I saw a case on a cable television show about check floating and kiting, do people do this practice often?

Question

I saw a case on a cable television show about check floating and kiting, do people do this practice often? what amounts of $ are these people floating in their mafias? are we talking about like a $100 dollar check or a $10 or $100,000 ?

Answer 1

Yes people do still try to get away with this. It's not too common, but once a financial institution suspects a member of theirs is doing this, there are ways to stop them.

For example, say Susie Smith is suspected of doing this, the institution will put a note on Susie's act that all personal checks Susie tries to deposit from one of Susie's other financial accounts must be froze for 10 days. Susie will quickly find that she's been caught and can't get away with it. At least not at that institution.

In my experience, they are usually for anything from $100 to $1,000. Small amounts.

Answer 2

Actually, check floating doesn't work well anymore. It's a leftover from the days when it would take a bank a few days to clear a check. Now, with new rules, the money is taken out of your account immediately. Oh, and if you're thinking of doing it, the legal penalties are really severe, and you can spend years in prison.