Can a check with a "stop payment" be listed as unsecured?

[kcfaninin]

We had to place a stop payment on an $800 check we wrote. If we didn't place the stop payment, we would have had several hundred dollars of overdraft fees. Telecheck purchased the check from the original merchant and now we owe Telecheck the $800. Can this be listed in our Chapter 7 as an unsecured debt?

[backtoschool]

Writing a bad check for goods and services that you received, or putting a stop payment on a check and keeping the goods and services that the check paid for is a crime in most states. Prosecution of debt that is the result of a crime is not protected by the automatic stay and the collection agency or merchant can come after you and prosecute you for a crime.

Depending on the state, Writing bad checks or putting stop payments on checks for as much as $800 are usually felony offenses. Check with the bad check laws of your state to find out if $800 falls under the felony or the misdemeanor category.

If you returned the merchandise to the merchant, or did not receive the good and services, then putting the stop payment would not be the same as writing a bad check, but if you received the goods and services and then put the stop payment, then that is a crime and the merchant can prosecute and any fines will not be dischargeable.

[justbroke]

Reads as though the poster wasn't prosecuted for it, so it makes me wonder if this payment was to a "creditor" and not in the normal course of business, such as purchasing at Wal*Mart with the check. Payments to creditors (and not to purchase goods) is not a crime.

So the question is, who did you pay this check to and for what purpose.

[backtoschool]

Reads as though the poster wasn't prosecuted for it, so it makes me wonder if this payment was to a "creditor" and not in the normal course of business, such as purchasing at Wal*Mart with the check. Payments to creditors (and not to purchase goods) is not a crime.

So the question is, who did you pay this check to and for what purpose.

I totally agree justbroke, but the poster said the "merchant" sold the check to telecheck so I am assuming that it was for goods and services.

Often merchants won't prosecute, but that does not mean that they lose their right to prosecute if the check writer files for bankruptcy. There is usually a statute of limitations on bad checks also, where after the statute of limitations, the merchant cannot prosecute. It varies by location.

[justbroke]

I agree.