I hope someone can give me some help. Sometime back my wife wrote a check to the local Dollar General Store. The check did not clear due to a book keeping error on our part. The account was later closed. We were never contacted by Dollar General but a while back, about a month ago, we were contacted by a Daniel Trust who said that they had the check and we needed to pay them the amount of the check plus $25 dollars. They were rather rude and I told them that I owed the money to Dollar General, not them and that I would pay them. Well, Iâ??m sure you can guess, I still have not gotten around to paying them, itâ??s property tax time, and they called again today. This time they talked to my wife and were rude, mean, and threatening. They told her that she had no choice but to pay today and that it must be paid by credit card (which we donâ??t have) as we had lost our right to pay by mail. My wife asked for an address, which they refused to give, they just continually asked if she was refusing to pay. They said they would turn the check over to â??legalâ? and that she would be prosecuted. Asked her several time if she had even been charged with writing bad checks before, etc. Implying that she was going to be arrested. I have an address for them, should I just send them the money or could I possibly send it to Dollar General along with an extra 25 for service charge. I hate to send it to this Daniel Trust after the way they were on the phone but donâ??t want to go to jail either. Any advise? They really do have my wife scared and me concerned. We don't want to be arrested.
I'm sorry I can't answer your question, but PLEASE make sure if you decide to send the payment to this guy, you make sure you send it where it has to be signed for. Preferably where only he can sign for it. Make copies of everything. He sounds like he would take the money and say you didn't pay. I would send a cashier's check. DO NOT send them a check (obviously) ;-) Even if this didn't answer your question, at least I got it moved back up to the top.
I know I messed up and should have taken care of this last month but hope that somebody can offer some advice.
FIRST, IS THIS GUY WITH THE BANK FROM WHICH THE CHECK WAS WRITTEN, OR DOLLAR GENERAL? SECOND, CONSIDERING THAT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT DOLLAR GENERAL, IS IT SAFE TO ASSUME THAT THIS CHECK ISN'T A SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT? IN TERMS OF GOING TO COURT OVER, I MEAN. I UNDERSTAND IT MAY SIGNIFICANT TO YOUR WALLET RIGHT NOW. BUT ANYWAY, DON'T FALL FOR THEIR BLUFF, WHEN YOU HAVE THE MONEY, PAY IT. SIMPLE AS THAT. UNTIL THEN, TELL DANIEL TRUST TO KISS YOUR ASS. (NOT LITERALLY, I MEAN JUST TELL HIM YOU DON'T HAVE THE $$$ RIGHT NOW, BUT HE'LL GET IT WHEN YOU GET IT.) THE PROCESS THAT COULD ULTIMATELY LEAD TO YOUR ARREST OVER THIS, IS PROBABLY 100 TIMES MORE EXPENSIVE THAN THE FACE VALUE OF THE CHECK YOU WROTE. BE COOL. BTW, POST THE STATE THAT YOU LIVE IN. SOMEONE MAY BE ABLE TO REFERENCE YOU TO INFO PERTAINING TO UNCOLLECTIBLE CHECK LAWS.
I don't know about your state, but in order to prosecute a check criminaly in Virginia, the individual that took the check (the cashier) HAS to be the one to swear out the warrent at the magistrates office. This is likely the case in most states, because the charge is one of a criminal nature, the individual taking it to court must be able to identify the check writer. Chances are the check will be sent through the usual channels to collect a bad debt.
that's what collection agencies get paid to do, harass you into paying the bill. If they were going to prosecute you, they would have done it, and not sent it to a collection agency. i would send the certified funds and I would include the 25 fee (most states allow a fee for bad checks). I would send it overnight (USPS to dollar general). Call dollar general and tell them you need the address to pay a bounced check... don't give them your name or other information. Of course, keep a copy of everything. Has the ca sent you any notice... BTW, they usually do not arrest people for writing one bad check, even the courts have better things to do... they may send you a citation or an order to appear.. even if that happend, you have proof that you paid and they received it, case closed. I am not a lawyey, I do no know your state or local laws, but if you are prepared to take care of this immediately, it should work! don't stress out and do not talk to that ca on the phone again under any circumstances... if they start harassing you... file a lawsuit for violation for FDCPA.
As long as the bounced check wasn't intentional, or written on a closed account, I don't think that would qualify as criminal, but if you continue to refuse to pay, I'm not sure.
My state is Illinois. No, it was not intentional and was written before the account was closed. It's not that much money, around $15 dollare and I can pay it. Really do not want to pay that company though and will see if I can find an address for Dollar General. I really do not want to get arrested over this and wife is very upset.
call the dollar general where you wrote the check, speak with the manager. explain the situation, tell him you wish to pay the check. If he tells you to contact the place who contacted you, so-be-it. pay it and be done with it. use certified mail ,etc I can tell you that if they were going to prosecute, they'd have already done it. If you want to see if they've contacted the district attorney about it, you can call the 'bad check office' at the court house (at least you can in texas), for the county you wrote the check in. they can tell you if your name is on file for a bad check, they can also tell you the amount, etc. the DA handles this type of debt. if it isnt there, then you have no worries. Im betting it isnt there since a collector is after you. if it were in the hands of the law, the police would be the collectors.
#1: Don't talk to a CA on the phone. They love to lie #2: Don't worry about being arrested. Just call the Dollar Store and figure out what's going on.
I know this thread is a couple of months old, but I'm wondering how this turned out, because I am going through a similar situation.
Re: Re: Threats-Help You mean more like 14 months don't you??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Reading the board for a while I am wondering ... 1. They wrote a bounced check, not a false or fake one. They can prove it was because of an accounting error, so the whole thing is of DEBT COLLECTION matter, not a CRIMINAL one. 2. Going to jail or getting arrested because of not paying your debts was terminated somewhere in the 1800s. 3. There are simple ways (letters) to request a DV from the CA and to stop the calls. Just curious ... were the Gurus on vacation at the time this was posted?
Re: Re: Threats-Help It CAN be criminal, depending on state laws, and depending on how it is taken care of. Writing a bad check AND not taking care of it a reasonable amount of time is considered theft.
.** Going to jail or getting arrested because of not paying your debts was terminated somewhere in the 1800s. Not true here in Florida....bounce a check and you are arrested! And his wasn't intentional OR written by him. I know cause it happened to my brother....he got arrested and spent the night in jail and my Mom had to bail him out! And the check was written off his joint account by his WIFE and he was the one arrested! He had to make good on the check and pay the fines/fees.
Re: Re: Threats-Help right you are lbrown59...I didn't notice it was written in 2002. Anyway, I've had a CA after me about some bounced checks I wasn't made aware of until I got a notice from the CA. I've been getting some threatening letters. I've gone the whole DV route, but it really isn't getting me anywhere. Given the possible consequences, I'm just going to pay it, regardless of what it may do to my CR.
