My 17 year old son has a number or lawns he cuts regularly. He gets a call from a guy who wants him to cut his lawn every 2 weeks. They agree on $20 per cut and the guy gives him a check for $80 (4 cuts). He cuts it that day and owes teh guy 3 more. He brings the check home and lays it on the table. Seeing the check, I take it and deposit it in my account. A couple of days later, I am looking at my account online and notice the $80 credited to my account and then a couple of days later, it is deducted and I am assessed a $12 fee as the check bounced.
I had not noticed but the check was dated Aug.1, 2013 but was given to my son on July 16. I called the guy and tell him what has happened and he gets mad and says “I told your son to hold the check until Aug.1”. This was obviously a miscommunication between me and my son but, why would you write a check for $80 if you could not cover it. I assert that doing so is issuing a fraudulent check, post dated or not. Someone help me out here.
If you issue a check knowing you do not have the funds to cover it, is that not fraud?
“Apathy is the Glove in Which Evil Slips It’s Hand”.
The guy probably wrote the check in good faith but dated it to make sure he got the rest of the cuts. I would just pay each day. Good for your boy for working.
I am not positive, but for some reason I remember hearing that it is unlawful to post date a check… I know I have done it in the past, but the person receiving the check was aware it was post dated… I have also never heard of someone other than the person who wrote the check assesing a fee, but these days, banks are inventing was to charge fees… I wouldn’t be surprised if banks start charging for the cubic inches of air you breath while in thier branches…
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I’d give your son $20, take a $32 loss and a life lesson and have him find a new customer. Give him a good talking to about how people can’t manage their finances and that he never wants to be in that situation. Explain to him how a grown man not having $80 in his checking acount, yet also can’t cut his own grass is a non-contributing member of society.
If he takes anything from it, it will be $32 well spent.
They typically wouldn’t charge the $12 if it was a date error, only if there were insufficient funds in the account. Unless he’s disabled, someone that can’t clear an $80 check should be cutting his own grass. Good on your son for getting out and working though.
I’d give your son $20, take a $32 loss and a life lesson and have him find a new customer. Give him a good talking to about how people can’t manage their finances and that he never wants to be in that situation. Explain to him how a grown man not having $80 in his checking acount, yet also can’t cut his own grass is a non-contributing member of society.
If he takes anything from it, it will be $32 well spent.
Thanks for the responses. He wants a checking account. I told him when he hit $1,000 we would go open one. He’s about a $100 short. No doubt this was a good life lesson for him, and a cheap one as far as lessons go.
“Apathy is the Glove in Which Evil Slips It’s Hand”.
you never know about someones personal situation, there could be a real hardship like cancer, sick parents or child, maybe he just bought a new car with cash and drained the account, maybe he has alimony and child support payments and lost his job but still continues to pay down to his last dollar, or maybe he has more than one checking account - could be any number of reasons
agreed, it’s a little strange to post date a check for grass cutting
not so sure there is anything wrong with the check, he issued a check dated Aug 1 and if the cutter accepted it then he agreed to be paid on Aug 1 and shouldn’t expect the money to be available until that date, he told the cutter it was post dated and made it out for the amount that would be due, if the cutter didn’t want to accept the deal then he could have said so
and if pops had stayed out of his sons business this wouldn’t have happened, sounds like pops is in for $12
again, a great learning opportunity for everyone
Woo Hoo - flame away, I’ve made similar mistakes with my sons business but i’m learning
