I am an American who is currently abroad doing my PhD research. My family told me a couple months ago that I received a check from a Toyota settlement case (small amount of money). I emailed the contact athttp://www.toyotaelsettlement.com/ about possibly having them re-issue the check and either have them send it to me abroad OR to have them re-issue the check with a later expiration date than August 2015 (as I planned to return to the USA in September for 1 month so might be able to deposit the check at that time). Someone responded to my email a few days later who said re-issue of checks can take 1-3 months and on a rolling basis so there was no guarantee I'd get the re-issued check during my short visit back to the USA. Mailing it to me abroad was also problematic as I was using the embassy address so mail takes much longer (up to 4-6 weeks) to get here.
The check was issued by Bank of the West and it expires August 17, 2015. I finally contacted my bank a couple weeks ago with the dilemma. They said my family can mail the check to the bank for me and write "For deposit only" on the back. Great! I asked my family to do just that.
My bank deposited the check... and then a week later took away the money and charged me $25 in returned check fee. I was told that the bank account was closed! I just emailed the Toyota settlement team about what the hell happened. Hope to hear back soon, but want to know what are my rights? Can I get them to reimbursement the returned check fee as well?
Note: http://www.toyotaelsettlement.com/ does mention re-issuing checks with a March void date. My check had an August expiration date so I don't think they re-issued me a new check. I think my parents would have informed me if I received a new check from them in the mail. However, maybe this is a possibility and they did not update their website... who knows? Just emailed them and will wait. Wish I could call, but currently on vacation in another country as well and access to phones is difficult for me.
What are my rights? Would the resettlement team be responsible for reimbursing my $25 in returned check fee charged by my bank? I am just upset that this whole thing happened to me.
TL;DR: Tried to deposit a Toyota settlement check a couple months after receiving it, but before it's expiration date in August. My bank told me the check's bank account is now closed. My bank took away the check amount + $25 in returned check fee. Just emailed them, but can I get them to pay me back the $25 in returned check fee too?
http://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/3f9j8v/toyota_settlement_check_was_returned_when_i_tried/
