I am a professional organizer in the state of Ga. I did work for a woman on Aug. 16th. It is my policy to collect pmt. On the day of services. She was not at home when I needed to leave, but I was to come back the next morning to complete the job, and thought I'd collect then. But, on the evening of the 16th she called me complaining about certain things. Seems she had mistaken me for her cleaning lady. Rather than going around in circles with her bad temperament I said, lets call it a day and just send me a check for the amount due. She agreed. LONG story short, she has lied about sending a check twice, and lied about putting a money order in the mail and sending it certified once. I drove to her home, and ask for a check right then. She wrote it to my name followed by cleaning services. I refused it, because I could not have cashed or deposited it in that name. She added that to get my goat. Not her first attempt by far. Finally she wrote one to me and I left. I got a text the next day saying she wrote it on the wrong acct and needed that check back. She has stood me up twice when we were to meet to exchange the check for cash. I took the check to the bank and it was written on a closed acct. What is my recourse? Is writing a check on a closed acct a federal offence? It is only for $100.00 but the principle of the thing is eating me up.

Its called check fraud... just the same as passing off checks from accounts with insufficient funds.

Personally I'd give her X days to provide payment by certified check, money order or cash, due to having passed off a bad check... plus any bounce fees you may have incurred, otherwise you will have to take her to small claims court to collect.

I'd do THAT just on principle...

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Originally Posted by smoothy

Its called check fraud.....just the same as passing off checks from accounts with insufficient funds.

Personally I'd give her X days to provide payment by certified check, money order or cash, due to having passed off a bad check...plus any bounce fees you may have incurred, otherwise you will have to take her to small claims court to collect.

I'd do THAT just on principle...

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I'd report her to the police, on principle, and forget about the $100.

And no, I don't believe it's a Federal offence. But it would be a state crime.

Don't give her an ultimatum if you do that. It may be considered extortion. Just do it.

Then you can also sue in small claims. Or if she gets charged and convicted she can be ordered to pay you restitution.

Hello c:

I'd just sue her in small claims.. If you wait for the cops to do something over $100, you could grow old. Small claims court is quick, cheap, easy, and a judgment has TEETH.

excon

1. if it was "your name" with cleaning service added, of course you could have cashed it, ( depoisted it into your personal account or taken it to her bank with proof of ID and cashed it)

I depoist checks with various business names into my personal checking account almost every week and have for years. *** my name with services.
So if this check was on a valid account, you missed your money right there.

But you can take it to the DA office and file out a complaint for the bad check. And you can also sue her in small claims court for the value of the check.

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Originally Posted by Fr_Chuck

1. if it was "your name" with cleaning service added, of course you could have cashed it, ( depoisted it into your personal account or taken it to her bank with proof of ID and cashed it)

I depoist checks with various business names into my personal checking account almost every week and have for years. *** my name with services.
So if this check was on a valid account, you missed your money right there.

But you can take it to the DA office and file out a complaint for the bad check. and you can also sue her in small claims court for the value of the check.

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I had someone write a check to GOAL Organizing (my company name) once, and the bank would not accept it. I had not opened a DBA acct. I guess I was thinking of that when I did not accept her check, BUT the difference was, my name was not included on the GOAL one. Besides, the check she wrote to Cleaning Services was written off the same bad account as the one I left with. So, according to her, she has written a total of 5 checks, and I still don't have the money.:mad:

Yes bad checks is a real issue, many small business have gone or almost gone out of business because of them, One of my old businesses had almost 20,000 in bad checks when we closed. We have had people get all types of services and then refuse to pay, stop payments on checks and others write bad checks. Not to even mention the ones who owed us and went bankrupt.