I wrote a check for more money than I had in my account. When my bank called me, they charged me a fee. I got upset about the fee, but the bank agent said that if they had not covered the cost for me, that I could have been sent to jail and if I had been sent to jail, I’d have to pay $5,000 bail just to get out. Is this true or was he trying to scare me?

Many people write checks even though they do not have to funds in their bank accounts. This often happens when an individual plans on putting the money into their account but hasn’t had the time yet, or it can happen when someone simply does poor math and overdraws a checking account. In most cases, a bank has a policy that it will lend the money to its client and charge the client a small fee for the transaction (usually less than $50.) However, if you are dealing with a bank that does not have his security feature, then you do face serious consequences.

One of the consequences for writing a check though you have insufficient funds is that you could be charged serious fees from the merchant, if your bank doesn’t automatically pay the amount of the check for you. You could also be arrested. While it is not generally heard of for a person to be arrested for innocuously writing a check though you have insufficient funds, you may have committed a serious offense.

For example, if you knowingly wrote a check for a large sum of money, full aware that you did not and would not have the funds to cover the amount of that check, then you are committing a crime for which you could be arrested. Such a crime is generally associated with a $5,000 bail, per offense. This is set in penal code 476a. As such, after you are booked, you may not be able to get out of jail before your trial date unless you pay the bail amount.

Of course, it is unlikely that you will be arrested for a first-time offense or for a simple error in calculation. However, a judge will determine whether or not he believes that you should be let out on bail or let out of jail on your own recognizance. If a judge believes for any reason that the arrest was made in haste, he will likely let you go free on your own recognizance pending your trial. However, if the judge believes that you purposefully owner drew your account, then he may actually set your bail starting at $5,000 (and it could be higher.)

Therefore, your bank representative is correct in telling you that writing a check though you have insufficient funds to cover the amount of the check is illegal and could result in hefty fines. That’s why you should always double check your math and your bank account before writing a check. You should also always make sure that you deal with a bank that covers the cost of insufficient funds either by offering you credit or by charging you a small fee for what is, essentially, a loan of the amount of money required to pay the amount of the check.