Why do I need to bring in the payee of a third-party check to the Credit Union so the teller can witness their signature and obtain their photo identification?
The UCC (Uniform Commercial Code) gives the payee of the check three years to claim that they did not endorse the check. When a payee does this, the financial institution has to prove that the signature on the back of the check is that of the payee. The only way to prove this is for one of our employees to witness the signature and make a copy of photo identification to attach to the check. This procedure is in place to protect our members. If you deposit or cash a third-party check and the original payee claims that they did not sign the back of the check and the Credit Union has to give them back the money for the check, then the law states that our member is now responsible to the Credit Union for the money. Our procedures are designed o protect you from claims of fraudulent endorsement.
