Legal Question in Business Law in California

Yes.

An NSF causes the company who is the victim of the bounced check significant inconvenience. They may have written checks themselves that rely on the funds in the check that bounced, which means their checks bounce and they get charged bank fees that are not their fault.

A company can charge you for the inconvenience of dealing with your bad banking practices. If you choose to keep that kind of non-control over your funds, that's up to you; no one else should have to pay the penalty for your sloppily kept checkbook.

To avoid NSF fees, don't write a check or swipe a debit card unless you have the funds in the account to cover the amount.

THIS POST CONTAINS GENERAL INFORMATION AND IS INTENDED FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY. IT DOES NOT CONSTITUTE LEGAL ADVICE, NOR DOES IT CREATE ANY ATTORNEY-CLIENT RELATIONSHIP. FOR LEGAL ADVICE ON YOUR PARTICULAR MATTER, CONSULT YOUR ATTORNEY.

Not exactly. They can charge you the maximum by statute. "Notwithstanding any penal sanctions that may apply, any person who passes a check on insufficient funds shall be liable to the payee for the amount of the check and a service charge payable to the payee for an amount not to exceed twenty-five dollars ($25) for the first check passed on insufficient funds and an amount not to exceed thirty-five dollars ($35) for each subsequent check to that payee passed on insufficient funds." (Civ. Code, sect. 1719, subd. (a).)

If the bank charged them more, they could not charge you more under the statute, at least not legally.