Handling Bad Checks

Or you could spank the bad check while saying clearly and distinctly: "Bad check, bad, bad check".

Sorry, couldn't resist. :)

Why not simply delete the check and enter the NSF fee as a history of payment problems?

Mike: Thanks... I never thought about spanking the check, although I've tried a few other things.

I suppose deleting it is the way to go, or maybe changing the payment amount to zero, but the way I record the deposit makes that way a little extra work.

Suppose the customer asked for his money back, and you gave it to him. This is effectively what happened (involuntarily on your part, of course).

Process a refund to show the bad check, then a finance charge to charge the customer what the bank charged you. Now you are showing the correct amount owing, with a proper history.

Then get a certified check.

Thanks Fred. I had not tried that before. It works as you say and would be effective at times. I could not find a way to reverse the category credit while doing a refund. It seems like Quicken should allow you to apply a refund to the category that the income was originally applied to, but it doesn't. It did give me another idea however.

I found the original transaction and changed the amount of the payment by check to Zero. That left the transaction in place but it now shows that I received check number XXX for 0.00. While that looks a little strange on a statement, by applying the Finance Charge using the same date, it appears right next to the above transaction with a NSF bank charge, so it doesn't look too bad. I then had to correct the original deposit manually, but that was simple enough. So far, this seems to be the most effective way, but if anyone has a better way, I'd sure be happy to hear it.

Regards,

Bob

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