Bad Check

  

Technically, a bad check is a check written on a non-existent bank account, or one that has insufficient funds to cover the value of the check presented. A bad check is every bank and landlord's worst nightmare, and every college student's greatest fear.

Bad checks gave birth to collection departments of banks, which gave birth to collection agencies, which gave birth to the really bad collection agencies that have a guy named Arnie call and threaten and bully you until you pay up or go into hiding. A whole industry has risen from bad checks.

Related or Semi-related Video

Finance: What are Collection Agencies?12 Views

00:00

Finance, a la shmoop. What are collection agencies?

00:06

All right so sometimes when a man and a woman have trouble getting pregnant well [A couple kissing]

00:13

the guy has to go to one of these places, oh wait that's a different kind of [Stop sign appears]

00:18

collection agency, sorry just kidding. All right well a collection agency in the finance world

00:23

is seeking a different form of currency that is literal currency, greenbacks [Lots of money being counted]

00:29

cashola, whose money are they after exactly? Deadbeats, anyone who made a

00:34

promise to remit payments to pay back a mortgage, to pay off a credit card, to pay [Wads of money]

00:38

out for a jewelry thing at the mall, to pay for a tattoo down there as well. [Someone getting a tattoo]

00:43

You name it and then they defaulted on that promise to pay back the vendor, yeah

00:48

because when you sign your name on the dotted line and agree to pay back a

00:51

lender for their generous loan or extension of credit or agree to buy [Someone signing a contract]

00:56

something and pay someone 30 days later for it, paying them back is really not a

01:01

suggestion... Once you fall behind enough in your [Woman who is owed money does not look happy]

01:05

payments and you're a real deadbeat well they call a collection agency who then

01:10

tracks you down delivers nasty threatening letters to your mailbox and [Letter being posted]

01:14

if it's a New Jersey collection agency well they usually send someone to break

01:18

your kneecaps with a billy club, yeah they still do that... If the message still [Guy opens his door to find a man in a suit with a bat]

01:22

isn't getting through to you well the next step is for the agency to set the [Truck wheels]

01:26

wheels in motion that will result in the repossession of your home, your car, your [Repossessed notice being nailed to a house]

01:31

treasured signed set of Big Bang Theory trading cards you swore would be buried [Gravestone with the trading cards sticking out of the ground]

01:35

with you. So yeah if you choose not to make good on your obligations well you

01:39

shouldn't expect the people you owe to forget about you, or to go easy on you

01:44

like why should they would you do that for them, because they will stick a

01:47

collection agency on you, which is not a good feeling when you're up to your [Guy stood in a pile of bills]

01:51

knees in debt, or if you live in New Jersey up to your thighs... [Guy who has had his legs beat off in a pile of bills]

Up Next

Finance: What is the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act?
1 Views

What is the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act? The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is the set of rules that debt collectors follow. These rules...

Finance: What is a Savings & Loan v. a Bank?
187 Views

What is a savings & loan versus a bank? Hit play to find out.

Finance: What is a merchant bank?
4 Views

What is a merchant bank, and how many duck puns do we make in this video? Watch it for the answers to both those hard-hitting questions.

Find other enlightening terms in Shmoop Finance Genius Bar(f)