Huntington Bank Outstanding Checks – What and How to Use it?

An outstanding check is a check that has been written, but it hasn’t been cashed-deposited by the bank or cleared the bank. It can either be a personal or a business check.

Simply put, a check is considered an outstanding check from when you write the check and when the check clears your bank account. Keep reading to learn more about outstanding checks from Huntington Bank.

Why Do Outstanding Checks Matter?

Professional accountants and bookkeepers handle outstanding checks during reconciliation, a time where they are balancing their ledgers as they approach closing the books for the month.

Individuals need to consider outstanding checks when they balance their checkbooks. When you write a personal check, you must record the date, check number, payee, and amount in your check register. This is crucial because your bank balance will be higher than your available funds until the check clears the bank. You must record it to your register to remind you that those funds are for that check.

Balancing your checkbook is similar to what professional accountants do during reconciliation. It’s a way to make sure that you and your bank agree about your account balance and available funds. Balancing a checkbook can be somewhat difficult, so Huntington Bank has created a worksheet with step-by-step instructions to help you.

However, if you don’t account for outstanding check properly, you will risk spending the money for the check on something else. This could result in a “bounced check,” and you might be charged a “non-sufficient funds” (NSF) fee by your bank. Furthermore, it can damage your relationship with the vendor or person you gave the check to.

What to do About an Outstanding Check

Something you might be wondering is if checks expire. To answer that, they do expire so it is important to record the date you wrote the check.

Here are a few things you should do if you wrote an outstanding check to someone else. If the check is:

Should You Write Another Check?

You shouldn’t write another check if the outstanding check is less than six months old. The original check is still valid and they payee can either cash or deposit it. It’s okay to contact the recipient after a few weeks to find out if they’ve lost the check or when they plan on cashing it. If they can get to the bank, you may want to ask them to return the check to you and you can pay them using another method.

On the other hand, you may want to write another check if the outstanding check has expired. However, it’s possible that this check will go stale, too, which would prolong the situation. When you ask they how they want to be paid, try suggesting a money order, cashier’s check, or cash. You can ask if they’re willing to deduct the stop payment fee from the original amount.

Author’s Verdict

Hopefully this guide from Huntington Bank helped you learn more about outstanding checks. It’s important to keep track of the amount of checks outstanding because they could be cashed anytime. You may have had even cash in the account when you wrote the check, but a month later your account might be lower.

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