Bounced (Dishonoured) Cheque Service

info@easylawyers.co.uk

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Bounced (Dishonoured) Cheque Service

No Recovery - No Fee - No Nonsense

If you find that someone who owes you money has given you a cheque that subsequently bounces then contact us immediately as we run a special bounced cheque collection service.

You pay us nothing if we do not recover the amount under the cheque. The only payment is the county court fee which will depend on the value of claim.

We are Law Society regulated solicitors firm which we can commence legal proceedings on your behalf. Debt collection agencies cannot issue the county court claim form for you. They simply continue to write letters to the debtor, which the debtor ignores.

As solicitors we will take cases to court, we can obtain judgment and then help you to enforce that judgment against the debtor.

We offer a complete service from commencement to enforcement of judgment.

As mentioned above, this is a No Recovery No Fee service. Our legal fees are based on the percentage value of the cheque. The fees are based on the value of the bounced cheque:

40% - Bounced (dishonoured) cheque of £1,000 and below

25% - Bounced (dishonoured) cheque of between £1,001 and £5,000

20% - Bounced (dishonoured) cheque of above £5,000

BOUNCED CHEQUE INSTRUCTION FORM

THE LAW

A cheque is like a bill of exchange and is as good as cash in the hand. Once issued the party who issued the cheque is not entitled to argue that the goods have no value and therefore there is no consideration for the payment, nor can a counterclaim be used to avoid payment. Your debtor therefore is required to make payment of the sum of the cheque.

DISHONOURED CHEQUE

Under law, when you write a cheque to someone you effectively promise that the cheque will definitely be honoured by your Bank, and if for whatever reason the Bank does not honour the cheque you imply that you will compensate that person in full.

So, if someone’s (it could be anyone – company, customer, friend, family) cheque is not honoured or is stopped by them (for example, by a customer because they are unhappy with the goods or services you supplied to them), you can immediately sue that person and there is virtually no defence that the customer can raise to that claim.

We will claim on you behalf not only the amount of the cheque, but also interest on that money and payment towards the costs you incur in chasing up payment.

In most cases, where you sue on a cheque in this way, you will get an early judgment against the person or company that issued the bounced cheque with no need to go through the expense and stress of a full court case.

There will only be a defence to your claim for a bounced cheque in two situations:

	If the person issuing the cheque can prove that they received absolutely nothing from you in exchange for their payment, this may legally justify their stopping the cheque. If, however, they obtained even very deficient goods or services from you, this removes this defence from them and you will still get judgment against them

	The only other defence they can raise is where the contract with you was illegal or you obtained the cheque from them in a fraudulent way.

If neither of these two defences can be raised, your claim will succeed, you will get judgment, and you can then proceed to enforce that judgement if they do not pay you voluntarily.

REFER TO DRAWER

Sometimes a cheque is not honoured because it has been returned by their Bank marked “refer to drawer”. This means that there are insufficient funds in the debtor’s account and, legally, this is proper evidence that the debtor is unable to pay his or her debts as they fall due. This opens up another way for you to recover payment which can be far more severe for the debtor (provided the debit is for £750 or more).

If the Debtor is a individual it coyuld lead to their bankruptcy if the do not have the means to pay you. Bankruptcy is a legal status that usually lasts for a year and can be a way of clearing debts they cannot pay. When someone is bankrupt, their non-essential assets (property and possessions) and excess income are used to pay off their creditors (i.e. the money they owe you).

Bankruptcy is a serious matter – the individual concerned may have to give up possessions of value and the interest in their home. Hence, it is last resort step you should take but it can be an effective way for you to recover your debts.

You as a creditors can present a creditor's petition if the individual owes you an unsecured debt of over £750.If the debtor is a limited company, you can write to them demanding immediate payment, and if they do not then pay up, you can start winding up proceedings against them.

There is no need for you to serve a separate and formal statutory demand on them which is the normal pre-requisite to commencing winding up proceedings.

BOUNCED CHEQUE INSTRUCTION FORM

STOPPED CHEQUES

If the cheque is dishonoured for some reason other than “refer to drawer” (e.g. where the debtor actually stops the cheque) these severe proceedings are still available to you (again provided the amount outstanding is £750 or more), although you will have to first serve a Statutory Demand.

INVOICES

Claims on cheques - always sue both on any dishonoured cheques and also on the invoices they were supposed to pay.

There is no defence to your claim on the cheques (apart from fraud or total failure of consideration) but if you include the invoices then you can claim interest from the due dates of the invoices, not just from the dates of dishonour of the cheques.

COUNTY COURT FEE

To issue a claim form where your claim is for money only and the amount is:

up to £300	£30
£300.01 - £500	£50
£500.01 - £1,000	£80
£1,000.01 - £5,000	£120
£5,000.01 - £15,000	£250
£15,000.01 - £50,000	£400
£50,000.01 - £100,000	£700
£100,000.01 - £150,000	£900
£150,000.01 - £200,000	£1,100
£200,000.01 - £250,000	£1,300
£250,000.01 - £300,000	£1,500
over £300,000 or for an unlimited amount	£1,700
Application for Summary Judgment	£60

You should note that there are circumstances when you do not have to pay the court fee.

You do not have to pay a court fee if:

	You are on Income Support, or
	Working Tax Credit, where child tax credit is being paid or there is a disability or severe disability element and the gross annual income taken into account for the calculation of working tax credit is £15,450 or less, or
	Income based Jobseekers Allowance, or
	Guarantee credit under the State Pension Credit Act 2002, or
	Payment of a fee would cause hardship to you.
	You are in receipt of "Legal Help" from a solicitor, or
	You are in receipt of a "funding certificate" from the Legal Services Commission. You must complete court form "Ex160", (application for a fee exemption or remission) for each court fee you cannot pay for one of the above reasons.

BOUNCED CHEQUE INSTRUCTION FORM

easylawyers is regulated by the Law Society (registration number: 404474). (You can check our status by telephoning the Law Society Public Enquiry line on 0870 606 2500).

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