bounced checks

How do "you" deal with them? Small buisness owners and such that is.

We have been working with banks for the most part if client is unwilling to fix it. As in we just keep calling bank till that account has the cash then we deposit check. Most the time I'm out nothing because I just cancel service and write remainder of service off as bounced check fee.

Its too bad sherriffs and prosecuters are to lazy to do their job any more

Under Indiana law, it is a crime to issue, offer or present a check or bank draft drawn on an account that you (1) know has insufficient funds to cover the amount of the check; (2) is a closed account; or (3) is a nonexistent or fictitious account. In Indiana, these offenses are collectively known as check deception. Penalties for check deception may include fines, jail or both.

If I get a bounced check, I call the District Attorney's office and they have a bad check unit. They issue citations and get on it. I don't know how much criminal prosecution they do but they generally put enough heat on people they make good on the check.

Been ten years or so since i've had one, but back then i'd......

Go the the JP and file on them. Believe it cost 35 dollars and for that, they'd send them a registered letter to pay or have a hearing on such and such a date.

If they don't pay, they never show for the court date either, in my experience. So, they no-show and you win...lol.

Next you can give them more money and have the sheriff go tag items for a sale. Don't waste this money. until you pay for this and they sell an old tv, your further in the hole.

So, File the first part for 35$ and if they don't pay, remember their name and don't do anymore business with them.

Here its a crime too. Call and you get told its a civil matter hire a lawyer. Smash in the thiefs nose they will show up though

Supose to be a crime here too. Maybe the check has to be huge, but it always went how i stated. I don't even bother anymore, i normally bump into them somewhere and bounce them about it. But like i said, it's been alot of years since i've gotten one.
Once your in business for 15-20 years, ya know who to trust and who not too. That's been my biggest asset.

What Lazarus said. I call the propel and sometimes knock on their door. I have had them hide and not take my calls and if that is the case sometimes I just put their check on my wall of shame for all my customers to see( only three checks in 30 years) and file a lien on their house if its a big check. Like Hippie said- if your gut tells you not to trust them don't do it. If you want the job you could always quote double and get half down?
I returned a lame horse to someone in Indiana one time. They gave me their personal check and they were pretty crappy about the whole deal so I cashed their check at their bank on the way out of town and ten minutes after I cashed it the lady called me and called me everything but a white guy telling me they didn't have the money in their account and now they were over drawn and the bank was charging them for covering it... Glad I did that! HA!

If you can, just say no to checks. Cash or card only. Get a card reader for your phone. I suggest yourbluedog.com because they are 2A friendly. The better known companies like Square are anything but 2A friendly.

I was lucky as heck with personal checks while operating my taxidermy studio. I had exactly 2 checks bounce in over 30 years, and both were written as deposit checks. The writers made good asap. I also had one from a guy that wrote me a check to cover the first part of a Land Contract type house sale. I made it a point to go to his bank to cash the check the day after I got it. The lady at the window said no-can-do........He didn't even have overdraft protection so it would come out of another account. I called the guy, who was working out-of-state and told him what happened. He told me to try it again because he DID have overdraft protection. The bank manager had been very candid and said he didn't have any account other than the checking account which held nothing close to the check amount. I told the lying sack of s*** to buy someone else's house. I was nearly conned by this guy and his girlfriend. They were going to move into the house in a day or so. I have a friend that does court work in that county(Process server type stuff)and he'd told me they were not to be trusted AFTER I'd gotten the check....hence my action of driving directly to his bank to cash the check. Had I just run it through my account at home , 100 plus miles away, they'd have been physically IN the house by the time the check cleared, or should I say didn't clear. I would have had to get a lawyer/judge to remove them.

Had a bunch through the years. Had to put several people in jail. It's amazing how they somehow come up with the money once they are in jail. It's been a long time since I had a bad one (mainly because I try to avoid taking them) so I don't know what the law would do these days.

now that's a good lesson for us all!
Thanks for sharing!

Most are taken care of with a phone call

Up until this point the others have been taken care of by bank allowing us to letting us know when sufficient funds were available. I think the longest one took 5 weeks before funds were available. But that is the bank cooperating when writer would not.

This time with this specific bank. The bank is even refusing to cooperate. Won't even verify if the person is their client.

Local authorities here act like it's your responsibility to prove its fraud. As in:. They don't care and won't waste time with bad checks.

I've been told by our bank to send verified letter to check writer to correct issues within 30 days. If no correction is made then take check to Prosecutor. But according to local law and other authorities. If you can't prove its fraud and not just an unbalanced check book. Then your up Creek with out paddle

Lol

Also

Their bank told us to keep trying!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Writer is charged 35$ per bounce by them! So their bank without even looking at or verifying any info refused to see if account was sufficient before telling is to try again! "Wells Fargo"

Every other bank we have dealt with up to this point would at the very least take check, look at system, then say yes or no. Lol,. Not Wells Fargo! Wells Fargo says keep trying because we make 35$ every time you do!

In that case i would try every day twice a day to costs them as much money as possible.

No

Our bank charges us 12$

It's only 55$ check. Drop in bucket

I'm really just trying to learn how to play game correctly. We are over 1000 clients now and growing faster and faster every month. Becomes more of an issue the bigger we get. I may end up refusing checks because it seems law department doesn't want to enforce anything. But I'm scared that refusing checks will hurt my profit margin.

Dunno


I like FB messenger app!!!!! Folks can pay through messenger via debit

Well thanks for heads up on Wells Fargo checks! I take quite a few checks for my business. Some people you can get a vibe that they are likely to bounce one on you. So I demand cash payment, have it right in my work order that I can demand all payments be in cash. I have honestly though had very little issue with bad checks. Had one guy that bounced one twice after reassuring me that funds were in the account. At that point I called the bank and they were kind enough to tell me what days that guy actually got paid by EFT. I just showed up at his bank the next time he was scheduled to be paid and cashed his check right then and there.

I figured you could just turn them into collection agency or something?

That's what banks should do! It's their check!!! At the very least you should be able to walk in to cash. But verify before you do cash. Hey! Before you cash this check their account!!!!!!!!!!!! Most bank would do that. Not Wells fargo

a bounced check is only a crime under certain circumstances. Has to be a simultaneous exchange for goods and services, vs payment to creditor. Many people are the position of a creditor without even realizing it. Like accepting payments on a contract. As opposed to requiring payment at the time of service.

My local town cops loves it when people bounce checks, he will personally go to their residence give them a very short timeline to pay up or im pretty sure he takes them to jail. It has never got that far so I am unsure what happens to the people, usually when they see a cop role in they pay up immediately.

That's what i got from it here too Passthru. That's why i just get the J.P. to send a letter and hearing, then drop it if they don't show/pay.

Had one guy who knew the ropes. After he got the letter, he stopped in and asked if he could make payments. I said sure and took about a tenth of it. He didn't ever come back so i went to the J.P. again and she told me as soon as i accepted money for the check, she couldn't do anything for me.

Hippie


Here they are telling me that I have send certified letter, wait 30 days, then go to JP.

?

JP. sends the letter here. Or do you mean you have to send a bill?

Or JP. sends letter with costs added and a hearing date.

I have to send a letter with bill certified mail giving them 30 days to correct. Then if no correction is made I have to go to JP with proof I sent letter certified

Then I guess JP will attempt to do something? What I don't know

I see.
No, ours sent the first letter with all costs included. Keep in mind, it's been years since i did it, but yea, her letter had the 30 day wait for them to pay.

K

Find out if the person who wrote the check has an Employer if you can..
Call them up and Demand it get taken care of!
Worked on a Bad check I received once.

Where I live you let them know they have so many days to Pay up or will be turned over to the Prosecuting Attorney.....People just don't use Checks much anymore around here!

I only ever had one bounced check from a guy I did some contracting work for.
I went through all the steps from calling him, to stopping at his house, calling the banks, sending certified mail, going to the JP, trying to get my money through a sheriff sale (didn't happen), and showing up to his bankruptcy court hearing.
At the hearing the judge told me he owed over $90,000 to 91 creditors. 91 people or companies he owed money to.
I ask what that meant for me. The judge just laughed and said "He only owes you $1,100. The big boys get their money first and he doesn't have much of it. You will never see a nickle."

So my advice is.....be prepared to waste lots of time and effort collecting on a bad check.

I still remember Counter Checks when I first moved out to SD! Lived in a small town my bank account "number" was my name back then. LOL Times have changed

Exactly.
That's why i said in my first post to stop and cut your losses after the registered letter. The sherriff sale deal is a joke.

I got relatively few in my 25 years in retail, but I tracked down almost every one. Checking the bank account on the 1st and 15th of the month sometimes worked, but I had luck calling bosses and or family members as well if I could find them. If it came from a cop or someone in the military, their higher ups took care of it quick. Everybody writes a few bounced checks when they are young and they make it right, but someone who writes a significant check knowing it is bad... that's another thing.

No chance to get the law involved these days, but be creative if you can.

Pete