Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Missouri

Re: What is going to happen if i have written bad checks?

First of all I would suggest that you contact each person or entity that you wrote a bad check to directly. Going through collection agencies will waste a great deal of time and effort. Try to explain to each such person that the bad check was an error on your part and then make arrangements to pay them with a cashier's check or money order including any charges they incurred as a result of your bad check. In all likelihood most of these people will be mainly interested in getting their money rather than trying to punish you. However, any such person may take your bad check to the authorities at any time prior to you making the bad check good. the prosecutor's office will send you a "ten day letter" giving you one last chance to pay up before a criminal charge is filed against you. It is imperative that you pay immediately if you receive a ten day letter from the prosecutor. There will be instructions on the letter. If you can't pay then the prosecutor will file a criminal case, either a misdemeanor or a felony depending on the amount of the bad check involved. After you are processed and your case comes to court an attorney may be able to arrange a plea bargain under which you are granted probation upon the condition that you pay off the bad check. This, of course, depends upon many factors, and there is no guarantee that you will not face incarceration. In most cases these matters are handled in the state court system, and not the federal courts. I hope that this has been of some help to you, and I wish you the best of luck at straightening everything out.