how strange is this...or is it

[gavin]

if You did not have sufficient funds to cover the cheque when you issued it. and you gurantee it it is a criminal offence. sorry but it is the law

[carlmcmullen]

I am sure if you had the intention to repay the cheque when you got paid (hence the name payday loan) then i am sure it is not breaking the law if your circumstances changed.

That is a risk the company takes, which is why they charge such high APR rates to cover the risk factor.

[Jinx]

I used to do it all the time in the bad days... pay for fuel with cheques and guarantee card a few days before pay day.

Eventually HSBC started charging me £35 a pop for card misuse...

NB* these charges are currently being reclaimed... I wish that test case would hurry up!

[Adam Davies]

Hi Gavin
I would call it unauthorised borrowing,not fraud
Regards

[gavin]

Strictly speaking it is illegal to right a cheque with insufficient funds to cover it Whether the bank would do anything about it depends on whether they think they are likely to get their money
knowing that insufficient funds are available it is an offence its not a civil offence it's a criminal offence which again depending on the mood of the court (if it went that far) you coulld go to prison
but if every person who wrote a bad check went to prison half the population of the Uk would be incarcerated since a lot of people just can't balance a checkbook. You are given a chance to make the check good. and i wood be in prison to and so wood my bro

[chris.g]

Yeah, Gavin is right, it is a criminal offence to write a cheque knowing that the funds are not in the bank to cover it. It doesn't matter if the cheque won't be cashed until there is cash there, it's still an offence, there were not funds at the time of issue.

[Adam Davies]

Hi
I agree,but reality is that banks will not take it any further,unless there was a string of cheques written on an empty account[that IS fraud]
How many bounced cheques are there each day in the UK ? are each of those a criminal offence ?
Regards

[Soulgrowth]

I can also confirm that Gavin is right ... one of my students who is a bank manager told me this ... it is also committing fraud to postdate a cheque ... one is essentially promising money that one does not know for sure one will have.

Debbie

[zim zim]

Thanks shazzles, this post has cheered me up no end and mrs skints three smiley faces were perfect x

[shazzles]

ooo errrr missus i seem to have started something here.... ermm no it is not a criminal offence as loads of "PAWN" shops do the "we will cash your cheque 28 days later" thingy and not only that my iva covered the amount overdrawn in my account including the cheque amount anyhow. LOL i glad i have cheered many up with my supposedly "porn" shop goings on!!! LMAO!!!

[go_4_broke]

Hi all

Under the new Fraud Bill (and prior Theft Act) what really counts is the person's intention.

Therefore to write a cheque knowing that funds are not and never will be available is fraud, but the payday loan scheme is perfectly OK as Carl and shazzles says above because there is no intention to commit fraud.

Best Regards, Simon