Generally, a customer may not order a stop payment on a cashier’s check, because a cashier’s check is really the bank’s check — not the customer’s check. Under the Uniform Commercial Code, only a “customer” can stop payment on “any item drawn on the customer’s account.” 810 ILCS 5/4-403(a). According to the official UCC commentary, “[a] cashier’s check . . . is not a check drawn on the customer’s account within the meaning of subsection (a); hence, a customer purchasing a cashier’s check or teller’s check has no right to stop payment of such a check under subsection (a)” (emphasis added). 810 ILCS 5/4-403, Uniform Commercial Code Comment 4.

If a bank does choose to stop payment on a cashier’s check as a customer accommodation, it will be liable for the amount of the check, expenses, interest, and consequential damages. 810 ILCS 5/3-411. (A bank can avoid liability for expenses and consequential damages, but will still be liable for the amount of the check, for example where the bank “has a reasonable doubt whether the person demanding payment is the person entitled to enforce the instrument” or where “payment is prohibited by law.” 810 ILCS 5/3-411(c).

And, there are appropriate circumstances when a bank may place a stop payment order on a cashier’s check at the request of the purchaser, such as when a cashier’s check is reported lost, stolen or destroyed. In such cases, the purchaser of the check or its payee should submit a reimbursement claim accompanied by a “declaration of loss,” and even then, a claim for reimbursement should not become enforceable until the later of ninety days following the date of the cashier’s check or the date the request for reimbursement is made to the bank.