The Common Law

You can be held criminally responsible for writing a bad check. The only good news for you is that the store cannot refer the matter to the district attorney's office for criminal prosecution until 10 days after you have been notified of the bounced check.

Under the Texas Penal Code, a person commits an offense if he passes off a check knowing that sufficient funds do not exist to cover it. In most cases, the offense of issuing a bad check is a Class C misdemeanor. You can forget about trying to argue that you had no idea that your account did not have sufficient funds to cover the check. This law presumes that an issuer of a bad check knows that he or she did not have sufficient funds.

The store could refer the matter to the Travis Co. District Attorney's Office, which can prosecute people who issue bad checks. But before the store can turn your name over to the District Attorney's Office, it must properly notify you that there are not sufficient funds to cover the check. After you have received the notice, the law gives you 10 days to make full payment of the amount owed before the matter can be referred for criminal prosecution. Accordingly, you should use the next few days to contact the store immediately and make every effort to pay the outstanding money.

I bounced a check at a local store. They want to charge me $50 for the bounced check. That seems like a lot of money. Can they really charge that much?

That is a lot of money. In fact, it's so much money that it is illegal. According to Texas law, the store where you bounced the check may charge you "a reasonable processing fee of not more than $25." Let the store know that you are aware that Texas law only requires you to pay $25 and then be prepared to pay that amount.