These are the steps you will want to take:
- Reduce your likelihood of receiving a bad check
- Put systems in place to monitor and salvage bounced checks internally
- Be prepared to take legal or civil action to recover your cash
Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done
If yours is a retail business, take steps to avoid bad checks
Accept local checks with a preprinted name and address. Require that checks are written and signed in your presence. Don't accept third-party or post-dated checks, and verify large checks with the issuing bank.I recommend: Telecheck, Cross-check and Echo all provide check verification services you can subscribe to. You might also consider PayPal if you are an Internet business.
Contact customers who write a bad check
Nearly everyone bounces a check from time to time by mistake. Have your bookkeeper confirm with the check issuer that this wasn't a mistake. Ask for immediate replacement of the check. Make sure your sales team doesn't continue to offer products to customers who have issued checks with insufficient funds to cover them.I recommend: Find Accounting Software can help you find software that automatically alerts all departments to trouble with a client.
Employ electronic check re-presentment
Checks go through the traditional clearing process only twice, but electronic check re-presentment gives you a third chance to get paid.I recommend: Contact The Electronic Payments Association (NACHA) for more information.
Consider small claims court
If the balance is small you can go to small claims court without an attorney.I recommend: Lawguru.com offers answers to most simple questions regarding filing and collecting with small claims. Each state has its own FAQ and/or forms area on the Web for Small Claims.
Use collection agents to recoup
If you're having trouble collecting from clients, call a collections agent. Get a collection agency specialist to help you out.I recommend: Find one at The Association of Credit & Collection Professionals.
Tips & Tactics
Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide
- Establish clear credit policies with clients so they are liable for all overdraft, legal or collection fees.
- Move fast. If a customer is in trouble, there are likely to be others asking for compensation. Be first in line.
- You can usually resubmit a check once. Consider your customers' cash flow. Submit the check at a time when you think their cash flow may be better: perhaps early in the month, or the day before payroll.
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