[taxadvice]

Hi,

I gave some money to my friend few months ago. He gave me a check for the amount month back and before depositing it to my account I asked him if he had sufficient funds in his account and he said yes. After a week of depositing the check my bank send me a letter that the check was returned due to insufficient funds and they charged me $25 for that. I asked my friend to pay me the original amount and the fee, but he now refuses to pay. Is there any legal action to get the money back.

Also, why did the bank charge me a fee of $25. I can never know if the other person has sufficient amount in his bank or not. I asked my bank and they said you have to get this fees from the other person but what if he says no. is there any way to get rid of this fees.

Thanks in advance... :)

[excon]

Hello tax:

Sure, there's stuff you can do. Sue your friend in small claims court. You have ALL the evidence you need in the form of the bounced check. You should also be awarded court costs plus the returned check fee.

excon

[kp2171]

I agree with excon. I'm not an expert in this area, but I know you are likely getting nowhere with your bank on this. You are (or should be) aware of this fee. Its in one of the mailings the bank has sent to you or gave you when you signed up. You know, one of those things we tend to set aside or put away without paying too much attention. It isn't secret, even if you didn't know about it. Unfortunately, most of us know about it after its happened to us.

so you are likely SOL from your bank.

best you can do is go after the friend. Comes down to that. Now you know why business state the return fee amount at registers. They actually are obligated to do so...

in my state, a business can pursue up to three times the check amount with a cap on the amount above the check... I believe its no more than $500 above the check amount...

BUT the business needs to post in advance the check return policy, and they need to notify the person in writing, and it is possible the court could still just award the check amount if the defendant convinces them of hardship concerning money.

point is, you should be aware of this as well. If you write a bad chack to a business, you might find yourself out the overdrawn fee from your bank (if they let it go through) OR you might be out the fee from your bank (if they don't let it go through) and the amount and fees from the business who could collect more than the face value.

personally, its up to you and what the friendship is worth. I've had two bad checks associated with a small business we ran. I didn't pursue it. They were small dollar amounts and it was worth not the grief. One was an honest mistake by a bigger client, one was a mistake by a one time buyer. Neither were worth the grief.

now... the fee amount, your friend, in my opinion, morally owes you. The original amount of the check... he would "owe" you if it were not a loan... like if it were for some service or thing. If he was trying to help you out... well it was his money to begin with even if it wasn't there. You'd have paid him paid if it was a loan, so there's that.

I have a close friend I never give money or pay for because I KNOW ill have to harp him to get paid back. After the 4th time I finally was done. Now you know about your friend. Sucks... but now you know.