I mentioned a bit ago about having some checks that I had forgotten to cash and just received this information from Google:

We’d like to let you know that an AdSense check issued to you almost one year ago will soon expire. When it does, the funds will be returned to your account and appear as a “Check expired – Earnings credited back” message on your Payment History page. Earnings from this check will be sent to you when you’re eligible for payment next. For the future, we’d like to let you know some important information:

- Please do not try to cash the check one year after it has been issued

We ask that you destroy any checks more than one year old. You have up to one year to deposit a Google AdSense check. Please do not try to deposit your check more than a year after the date on check. If you try to do so, it’s possible that your bank will charge you fees for cashing a stopped check.

What was interesting was that this email came to me without me requesting information (compared to trying to find out from some other companies what I should do with their older checks). The email appeared in my box this morning on Google’s initiative which is a pleasant surprise. I’m not aware of any other company that tells you when old checks haven’t been cashed or who refunds the amount automatically into your account after a year if they haven’t been cashed. Give Google a gold star in this department.

I, on the other hand, need to keep better track of the checks coming in…