So, my father-in-law gave my kids some money for Christmas in the form of a check made out to my wife. His checking account is at Chase which we don't use, so we decided to simply cash the check at Chase rather than deposit it in our own bank. I've done this before at banks like Huntington and other local banks and they simply give me cash with no questions.
Well, we rolled up to Chase today and they informed us that they would charge a $10 fee to cash it since we don't have an account with them. My reply was, "But this check is from your bank." Teller said they still charge a fee since the person cashing it isn't a customer.
This is another reason why I don't use Chase.
@JoeRockhead wrote:Unfortunately Chase isn't the only bank doing this. Truist (BB&T) was doing this 10 years ago... others include BoA, Wells Fargo, PNC, Regions, etc... If you want to be really offended, some like PNC and Regions charge a percentage of the check amount.
Yeah, PNC sucks. I was a National City Bank customer for a long time and really like them, but when PNC took them over it all went South. I left as quick as I could.
I don't do business with any of the banks you listed above. Probably never will.
@JoeRockhead wrote:If you want to be really offended, some like PNC and Regions charge a percentage of the check amount.
I remember being paid as a kid for testing some product of some sort or another and getting paid as a check and then going to a check cashing place to cash said checks good times losing a percentage of the check amount 
I forgot to mention that my final response to the teller was, "Yeah, we're not doing that. Give me the check back."
She never even said "Have a nice day " 😞
@Lurker22 wrote:Agree or not but the banks that charge fees like this are because you're not a customer but you're asking for a service, I too don't like it but I understand it, they're a business and if they did everything for free they wouldn't be in business for long
True, but the check was from a Chase Bank account so they would have to process this check at some point anyway because it's from one of their account owners. I am a really doing them a favor by skipping the middle man of my bank, and they have the gall to charge me a fee? Give me a break. It's theft plain and simple.
@Anonymous wrote:The fact it was issued on their own bank doesn't address the issue (and may make it worse). The problem is that the writer of that check may (for all they know) come back at some point and say "You cashed the check but the payee never got it, what's up"? If YOU have an account with them AND it's drawn on their bank there is much less risk. But this way, they need to do some work to ensure that you, an unknown, are entitled to the payment, and take some risk. So no, it's not theft plain and simple, especially as you had a good alternative.
I absolutely disagree. I prove who I am with my ID and by endorsing the check. The account owner signed off on the check written to me. They keep the check as proof that they paid as instructed. Checks are one of the most secure payment types because of these things which is why they have been used for hundreds of years. There is zero risk to the bank.
If it really was a risk, then every bank would charge this fee. But they don't. Chase does because they know they can and there isn't a thing I can do about it. That's it.