OT: Question for Big D. about South Carolina policy

"Big D" is what my father called my little brother, Dennis when we were kids.

Anyhow, here's the question. I was told that in South Carolina, if someone passes a bad check, and you take them to court, if convicted, the guilty has only to pay a 50 dollar fine, and the debt is forgiven!

Is this really so? I heard that a guy was taken for 40K bucks by this twist in the law by a guy from SC. Enlighten me.

Richard

I'm not "D", but here's the bad news:

"The law prohibits anyone from using the criminal process to collect a debt; prosecutions are instituted primarily to vindicate the rights of the public by punishing criminal conduct. Therefore, at this point you must be prepared to suffer the loss of the payment in exchange for seeking punishment of the person who gave you a bad check."

For all the info on South Carolina's bad check law, see: http://www.scbar.org/Law_Line/ccb__bad_checks.htm

There are several steps you must follow in accepting the check to be able to collect at all. Here's one of them which I've never seen anyone do, even with a $20,000 check:

"...you must show that you witnessed the maker's signature by initialing the check."

In short, in SC a check is only as good as the person giving it to you and your willingness to prosecute them.

Roger

Thanks. I see what you mean about the criminal threat to collect a debt side. That could get to be abused in a hurry. It's a safeguard.

Here's one I remember from living in Mississippi, and it's probably true elsewhere. If you take a check, and you KNOW it's no good ---I mean someone saying "Hold it 'til next week, and then deposit it" etc--- then you can't collect on it.

Does anyone know of any tricks to watch out for?

Here's a test I use. If I sell to someone, and they make no effort to haggle with my price, then I get a bit wary. I mean if they're gonna write a bad check, then the full price is just as good! If they plan to pay, they'd like the best price possible.

Richard