I have a fairly new client (3rd job - $350) whose check bounced. After 6+ years this is the first bounced check. How do you handle this type of situation?
Thanks for all responses.
Hard to say why it bounced. I get paid monthly, and because I work out of town, my check is deposited for me, and I have "Bill Pay" and other automatic payments for the mortgage, utilities, etc. 15 yrs, never a problem, even with checks over $10,000. Until 2 months ago, when the bank put a 12 business day hold on it!! BOOOOOIING! Bounced checks like crazy! My creditors were understanding, but I am still trying to get reimbursed for the overdrafts.
Point being, possibly the IRS nabbed him for something or some other creditor got dibs on his account, there can be a slew of legit reasons for the bounced check.
Does it twice tho' .........
-JD-
Call and say hey checked bounced .could be a honest mistake .
Every one drops the ball once in a while but a bounced check for $350 these days is unusual, to say the least. Your client already knows about it so if there is no time pressure here wait a few days for an embarrassed phone call.
If it's drawn on the bank where you have done business for those six years, you might call you banker and ask: "Whaddaya think?"
Regardless of whether you are both at the same bank, you are probably facing a dishonored check charge, and that needs to be cleaned up ASAP.
The first two post above are great.
I have called clients and it was an honest mistake. They are so embarrassed that they bring a good check or cash right over. In the past I have put some clients on the "You pay first, then we work" list for this or very slow payments. Problem solved.
It has only happened three or four times in about 30 years. The last one was a little old lady who was just getting by. We had a friendly discussion about what had happened. She apologized and said to run it back through after Monday. That worked. Don't know what I would have done if it had bounced the second time. Probably would have just let it slide because of her circumstances.
The first time it happened involved one of those people who never intend to pay for anything in the first place. Man, oh, man, did he learn a lesson and quick. It wasn't very professional on my part, I must admit. But, it worked.
Normally, running it through the second time will work if the client knows precisely when you will be trying to cash it at his bank, in person, while chatting with everyone in the bank about how shocked you were that "So and so" would give you a check that bounced.
One &%*@@#$$% tried mailing me a check without having signed it. I simply stopped in at his bank, made an issue of that fact with the teller and caught the bank president's attention in the process. He remembered me from a few years earlier when I was treasurer of a rural water district and we deposited $200,000 for a CD that was paying a bit better than the other banks at the time. He had her check his account and verified that there was enough in his account to cover it. He then authorized her to hand me the cash I was seeking (Nearly $2000).
Your bank is about a decade behind. We are down to $2,500 for the automatic hold. I used to go cash the checks at the bank that the check was written on. Haven't tried that for awhile so maybe they shut that down also. They will probably start putting holds on cash also.
Criminals are the least trusting of others. Banks don't trust anyone!
> I used to go cash the checks at the bank that the check was written on. Haven't tried that for awhile so maybe they shut that down also. They will probably start putting holds on cash also.
Almost. I tried to cash a check at Huntington from my renter, who's account was with Huntington. It was over $500 so I couldn't use the drive-thru. :-S Then they wanted to charge be $10 because I did not have an account there :-S I explained that the person who gave me this check has money in this bank and around and around we went. I could not believe they could do this. Searched the Web and sure enough they can.
Not sure if you have them there, but they advertise constantly about their NO FEES checking accounts. No fee if you write the check, but :pissed: If you want to cash it.
80 per cent of my bad checks were received by an innocent excuse and prompt payment.
They call it grace!!
Have your Bank enter it for collection. IF he had $349 in the account when the check bounced, they will bounce all of his checks until his account balance exceeds $350 then they will honor your check. All of the $10 and $15 checks he writes between now and then will bounce. His bank will make out like a bandet on over draft fees.
Several months ago, I sold a bunch of Silver Coins to a friend. He forgot which account he wrote the check on, and transfered money to the worng account to cover the check. When he fixed it, 5 minutes after I told him about it, I took the check back to my bank to deposit it. They would not accept it. His bank was about 1 block away so I just took it to them and asked them to cash it. They asked me what denomination of bills I wanted. I asked for $5 and $10. The did not have enough so they gave me $100 in ones and the rest in $50 and $100. The teller at my bank then had to count all that cash. She was not a happt camper at 10 minutes before closing on Friday.
Banks don't keep cash any more. You need to call them a day ahead of time so they can get some cash.
Been a few years ago but we needed to make a deposit so I could pay some bills during the hold period on a $10,000 check. So my wife decided to withdraw some cash from her savings account. You'd assume they'd give you the money and they will, just not in cash that you can spend immediately. They'll give you a cashiers check which you can deposit in another bank which may put another hold on it.
Wife told me to wait in the car and went in the bank. It took a long time and during the wait I say a bank officer come out and walk around the bank. They must have thought maybe we were trying to rob the place. After about 20 minutes my wife comes out mad as hell. I guess she really put on a scene. She had about $4,500 in cash which went all the way down to at least a thousand in fives. I think in total there was maybe a thousand in hundreds and fifties and all the rest was 5, 10 and 20's. She had a cashiers check for the balance. I'm sure we made some special report to the FBI and DHS. Can you imagine someone wanting to get cash out of their savings account without making an appointment days ahead.
Some day probably not that long from now you'll go to the bank and find out you can't get your money out.
How About Your Bank Charging You For Cash Deposits ?
Coming soon at my bank.
I am looking at alternative banks.
Paul in PA
If they put a hold on a cashier's check they are playing games with you. That check does not depend on any individual's account balance, only the credit of the bank it is drawn on.
The reporting threshold as of a couple years ago was $10k, or any action that the bank people deem suspicious.
It's happened to me several times over the years...
Couple times it was with me best client. When I called him, he laughed it off & said to deposit again. They always cleared the next time...
Received a bad check from a one time client. I tried calling after the first bounce, but they wouldn't return my call. I deposited again, it bounced again. So I sent them a registered letter to make good within 10 business days. They never accepted the letter, so I filed suit in small claims court and had them served at their business...
Got my $$$ the following week with fees... 😉
> I have a fairly new client (3rd job - $350) whose check bounced. After 6+ years this is the first bounced check. How do you handle this type of situation?
> Thanks for all responses.
Always assume an innocent mistake. If late it turns out not to be such, you can always go back to being tough.
In my 23 years running a business I have had a total of 1 bounced check. It was from a friend of mine. (Going to his birthday party on Sat night.)
I called him when I got the letter from the bank. He said he would call me right back. Less than 5 minutes later he asked if I would go to the bank and cash the check. Turns out the bank had made a mistake and transferred funds from one of his accounts into the wrong account.
Larry P
> ...We had a friendly discussion about what had happened. She apologized and said to run it back through after Monday. That worked. Don't know what I would have done if it had bounced the second time. Probably would have just let it slide because of her circumstances.
>
If you agree to take a check that you know is not good the moment you receive it you lose any recourse should the check bounce. Someone gives you a check dated several days into the future? You lose if it bounces.
Larry P
Forgot about an unusual situation. The check was for about $50. I took it to the guy's bank a few minutes after he gave it to me as it was on the path to our next stop. The teller checked his account and said it didn't have that much in it. No big deal. Tried again a few days later. Same story. Teller said to come back on Friday afternoon as his paycheck was electronically deposited every week on Friday morning. Still no big deal, so I did the Friday thing. Still not enough money. That got the teller curious. We're talking a small town where nearly everyone knows nearly everyone else. She KNEW he had plenty of money. She went to her supervisor to get an explanation. The supervisor gave it a fresh look, then pointed out to the teller that this was not drawn on his regular checking account, but an account that had been opened for a specific building project. The bank had forgotten to actually put any money into the account, so they were responsible for the total lack of funds. They promptly fixed their screw up and I had my $50.
They may hold a cashiers check as it may be a forgery. They'll at least hold it until it clears. The other holds go days beyond when a check clears. Most checks clear, if they are going to clear, over night but the hold will extend many more days. So why is that? I tried to pin a bank officer down about it once. I asked if the check had cleared, I knew it had because I'd talked to the person that wrote me the check and his bank showed it paid. The bank officer wouldn't tell me whether it had cleared and wouldn't remove the hold either.
I don't know why the banks are required to report anything these days. Every transaction record down to the penny is saved by the NSA. They just built the spy data center here in Utah to store all the data. They can't track all cash (at least not yet) and so they want to get rid of it.
How About Your Bank Charging You For Cash Deposits ?
Why does that surprise you? If the interest they pay gets any lower it will go negative. You will have to pay the bank to store your money for you! Pay to put it in, pay get it out and keep it for any length of time.
Not so long ago I was trying to open a checking account. Worse than a criminal background check. After about twenty minutes of answering questions and filling out papers I told the gal, "I hope it's easier to get my money out of this bank than to get it in."
Jump onto the dog and bone ASAP
You will likely find an honest mistake..
"The wife used the cheque ( Oz spelling) book and did not fill out the stub"
"Oopss an automatic payment must have gone through"
Thousand and one reasons.
Simply ask when is it ok to represent . If genuine hardship then client will say. Hopefully the $350 will not break you so hang in with some polite encouragement to pay when they can.
RADU
