What to do if…
your bank has temporarily blocked your cheques or check writing for fraud checks

What to do now

1. Verify the bank contact safely. Use your bank’s app or a trusted number, such as the number on the back of your card. If you received an unexpected call about fraud, hang up and dial 159 if your bank is covered, or call your bank using a trusted number. 159 will never call you.
2. Ask the bank what is blocked. Ask whether only cheques are affected, whether the block applies to all cheques or only certain cheque numbers, and whether other payments from the account still work.
3. Ask what will happen to cheques already written. For each outstanding cheque, ask whether it may be paid late, returned unpaid, stopped, or held for checks. Write down the date, time, department, name if given, and any reference number.
4. Stabilise urgent cheque payments. List payments due today or this week, such as rent, childcare, care costs, utilities, council tax, insurance, or essential business payments. Contact each payee and ask for their safest alternative payment method while your bank’s cheque checks are in progress.
5. Make a simple outstanding-cheque list. From your cheque stubs and records, write down the cheque number, date, payee, and amount for every cheque you have written that has not cleared. Give the list to the bank if asked.
6. Tell the bank immediately if cheques may be compromised. Say clearly if a chequebook is missing, cheque numbers are unaccounted for, you do not recognise a cheque, a payee says a cheque was lost, or a cheque was sent somewhere you no longer trust. Ask whether specific cheque numbers should be stopped or a chequebook should be cancelled and reissued.
7. Report suspected fraud if this is more than a routine bank check. Save messages, screenshots, envelopes, and payment details. If you live in England, Wales, or Northern Ireland, report fraud through Report Fraud, the Action Fraud service. If you live in Scotland, report fraud by calling 101.
8. Ask for a short-term workaround if essential payments are at risk. Ask whether the bank can help you make an urgent payment another way, confirm the cheque pause in writing for payees, and give a realistic next update time.
9. Start a complaint if you cannot get clear answers. Send a short secure message or written complaint to the bank saying what happened, what payments are affected, and what you need clarified. Banks usually have up to 8 weeks to give a final response for most complaints, though some payment-service complaints may have shorter response times. You can usually go to the Financial Ombudsman Service after a final response, or if the bank does not respond within the relevant time limit.