Taking checks from clients??

[catherine_oostdyk]

I'm new to wedding photography and have been faced with a difficult

question.... To take a personal check or not? I got my first deposit

to hold a date and the bride post dated the check for Sep 1st. How

can I protect myself from fees if a checks bounces? Is there come

kind of clause I should add to my contract? Any advice would be very

helpful.

[steve_dawson1]

So the risk you're carrying is that you hold that date open, turn down other work, and then the check bounces? Business is about controlling and minimising risk. It sounds hard, but I think you need to enforce proper payment, or you'll forever be chasing payments up. A deposit paid by a post dated check is not really a deposit at all. You're rendering your client a service - holding the date open, and in return you're getting nothing (at the very least not until Sept 1st). I don't think you can work that way.

[thomas_sullivan]

do what everyone seems to be doing lately (and I don't just mean in the photography world)...require certified checks or money orders. This gaurantees the money is there at the time of you receiving the check.

[think27]

I say first come first serve. So in this case I would notify the bride that officially the date is still not held until Sept 1. I would say, in all fairness, if someone else wants to give me a deposit for your date.... you could loose the date. Then I'd ask her to Fed ex or drop of a check for immediate deposit. I don't have a problem with checks - Never had one bounce. But I would not accept a post dated check.

[todd1664878707]

I have always accepted personal checks and so far, I have never had a problem. I also make sure the checks clear before I perform any services.

[al_kaplan1]

I've only ever had one check that bounced and they made good on it right away. When you figure what credit cards cost you it's a ton of money over the years. Once you start accepting them everybody wants to pay that way.

[steve_gibbs1]

Simple: don't accept post-dated checks. To reserve a date with us, we require

at least 50% of the package price. It must be a real check with TODAY's date.

Most banks (now) honor checks instantly and deposit them in your account

instantly. If it does bounce, you will know in about 24 hours because banks

communicate via network now. It's not like the old days when you had to wait

5 days or more.

[davidmadsen]

I have not had a check problem in 8 years (I will now that I've said that, though). There are some ways to protect yourself if you want. Never take a post dated check - it seems to imply that they have cashflow problems and that could mean trouble down the road. To avoid bounce fees take the check to the bank it is drawn on and cash it, then go to your bank and deposit the cash. If there is insufficient funds at their end the bank won't cash the check and you can decline their business.

 

Good luck either way.

 

David

[brian_ristuccia1]

Get payment well in advance. Never accept a postdated check. A bad check can take up to 10 banking days from when you deposit it to get noticed. Your bank can (and will) reverse the deposit if the check is bad and you'll be out the money if services have already been provided. Include a clause in your contract that calls for fees and collection costs when the client doesn't pay or pays with a bad check.

 

When you accept a check, photocopy or photograph government issued ID. If the check bounces and the client doesn't make good on the payment, call the police and provide then with a copy of the bad check and the photo ID. Writing a bad check is a criminal offense and will generate an angry police visit followed by arrest and/or court summons.

[elizabeth_f1]

As someone else posted, technically I would not save the date for her until 9/1, when you can deposit the check. Banks actually do not honor post dating so you could deposit it sooner(but it sounds like it might bounce.). I require all clients to pay me in full two weeks prior to the wedding to assure the check clearing my account. Any time over the contracted amount is billed to them and payable upon receipt of the photos and cd's.

[Jerry_]

Some states *i.e., Florida* allow you to go-it-alone if a 'future-dated' check bounces. Since there are 50 States, you have 49 other ways it could go...but as noted above, it is not a good business practice.

[david_bindle2]

To hold a date I require the deposit cheque to be todays date. I would tell them that from a business stance you can not turn down an immediate guarenteed deposit because occasionally people change their minds and cancel post dated cheques. If they simply don't have the money for the deposit, tell them that you will still accept expressions of interest from other potential clients for that date but that you will notify them first and give them the opportunity to get the cash in immediately.

I take 1/3rd of package for deposit at the signing of the contract, 2nd third due 6 weeks before and final third due two wekks before.

I ask for the 2nd and third payments to be post dated cheques, so that I don't have to hunt them down and remind them and the last payment two weeks before is enough time to make sure the cheque doesn't bounce.

[catherine_oostdyk]

Thanks for your input. Since I'm literally just starting, I highly doubt anyone else would approach me for the same date. I did plan on waiting to see if the check cleared before I provided any services though. I don't think this lady will be a problem but this was just an issue I'd never even considered until now.

[zave_shapiro]

Just a little theory ... in many jurisdictions by common law a cheque post-dated thirty days or more is not considered a cheque - a demand payment instrument - but rather a promissory note. In everyday terms you are not being offered payment; you are being offered a promise of future payment. That's nice, but it don't pay the rent.

[robbie_caswell]

My experince came from a non photgrapy event, that cost me in the neighborhood of $2500.

 

A bounced check can land your client in the slammer, and they will have to cover court costs, the original amount as well as bounced check fees.

 

The rub...if you are owed $1500 and they only paid one third of the payment (the bounced check), you could very easily be out the other $1000.

 

A judgement in small claims court is worthless. Even then they don't have to pay, and a judgement is filed at the courthouse and they have it on record for X amount of years.

 

Trust me... the aggravation from dealing with the courts, the client, and the time consumed preparing and going to court makes it such an aggravation that one should never shoot without payment in hand or before the ceremony.

 

In the unlikely event, a bounced check is better than no check at all...