Cashing reimbursement checks - Walmart

I had a member tried cashing a church provided reimbursement check at Walmart and when they ran it through their system, they said that they could not cash the check. Is this correct that locations such as Walmart cannot cash the reimbursement checks? This is an issue because the member is a Missionary Elder that does not have a local bank to deposit or cash the check. Any thoughts on how the Elder can cash the check?

My thought is that Walmart (and others) may be trying to convert the check to an ACH transaction. The "tell" for this is if they only look at the strip on the bottom and give the check back to you. The church account won't allow ACH.

The check must be processed as a check, which generally means deposited to a bank. However, that's a distinction that's lost on most, even those who handle checks. ("We always do it this way.")

cchang wrote:I had a member tried cashing a church provided reimbursement check at Walmart and when they ran it through their system, they said that they could not cash the check. Is this correct that locations such as Walmart cannot cash the reimbursement checks? This is an issue because the member is a Missionary Elder that does not have a local bank to deposit or cash the check. Any thoughts on how the Elder can cash the check?

Are you in a ward/branch that supports electronic reimbursements (EFT/ACH)? He may have an account back home if you're in the same country as his home.

It does seem odd to me that a missionary would have an expense on behalf of the ward as their funds are very limited. Maybe he can sign it over to a member as a third party check and have them cash it at their bank and give the cash to him. I'm not sure if you're in a country that would allow a third party check. OR, maybe the church wouldn't even allow that. Interesting problem.

Maybe reimburse the mission and have them give him cash.

I would guess that he could take it to the same bank you take the deposits to and they would cash it for him.