The guides below help with common tasks and frequently asked questions about cheques.
Using Cheques
You can pay cheques in using our Business Mobile Banking app. All you need is a mobile phone with a camera.
Before you get started, please check:
- your cheque is in pound sterling (£) and from a UK bank
- your cheque is for £1,000 or less
- all information on the cheque is completed
- the written amount and the numerical amount on the cheque are the same
- if the cheque has any special characters written. This may make it harder to deposit using the app.
You can use the app to pay in up to £3,000 worth of cheques per eligible account per day.
Here are some tips to use when paying in cheques using the Mobile Banking app:
- where possible use natural light. Artificial light can make it harder for the photo to be captured
- try to take the photo of your cheque without any shadows
- centre the camera and cheque as much as possible
- use a black surface as a background
- scan only the black surface and the cheque
- stay as still as possible.
Use our branches and cash machines
The easiest and quickest way to deposit a cheque into your account is using the cash machines at our branches, or if you have a 1|2|3 Business Current Account over the counter. Cash machines can accept cheques paid into current accounts or savings accounts.
If one of our cash machines captures your cheque and doesn’t credit your account, please visit the branch where the cash machine is located so a member of our team can retrieve it for you.
You can use most of our cash machines at any time but 8 of our branches only have internal cash machines and not external ones. These branches are: Canterbury, Canary Wharf, Chelsea, Oxford City, St Neots, Surbiton, Tenterden and Wells.
If any of these branches are closed, you can’t use the internal cash machines to deposit cheques.
Please do not write a future date on a cheque. If you do and you hand the cheque in for payment before the date you wrote, it may be paid immediately or returned.
Posting your cheques
You can use the post to deposit cheques into your current account, credit card account or savings account with a sort code and account number. On the back of your cheque, please write your own postcode and the sort code and account number you want the cheque to be credited to. We can’t accept cheques for mortgage or loan payments in the post.
- If you have a paying-in slip, complete it and send it with the cheque.
- As a precaution, please take a photo of your cheque or keep a note of the cheque details (the printed cheque number plus the amount).
- If you don’t have a paying-in slip you can still deposit your cheque, please write your postcode, sort code and account number the cheque is to be credited to on the back of the cheque. Without this information we won’t be able to pay in your cheque. Requesting paying-in slips
- Send the cheque to: Santander Processing, P.O. Box 12644, Harlow, CM20 9QH
- Please note that you currently can’t deposit cheques using our mobile banking app.
You can deposit up to 30 cheques at a time into our cash machines. You’ll need your debit card and PIN. Then you need to:
- Insert your card into the cash machine and type your PIN.
- Choose ‘Deposit cheques’.
- You’ll be asked to put the cheque(s) into the machine.
- The cash machine will scan the cheques and calculate the value. If there are any it can’t read it’ll ask you to type the value in on the screen.
- Confirm the value and that you’ve paid your cheque(s) in.
If you’ve tried to pay in a cheque that the machine can’t read or an invalid cheque, the machine will return it to you.
If you need to request a foreign currency cheque, or pay a foreign currency cheque into your account, we can help. Take a look at the ‘Foreign currency cheques/drafts’ section on our making international payments page.
Managing cheques
The easiest and quickest way to request a new chequebook is using Online Banking.
- Go to the ‘My details and settings’ tab.
- Go to ‘Other services’ in the left-hand menu.
- Go to the ‘Request chequebook’ link.
Don’t have Online Banking? Get started online
Alternatively, you can contact us
Cancelling a cheque is often called stopping a cheque.
We can’t stop a cheque if you realise you haven’t got enough money to cover it or if you’ve changed your mind. If you think a cheque is lost or stolen, please contact us
If you don’t recognise the date, value of the cheque, or it was not written by you then contact us
You can cancel a cheque or chequebook in branch. You can find your nearest branch and check opening hours using our branch locator
Take a look at our table to see how long it takes for the money to show in your account, depending on how you deposit the cheque.
In most cases the cheque will fully clear a few days later. However, it’s important to remember that while the money will be available, if the cheque does not then clear the money will be taken back out of the account.
| The way you deposited | When funds usually become available | Things to remember |
|---|---|---|
| Mobile Banking app (deposited before 7pm on a working day) | Available by 11:59 pm next working day | Your cheque needs to be in pound sterling (£) and from a UK bank Your cheque needs to be for £1000 or less |
| Mobile Banking app (deposited after 7pm on a working day or anytime on a non-working day) | Available by 11:59 pm in 2 working days | Your cheque needs to be in pound sterling (£) and from a UK bank Your cheque needs to be for £1000 or less |
| Posted | Available by 5pm the next working day after the cheque has been received | We can’t accept loan payments and payments into savings accounts without a sort code or account number by cheque in the post |
| Branch counter (deposited on a working day) | Available by 5pm the next working day | All cheques accepted |
| Branch counter (deposited on a non-working day) | Available by 5pm 2 working days later | All cheques accepted |
| Cash machine (deposited on a working day by 8pm) | Available by 5pm the next working day | We can’t accept loan payments and payments into savings accounts without a sort code or account number by cheque at cash machines |
| Cash machine (deposited on a working day after 8pm or a non-working day) | Available by 5pm 2 working days later | We can’t accept loan payments and payments into savings accounts without a sort code or account number by cheque at cash machines |
| Post Office | Available by 5pm the next working day from when the cheque is received at our clearing centre, which can sometimes take a little longer to reach us from the Post Office. | We can’t accept loan payments and payments into savings accounts without a sort code or account number by cheque at Post Office counters |