ARE MCs REALLY SAFE?

When it comes to Manager’s Checks, everybody knows the drill: you call the issuing branch, ask if they really issued the MC, and once they confirm, you feel safe knowing the funds have already been pulled from the buyer’s account and parked with the bank.

But then a little thought crawled into Mr. Paranoid's head:

“Wait… what if a devious buyer cancels the MC?”

For example: They hand the seller the MC on a Friday afternoon. Seller is flying out for the weekend. Won’t deposit till Tuesday, when they get back. Can the buyer secretly cancel the MC before the seller gets to the bank?

Enter: Mr. Paranoid, ready for another case.

Mr. Paranoid marched to my bank to get the truth.

Teller: “Sir, to cancel an MC, the person who requested it must return the original MC. If the buyer already gave it to the seller, he can’t cancel it. No original MC, no cancellation.”

Case closed. Or so Mr. Paranoid thought.

That night, Mr. Paranoid woke up in the middle of the night with the thought. [Yes, this happens to Mr. Paranoid quite often.]

“But what if the buyer loses the MC BEFORE giving it to the seller?”

Naturally, Mr. Paranoid went back to the bank the next day.

Teller: “In that situation, the seller must issue an affidavit saying he never received the MC and that the BUYER (one who had it prepared) lost it. Only with that affidavit can the bank cancel the MC.”

The teller even had to check with her superiors — meaning this is one of those obscure scenarios nobody fully remembers the protocol for.

Then I asked another question:

Mr. Paranoid: “What if the MC is payable to the City Government? Like for real property tax? You really think government staff will sign an affidavit saying they never received it??”

Teller: “Uhh… that’s going to be a problem, sir.”

And that’s how Mr. Paranoid found himself with yet another unsolvable problem...

Lesson: Turns out, MCs aren’t the bulletproof payment method we imagine—they have their own cracks and complications.