It’s very easy to find out if a check is “good”. You call the issuing bank, ask to “verify funds”, then give them the checking acct number. In this case, I would assume it’s the treasury dept. A few minutes with our good friend google would have made this much easier on the family.
I say this as a person who “verifies funds” a lot, and as a bank customer who wanted cash for a very large check, drawn on the same bank. They “didn’t think they could do it...it’s very irregular”.. So, I told them I’d be happy to sit in their lobby and chat it up with the other bank customers, and voila! 10 minutes later, I walked out of there with my cash.
Banks need to remember that the money they hold is not their own personal fortune, it belongs to the depositors!
Most banks no longer verify funds. However, if you walk into the bank where the check is drawn and ask if you can cash it, you will find out then and there whether or not the check is good. A lot of banks may not allow you to walk in to the branch and cash a large check. Depending on the size of the branch and how much cash they keep in the vault, a large check may clean them out till the next shipment. At the bank I work for we ask for 2 days notice if you want to cash a large check so we can order the cash for you and not put us out.
I see your point but I wonder if there is anything to the fact this was an S&L, not a large bank like Wells Fargo or Bank of America. It could be its funds are not as liquid and it had to wait for the checks to clear. I just want more facts before I jump all over the S&L.