I used to live in illinois and some retailers didn't take out of state checks. Now I live in california and I recently made purchases with m...

Question

I used to live in illinois and some retailers didn't take out of state checks. Now I live in california and I recently made purchases with my checks that have an illinois address and the cashiers did not give me any trouble about it. Did the laws change? Also, the retailers used to keep the checks, why do some retailers return my checks to me?Why don't they keep them?

Answer

I am sure you will find California retailers who will not take out of state checks. When retailers return your check to you, it means they have used your check like a debit card, and the money has been removed from your account at the time of the transaction.