Stop payment.
In plain English
A stop payment is an order you give your bank to block a particular check or preauthorized electronic payment from going through. You give the bank the details, such as the check number and amount, and it flags that payment so it is not paid out. It only works if the payment has not already cleared, so timing matters. Banks usually charge a fee for it, and for paper checks a written stop payment typically lasts six months, sometimes a year, before it expires and must be renewed.
01Why it matters
If a check is lost or stolen, or you need to cancel a payment to someone you no longer want to pay, a stop payment can keep the money in your account before it leaves for good.
02The math, step by step
You mailed a $400 check and it never arrived. You call your bank and request a stop payment, giving the check number, the amount, and who it was payable to. The bank charges a fee (banks set their own, often around $30 to $35, as an illustration only) and blocks that check if it has not already cleared.
03What this is NOT
A stop payment is not the same as disputing a charge. A stop payment heads off a payment that has not yet cleared; a dispute is how you contest a payment that already went through, including unauthorized electronic transfers protected under Regulation E.
04Receipts
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Plain-English answers from our glossary. Receipts included. Never advice.
Educational tool. Answers come only from ClearMoneySchool's published glossary and are not advice. Why we never give advice