Cheque not cleared even after 15 days?

Question

I have deposited my cheque worth of 366, 880 in my bank account(electronic atm kiosk. i have a receipt of my payment too) (account no: xxxxxxxx4741) on 17th october 2015 but its not yet cleared. i have been calling them but i couldnt get any proper answer nor a solution and finally today when i called them they are telling me that they couldnt find the details on their system. all these days they were saying that because of many holidays we couldnt clear it so it might take some more days but i was shocked that my cheque details were not even present on their system. i need my amount with interest. i have been saving little money in post office for years and finally i received a cheque from post office and i deposited in my account. my brothers marriage got settled and i wanted to use that money for his marriage but i did not expect this from bank. my cheque number is 243820 i am 20 kms away from my home branch. i cant keep on going to my bank to find about it. im a teacher. please can you help me on this date:17/10/2015 time:9.54 am client

Answer 1

Dear Bala

At the outset, let me clarify that this site is designed and managed by a group of Senior Banking Professionals to assist Bank customers at large to provide guidance for resolution of any query / complaint / grievance in respect of financial services.  This site does not belong to any Bank or a Regulator, which may please be noted.

I have a hunch that probably the bank might have lost your cheque.  Notwithstanding the distance, since the cheque is of high value and period lapsed is 15 days, you should be visiting your home branch once to personally check on the status.  If the cheque is neither credited to your account nor traced by the branch, you should forthwith make a written complaint and obtain a proper acknowledgement.  Simultaneously, approach post office to stop payment of the cheque and request for issuance of a duplicate.  You should also be taking up with the management of the bank and with Banking Ombudsman for strictures, payment of interest and possible compensation for harassment.  The process and timelines to complain to Bank's management and BO should be available on their website.

RAJA