metrodademom asked:
I issued a check to an individual who was going to do a service for me. Minutes after he took off with me check i changed my mind and put a stop payment on the check. There was no contract signed or any work done at all. I only made for my protection a receipt for the check i was giving him as an advance deposit for the work he was going to do for me. He has no license to do the work either. I called him right away to tell him not to cash the check but he said he already did. Now a few days after he tells me that because of my stop payment his bank froze his account and apparently he wants to take me to court because the freeze caused his account to overdraft for 144 dollars . I offered to pay his 144 just to leave me alone. Can a bank freeze an account because of a stop payment? why would his account overdraft because of this? Can he take me to small claims court for damages in his account?a\
Payday Loan Default
I issued a check to an individual who was going to do a service for me. Minutes after he took off with me check i changed my mind and put a stop payment on the check. There was no contract signed or any work done at all. I only made for my protection a receipt for the check i was giving him as an advance deposit for the work he was going to do for me. He has no license to do the work either. I called him right away to tell him not to cash the check but he said he already did. Now a few days after he tells me that because of my stop payment his bank froze his account and apparently he wants to take me to court because the freeze caused his account to overdraft for 144 dollars . I offered to pay his 144 just to leave me alone. Can a bank freeze an account because of a stop payment? why would his account overdraft because of this? Can he take me to small claims court for damages in his account?a\
Payday Loan Default
January 18th, 2009 at 11:48 pm
You acted properly by notifying him of the stop payment. He can take you to court but he will lose the case. You are not responsible for his overdraft. He is responsible for ensuring that checks he writes have sufficient funds available.
Evidently he deposited your check and immediately wrote checks to others, counting on your check to cover the amounts. When the bank received notice of the stop payment order, his account had already been drawn down and the bank recorded an overdraft. Since you notified him of the stop payment, it was his responsibility to ensure that the checks he wrote would be covered. You are not obligated to pay his overdraft. Since there has been no service performed and you canceled the verbal agreement for the work, he has no recourse.
January 21st, 2009 at 3:17 am
He has no case in a small claims court. Banks say it is the responsibility of the depositor to know who has given them a check and whether the check is good. It is also the responsibility of the bank account holder to ensure that there are available funds to cover any check that person might have written. You appear to have behaved properly in canceling a verbal contract. The only cost that you will be liable for will be your bank’s fee for stopping the check, which could be $15-25.