In accordance with a new policy by the Philippine Clearing House Corporation (PCHC), banks will no longer accept or honor checks with dates indicated in alphanumeric format starting May 2, 2023.
PCHC, the clearing house used by banks for all types of checks, announced that only checks with dates in full numeric format, as in MM-DD-YYYY all in figures (i.e., January 1, 2023 would be 01-01-2023), will be honored by May.
Metrobank is among the big banks that have informed clients of this change as early as January, noting that previously issued checks using that format will be valid only until April 30, 2023.
By May, only alphanumeric checks which are either post-dated and “warehoused” by lenders, or manager’s check or cashier’s check that come with waiver statements will be accepted by recipient banks.
Checking account holders are likewise advised to order new checkbooks with the updated date format to avoid inconvenience. Newer checkbooks issued by banks already follow the MM-DD-YYYY format in boxes, indicating check issuers to fill the date in using numbers only.
