As I have mentioned before, I work for a major credit bureau in the state of Kansas who reports their findings nationwide. I have had that position for several years now. For that entire time period, I have noticed that there is a major problem with people writing worthless checks. Those checks are then given to grocery stores, all other stores that accept payment through checks, mortgage/rent companies, schools, restaurants, etc... Over the past year, I have noticed that this problem has increased in the counties where I report my information from. I am assuming that it is due partially from the current economy that affects each and every one of us.
Something that I want to warn people about is the fact that if the check writer fails to "pick up" (pay for)the worthless check including business' bad-check charges quickly, these checks will be turned over to the court system to collect. At that point, the check writer will literally pay hundreds of dollars to correct the whole issue.
Awhile back, a person had written an insufficient funds check to a business in an amount considerably under $5.00. The person did not pick it up until after it had been sent to the court level. That person paid for that check many times over.
Many consumers are now not using checkbooks. Instead, they are using debit cards that pull the money out of an interest-free account to pay their bills, etc. MANY businesses are gladly accepting these cards. As soon as the merchandise is paid for through these debit cards, the consumer's money is immediately deposited into the business' checking account.
Just thought that you might be interested in this.
VLE-B
Ignoring a bad check is not a wise thing to do. If you write one, just as Lynn said, for just a few dollars, and do not take care of it, the recipient can very easily get judgment against you for several hundred dollars, usually $800-900 on a small check. They are not just handed these judgements; defendants are notified and given a date to appear in court. This is after they have also been contacted by the person they gave the bad check to. (usually many contacts, phone calls, letters are sent before it even gets to court). Once the writer of the bad check fails to come to court, the judge almost always grants judgment to the other party, who can then garnish wages, bank accounts, etc. All this grief and hundreds of dollars for simply not taking care of a $5.00 bad check. Happens all the time.
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