Okay, let me preface this before I get mobbed and everyone tries to teach me a lesson…. I learned a big lesson from this. Many in fact. I screwed up and cannot attribute fault to anyone or anything but me. Anything you want to say that I should have done differently, I’ve already been told by my father in a meaner tone. I deserved it and if a similar situation is ever dealt with, I know what to do.
I’m in my young 20’s and know nothing about life as much as I wish I knew everything.
Long story short: I took my dog to a kennel. She was attacked by another dog, injuring her. I was never called to be told of the incident. Upon getting my dog, she was limping, I noticed a bite mark on her leg with dried blood. It broke my heart that I was left uninformed about this.
Further, the owner of the kennel was a complete…… witch. She would not accept any fault.
Also, during this time, I had a check book stolen so I had to create a new account. I called and told the lady this and she didn’t care. She made it clear that if I didn’t have the money I wouldn’t get my dog back. So, I earn the money (put in another account) Having had everything cleared up with my checking (but only have one source of checks… from the account which was stolen) I wrote her a check with the intent of moving the funds…. About $300 from my new account to the checking account.
When I found out about my dog, I was heartbroken and angry. Im sure any pet owner would agree they would feel the same way (this is where the mistakes happened.) I decided not to transfer the funds knowing that the check would just bounce and I would file a grievance with the better business bureau. The lady called my bank to see if there were sufficient funds and there weren’t. She threatened me (then called my GF and threatened me through her!) I called her back and left her a message stating that I would be contacting the BBB and she must cease from contacting me until this is resolved.
Well, I never transferred the funds and the lady went and cashed the check anyway. It cleared. I was screwed in the red about $300 overdrawn. I WAS SHOCKED!!! That was supposed to bounce! And she knew the funds weren’t in there.
Being true to my promise, Ive been talking to the BBB and filed a formal complaint…. Then this happened.
So all that aside: Why didn’t my check bounce? Why do some clear and some bounce? WTF?
You have some type of overdraft protection OR, someone at the bank pushed the check through since they know what’s going on with you. Eitherway, you’ll want to get those funds into that account ASAP.
See, if you wanted to screw the lady over, you should have given her the cheque and then contacted your bank and put a stop payment on it. You are now on the hook for the $$ (although you could probably get your pooch seen by a vet and sue her in small claims court as well as trashing her business to everyone you know.)
None of my banks would ever bounce a cheque from me because I have such a long standing relationship with them - the would just put the cheque through and then contact me to cover it (if for some reason the $$ weren’t in the account).
If you didn’t want the advice, your question should have been “I wrote a $300 check, then realized I didn’t have the funds to cover it, but the bank didn’t bounce it…why?” Otherwise you’re going to get alot of ‘advice.’
To add to what I said, you could also just call the bank and ask them.
The reason for the non bounce could be many - I suspect someone at your bank figured you were good for it and put it through, although as Joey P mentioned you could just phone and ask.
I agree that they probably checked your account status, saw you had another account that was good for it, and let it go through. Normally it shouldn’t. Either way you would probably be charged a fee.
:dubious:
BTW the BBB won’t do jack for you. They just record complaints. Take the dog to a vet, get her treated, then have a lawyer write a letter to the kennel asking to pay for it. Even if it ends in a lawsuit you won’t get more than that; the courts generally treat pets as property and you won’t get pain & suffering damages.
FWIW, the last three checking accounts I’ve had would cover checks up to $600, and then charge an overdraft fee for each transaction cleared (checks, debit-card purchases, etc.). For the banks I deal with, paying out a $300 check would be standard practice for any and all customers – no matter how new or how long-standing.
It’s been this way for a good fifteen years, so it’s no recent innovation. Although – I wonder from those with longer memories if this kind of thing was done in the 1960s-70s.
When you’re really in good with the bank (especially tiny banks without a zillion branches), you may get the treatment alice_in_wonderland describes above (assuming no overdraft fees are assessed to her account).
Yeah, it isn’t the $300 that’s going to kick your ass, it’s the fees. Hopefully just the NSF fee for the check itself - hopefully you don’t have anything else outstanding that’s going to be cashed and also have insufficient funds. That’s when you really get in deep.