Will you take a bad check?

[Apathy]

Seems that some people abuse the privelege :/

Rapscallion

Most people, actually.

[Chromatix]

So much for modern technology.

I once wrote two cheques, a few days apart. The following week, I received letters from the bank saying that they'd bounced, blah blah blah. I called the companies I'd written them to, like a good citizen, and asked them to check - both of them said it had cleared.

The following *month*, I got calls from both companies informing me that, in fact, the cheques *had* bounced, but the bank hadn't seen fit to tell them. So I had to scramble to get actual payment to them - cash for the one within walking distance, postal orders for the other one.

The kicker: the bank had charged me a total of £70 per cheque for bouncing them. (This I was later able to reclaim, along with the other *illegal* charges that had caused the cheques to bounce in the first place.)

[Geek King]

Over here you can be as big an idiot as you want, as far as I know.

Nope, technically check float is illeagle in the US also. It wasn't until fairly recently, with the advent of those wonderful machines that run the check immediately like a debit card, that there has been a spate of people being bitten in the ass by it, though.

[Fox One]

Do...do these people understand how checking accounts even work?!

[SteveZim1017]

So did #2 get their rate adjusted back up?

no, they had a cancel notice go out for Material misrepresentation on an application instead

I'll let you play the "I didnt know I needed to list them on my policy" excuse, thats fine. but when I catch you in that blatant of a lie within the first 30 days, I send you packing.

I don't need a client that is going to lie to me every time they call. not worth the premium

[depechemodefan]

no, they had a cancel notice go out for Material misrepresentation on an application instead

I'll let you play the "I didnt know I needed to list them on my policy" excuse, thats fine. but when I catch you in that blatant of a lie within the first 30 days, I send you packing.

I don't need a client that is going to lie to me every time they call. not worth the premium

I was thinking this was a case of the caller using a stolen credit card. Which is stupid in itself. But if someone is living there and they use that random guy's card, that is really stupid.

[Dips]

Me: The bank cannot give you permission to write a check without having sufficient funds in the account.
SC: But I need to write a check. Is it ok?
Me: The bank suggests having funds available in the account to write a check.
SC: You're useless.

Don't you love customers who try to get your cooperation in whatever stupid scheme they are concocting? They always get so mad when you won't play.

I have the occasional customer who tries to get me to give them permission to pirate our software. Yes, really.

I don't know why they can't just be sneakily dishonest like normal wrongdoers. My best guess is that they feel guilty and don't like it, so they're hoping to ease their consciences by getting permission.

ETA: I just remembered something else along this line of thinking. My co-worker, Mark, used to do audits for the IRS (the US tax collection agency). He'd have taxpayers doing the same thing trying to get him to tell them that cheating on their taxes was OK:

TP: If I win money at slots, do I have to declare it?

Mark: Yes. It's income.

TP: But if you don't know about it, it's not cheating right?

Mark: Not declaring income is illegal.

TP: That's not what I mean. I mean it would be OK if you don't know, right?

Mark: Why are you asking me? Did you win money at slots and not declare it?

TP: [Finally gets the hint and shuts up.]

[HowMayIHelpYouToday]

Co-worker had this:

SC: Why am I overdrawn?
CW: You had $100 and wrote $400 worth of checks.
SC: I still don't get how I can be overdrawn. I still have checks left over!


And talking of illegal stuff...
Me: May I have your SS# please?
SC: Well, I bought it from somebody and I don't think it's good.

Social service message: If you stole somebody's social and opened an account with it... DON'T TELL THE BANK!! Give me the social and if it works, great, if not, I'll ask you for something else.

P.S. I am not advocating stealing socials You shouldn't be doing that to begin with.


And then I had another CW who would lie to the customers so he wouldn't get into arguments with them (fired long ago for absence issues).

SC: I want to activate these checks.
CW: I activated them for you.
SC: Great thanks.

Nine months later:

SC: I want to activate these checks.
Me: Checks don't have to be activated. They're not like check cards. You can use them right away.
SC: You're lying to me! I've had them activated before! You just don't want to do your job!
Me: ::Remembering CW's call @#&^$&# to CW... and I won't lie to customers just to make them happy::

[bankworking]

My coworker a guy come in to try to cash a $100 money order. So, she asked for his account number.

SC: Why do you need my account number? I showed you my ID!
CW: I need your account number so I can cash your check off of it.
SC: I don't want anything done on my account. I just want my check cashed.

Here, we can make the futile attempt to explain that, unless the check is written off of our bank, we have to cash it on an account because if the check turns out to be no good, guess where that money is coming out of... but really, why prolong the conversation? Instead, my coworker uses his ID to look up the account by name, (which we hate doing because we have to make certain we have the right account with that particular name on it.. fortunately, with his ID in hand, she has enough info to find the correct account)..

Big surprise, his account is negative by $46 dollars.

CW: I'm sorry sir, your account with us is in the negative. We will need to cover that balance before we can cash any checks for you.
SC: I don't have any cash. That's why I need to cash my check.
CW: I can deposit your check to cover the negative and give you cash for what is left.
SC: I don't want to deposit my check. I told you I didn't want anything done on my account. You are a bank. Why can't you just cash my check like I ask? Forget it, I'm out of here!

At this point, the customer walks up to me and demands the contact info for the president of the bank so he can complain. I give the contact info of the president's secretary, which he's not happy with, so he demands to know where the president is located. I give him the location of the corporate office.

I really wonder exactly what he thinks anyone else is going to say.

[lupo pazzesco]

Heh, I actually wrote about this when I first joined the forums last year, a sighting on my ex-roomie in our apartment leasing office. Her rent was late, and they wouldn't waive the late fees, (since she'd had them waived before, and it's a one time only deal) So what does she do, while talking to our leasing manager, with me standing there watching and having no escape? (I was dropping off a check for my utilities and was waiting on a receipt)

(Convo snipped from my last thread and editted down to pertinent details.)

R: Ok, fine! (She whips out her checkbook) I'll write you a check, even though I don't have the money to cover it!
LM:
Me (Still staying quiet)
LM: R...I can't take a check, knowing it will bounce. It's kind of illegal.
R: But AFTER it bounces, my bank will cover it, and then just charge me a fee! I have overdraft protection!
LM: I still can't take this check!

And so they argue back and forth some more, ending with R storming out angry, and me begging for my receipt so I can hide in my apartment before she comes back to drag me off and moan about the unfairness of it all in my ear again.

[Tito]

Can I pay with pretend money?

Or monopoly money?

[nhollywood]

Last I heard, UK law makes it illegal to knowingly write a cheque against an account that has insufficient funds to cover the cheque.

Useful tidbit for those on this side of the pond.

Rapscallion

In the U.S. it is also illegal. It is considered fraud.

[taxguykarl]

Do...do these people understand how checking accounts even work?!

Evidently not

The previous francise owner refused personal checks b/c he spent most of the off-season in small claims court to collect. We could accept those from long-timers (our offices primary client base). You figure that someone who had been coming to us for a decade or more is very unlikely to bounce a check--barring a bank error, of course.

The new francise owner takes all checks. One reason is that corporate added some upgrades which enable collecting such debts the next year--as long as they go to a preparer who uses the same bank for overnight loans or to have the preparation fee withheld.

The most interesting check SC was a lady who had an income of about $75k who asked to hold a $200 check for a month. Anyone else sense shenanigans here?

[CorDarei]

My coworker a guy come in to try to cash a $100 money order.
...

SC: I don't want to deposit my check. I told you I didn't want anything done on my account. You are a bank. Why can't you just cash my check like I ask? Forget it, I'm out of here!

I really wonder exactly what he thinks anyone else is going to say.

so was it a check or money order? cos i thought money order's were treated almost like cash (hence most companies will take money orders, but not personal checks)

[Ironclad Alibi]

so was it a check or money order? cos i thought money order's were treated almost like cash (hence most companies will take money orders, but not personal checks)

Aren't there a lot of counterfiet money orders and cashier checks being used in scams these days? That would be reason enough to hold the funds for a while.