Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Georgia
Stop Payment
An acquaintance wrote me a check for work I did for him but he stopped payment on the check. Later he gave me a money order for the full amount plus late fees I requested but his check caused nsf fees against my account because I had already written checks thinking his check was good. Can I sue for the nsf fees? What other options do I have?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Stop Payment
You do not state how much money is at issue, but you would have a couple of problems. One, it appears as though you have settled this matter through payment and an additional late fee. That would have been the time to request additional damages. Second, generally, you write checks on pending deposits at your own risk. Your agreement with the bank likely spells out (in much more complicated terms) that you should not rely on a personal check deposit for "X" number of days. If you write checks before that, you take the risk. Your options for the future are to get money order or cashier's check up front, or take the check directly to the other person's bank and cash it.