No. Your bank does not have a right to return a check after the midnight deadline passes for returning the check to the depository bank (midnight of the banking day following the banking day on which you received the check), unless one of the defenses to the midnight deadline rule applies (for example, in the case of a forged signature).  

Of course, your bank has the discretion to credit the customer’s account as an accommodation, and the depository bank has the discretion to honor the check if presented with it (for example, if all of the parties agree to this). The UCC permits a bank to pay “stale” checks that are more than six months old, provided that they are paid in good faith.

You also should check your account agreements, which sometimes specify a customer’s rights as to stale checks.

For resources related to our guidance, please see below:

• 810 ILCS 5/4-302 — UCC provision requiring the payor bank to return a check before the midnight deadline
• 810 ILCS 5/4-104(a)(10) — Definition of “midnight deadline”
• 810 ILCS 5/4-404 — UCC provision permitting a bank to charge its customer’s account for the payment of a check that is over six months old