# Would this check bounce? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 12, 2005, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-check-bounce/321206 "2005-09-12T04:35:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2005, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-check-bounce/321206/1 "2005-09-12T04:35:40Z")
Let’s say I write a check for $100 to John. John endorses the back of it and signs it over to me, and I give him cash for it. I then take it to my bank and deposit it into my bank account which has a zero balance. Would it bounce? ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2005, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-check-bounce/321206/2 "2005-09-12T05:44:23Z")
You’d be out $100.00. If you deposit your own check into your own account (regardless of whose name is on it, or who signed it) there’s no movement… but as to whether it would actually _bounce_ is an interesting question. My guess is, you’d either get a weird look from the teller, and have your check handed back to you, or if you used an ATM or some other tellerless way to deposit it, you’d get a call from the bank saying that the transaction is impossible. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2005, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-check-bounce/321206/3 "2005-09-12T05:49:27Z")
By the way, John would be completely unaffected by the transaction, so he’d just be $100.00 richer. The two things that matter is whose account it is coming out of, and whose account it is going into. Those parties are both you. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2005, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-check-bounce/321206/4 "2005-09-12T06:25:51Z")
Typically, banks process all despoits before withdrawals. So, the deposit of $100 would go in, giving you a $100 balance. Then, the bank would process the check, and your balance owuld go back to $0. ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2005, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-check-bounce/321206/5 "2005-09-12T06:43:01Z")
> [@Joey P](#): > > Let’s say I write a check for $100 to John. John endorses the back of it and signs it over to me, and I give him cash for it. I then take it to my bank and deposit it into my bank account which has a zero balance. Would it bounce? Hey **Joey P** , it’s John again. Can we do this again? For $1,000? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2005, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-check-bounce/321206/6 "2005-09-12T07:54:23Z")
I’d expect at least raised eyebrows and flat refusal to handle the cheque; at worst, investigation for fraud - because there are (or used to be) a number of well-known scams involving circulating cheques to create false balances. ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2005, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-check-bounce/321206/7 "2005-09-12T11:15:40Z")
This type of fraud is known as check kiting. Banks have known about it for a long time. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2005, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-check-bounce/321206/8 "2005-09-12T15:12:02Z")
BTW this isn’t fraud, and it doens’t get wierd looks. It’s done all the time with payroll. If I hand out payroll checks and the employees cash them out of the register, I then deposit them into my bank account (which is the drawing account as well). It not only shows that the person received the money (well, helps if it would ever be an issue), but it makes the check clear the bank so I can reconcile the checking account. And yes, TellMeI’mNot Crazy, John would be $100 richer which is what was intended when I wrote him the check. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2005, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-check-bounce/321206/9 "2005-09-12T15:14:58Z")
> [@Padeye](#): > > This type of fraud is known as check kiting. Banks have known about it for a long time. Kiting involves floating checks between different banks to take advantage of the float period. There is no float period if you deal with the same account as in the OP.