No, we do not believe your bank is required to reimburse the NSF fees paid by the drawer of the check.

While the UCC requires banks to pay checks that are deposited within six months of the check’s date, it also permits banks to pay checks that are older than six months (provided that the bank acts in good faith). Moreover, if the payor bank had wished to avoid the NSF fees for its customer, it could have chosen to either pay the check (even if resulting in an overdraft), or it could have returned the check due to its stale date (rather than for insufficient funds).

For resources related to our guidance, please see:

• UCC, 810 ILCS 5/4-404 (“A bank is under no obligation to a customer having a checking account to pay a check, other than a certified check, which is presented more than 6 months after its date, but it may charge its customer’s account for a payment made thereafter in good faith.”)

• UCC Comment 1, § 4-404 (“The time limit is set at six months because banking and commercial practice regards a check outstanding for longer than that period as stale, and a bank will normally not pay such a check without consulting the depositor. It is therefore not required to do so, but is given the option to pay because it may be in a position to know, as in the case of dividend checks, that the drawer wants payment made. . . .”)