Can you help me settle a dispute about bad check writing...me and a friend are on different agreements here...

Question

OK, I was wondering...if you have a bank account (checking) that is over drawn for a few weeks to a month and you cannot pay to get it back to positive...plan on lettin it close down and going on to the collections.....if you write a check, is that a bad check? Or is it only if the account is closed or stolen checks or what not. It is a open bank account but again, in the negative and has been for a little bit. They will close the account after 60 days and send it to collections where she plans on paying in payments since she has no money to pay for it now. But she "HAD" (lol) to write a check and I say thats a bad check, but she says its not...only if the account is closed or checks are stolen. Whos right? Please help...she may have a point but not sure. And apparently the bank told her that anything that goes through is just another overdraft charge to her account that it didnt really matter. If it is a bad check, then what will happen to her from here? Thanks for any answers!!

Answer 1

Actually, she's wrong. If she writes a check when she knows that she does not have the funds, especially after written notices have been provided to her from the bank, the bank can take then INSTANTLY close her account and under no circumstances do they have to wait the 60 days. The Risk Management department will monitor the account and put a stop to it and also report her to more then just collection agencies, but to credit reporting agencies which will prevent her from opening an account ANYWHERE. She'll be reported to Chexsytems, SCAN and TeleCheck. She could also face CRIMINAL repercussions if she continues to write bad checks.

I think she's better off stopping now and closing out the account and working out the agreement to pay it back with the bank ahead of time. She may be able to avoid being reported.

Answer 2

She can actually go to jail for fraud, knowingly writing a check for funds not available. First the place she wrote it out to will ask for reimbursement (cash) plus a fee, if not paid they will file a police report, she will be arrested and tried. See it in the paper all the time. It is called theft. In addition the bank will not wait 60 days to close the account, and daily charges will add up. Two things can happen here as with whomever she wrote the checks out to the bank can also go after her depending on the amount she is now over, and she will not be able to get another account anywhere until the damages are satisfied since most banks use the Chexfax system..

Answer 3

Okay first you don't go to prison in the US for being in debt - if so, we wouldn't have enough prisons.

First, the entity she writes the check to will not have it clear, the bank will not pay on an account without funds. So she will wrack up on more overdraft charge to her total and then the person/entity she writes the check to may incur a charge on their very own account for depositing a returned check and the person/entity she wrote the check to will be out the money.

A previous poster is correct that if the dollar amount of the known bad check is high enough the checkwriter could face criminal charges. Plus the recipient of the bad check coud pursue collection action (including legal means) to collect the amount of the check, the amount of the returned check fee and amounts connected to the collection of the debt.

The check writer will most likely get a negative reported on her credit records too with the bureaus.

Tell your friend there is no legitimate excuse or reason to "steal" which she is most certainly doing if she presents a check she knows has no funds to pay against. Plus she will have to live with a lowered credit score, collection by the bank and threat of legal action.

My advice is to find a better caliber of friends :-D - nice of you trying to help.

Answer 4

any time you have no funds in account to cover a check that check is considered a bad check and to write a check on a bad account the fees just are not good too. . . the bank charges a fee the place where she wrote the check charges a fee than if the check presents twice like most checks do there are 2 more fees and then if the account stays negative after a week there is like a daily fee for being in the negative balance. . . .this is not looking good... sorry!

Answer 5

It is a bad check if you write a check for an amount you don't have the funds to cover. Even if she had 1000 dollars in her account and wrote a check for 1002 dollars, that would be a bad check.

She should have never written a check when she knew that she didn't have the funds to cover it. When the bank receives it and realizes that she has insufficient funds to cover it, they will refuse it. Depending on who the check was made out to, how much, etc. they may or may not press charges.

It is a crime! A bad check doesn't mean a check that is written while an account is closed, it is any check written without the funds to cover it.

I don't think your friend is mature enough to have a checking account.

Answer 6

It's not only a bad check, it's bank faud, and if you write it for over $250, in some states, that could be considered a felony.

People that write checks that make simple mathmatical errors or lose track of what they have...is not bank fraud....that is because at the time of the check writing they did not have PRIOR knowledge that there was no money in the account. There was no prior intent to defraud.

No one "has" to write a bad check. Just like no one "has" to steal.

The owner of the account, can possibly be criminally charged.

Answer 7

It's a "bad check" according to the bank even if the account is technically in good standing but there isn't enough money in the account to cover it.

What your friend did was even more devious and could be considered as theft, since she paid for something with a monetary instrument (the check) that she knew had no cash backing it up. She probably won't get caught, but all the justification in the world that she is trying won't make what she did right.

Answer 8

If she was already overdrawn on the checking account & didnt have overdraft , it is a bad check. The bank will not pay it & the company she wrote it to or person would be stuck for that money. Some companies have a computerized check credit check that her name would then be added to. She could also be prosectuted for writing a bad check which is illegal

Answer 9

it is a "bad check" it is also a crime to write a check from an account that is negative in balance. That is the stupid thing anyone could do you can actually go to jail and it stays on your record! it makes getting a "good" job very hard

Answer 10

Writing a check from an account when it is known that the check will not be honored is a crime. Under the law in my state it is considered theft by deception.