How to Deposit a Hospital Patient's Checks
When someone goes to the hospital---particularly if they wind up there with no advance warning---the burden of thinking about unpaid bills and checks that could bounce with no funds to cover them is enough to keep anyone from a speedy recovery. Whether you're a friend or relative of the patient or you're a health care professional asked to do a personal favor, you shouldn't have a problem negotiating the check; you may even be able to get cash for the patient if you offer the proper credentials.
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Things You'll Need
- Checks
- Deposit slips
- Account number
- Power of attorney (optional)
- Joint account (optional)
Instructions
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Ask the patient to endorse the check using their legal signature. Write above the name "Pay to the order of," obtain a coded deposit slip, copy their account number onto the back of the check and present both documents at a teller's window, collecting a receipt to bring back to the account holder.
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Take the check directly to the patient's bank even if they are physically unable to endorse the instrument. Fill out a blank deposit slip if you know the patient's account number and ask the teller to use her 'absence of endorsement stamp' on the back of the check to make certain the funds get into the proper account. Ask the teller to look up the account number if you don't have it.
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Expect a more complicated experience if your mission includes getting cash back from the check and there's no verifiable signature in the endorsement field. You'll need to present a power of attorney document that's been signed and certified with you, at which point you can negotiate the check in any manner you like, deposit part of the funds or cash the check without making a deposit.
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Anticipate other conditions under which you will be able to deposit a patient's check but you won't be able to get cash back (even if you have a power of attorney in your hands) because the institution's policy may subject any check without the account owner's signature to a clearing period of several days or more. Make your case to the bank president or branch manager if this occurs, but do so with few expectations.
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Ask the patient or their family about opening a new joint account that would allow several people to have access to the patient's check funds--particularly if the person is to be hospitalized for an extended time period. Offer extra reassurance to the patient by telling them that you can set this account up so it requires at least two signatures to conduct a transaction if that adds a level of comfort. Alternately, have the patient request direct deposit of all funds so negotiable documents can be processed electronically thus removing the burden of handling this banking chore from you or anyone else.
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