposit slip?"

"no ... it's 23 checks! I checked my addition on excel."

"We'd better redo it."

"Yes, that's why I asked to speak to a bank officer."

 

There is no restriction on pennies. The coinage act prevents that. However businesses are allowed to not accept certain amounts like no 100.00 bills or nothing lower than etc etc.. so in some cases someone could yes say cant pay with pennies over a certain value.

but if a business doesn't have that restriction, then you have people paying in mega gallon water cooler jugs filled with pennies