I am building a house for myself and am working off of a construction loan. The plumbers completed the plumbing and I completed the other mechanicals and I requested a draw. I now have the money in my checking account. The plumber called me about the first week in December wanting to know if he could pick up his check in person because he needed to pay Christmas bonus and such. We tried but never met up, and the check sat in the front of my truck under the middle armrest. About a week latter I mailed him the check. I get a call form him today saying that his wife asked about the payment and I told him that I sent it a week ago. He calls back in 20 minutes and says his wife just found it. I told him that I just check my account and there is no money in there so dont cash it. His wife goes to the bank anyway and call me in 20 minuets to say that it went through fine? what? I get home and look at my online account and the check to X-plumber cleared on the 26th! (all checks are scanned my writing)
So scenario 1 someone stole the check out of my truck and I wrote one a week later which I dont remember doing.
Scenario 2 there is only one check and either she cashed it last week and got me mixed up with another client or got me mixed up with another client and my check was stolen out of the mail.
I am hoping that she mixed me up with another client but If she did I could not prove that she cashed my check could I?
If someone stole my check and I wrote another one (I dont remember writing another one) can I get my money back? Isn’t that fraud?
I will definitely post tomorrow after I go to the bank and talk to the plumber again.
Replies
check the check number... shurely you wrote it down in your invoice book...
Also I have carbon copy checks so i can see what I have written. Check with the bank, check your checkbook and chill out. This problem shouldn't be too hard to sort out.
They scan the checks and view you can view them on the site. I checked the check number and see my writing. So I will go off the the bank to see where the check was cashed and if a check was cashed yesterday from my account.
Edited 1/2/2007 9:29 pm ET by kayaker
Maybe the plumber's wife got it, cashed it and bought herself an extra present or two - without telling husband the story...
Check with the bank.
Fraud in signing the check is criminal, and you should be safe.
Don K.
EJG Homes Renovations - New Construction - Rentals
A bank has the responsibility of 'knowing' the signatures of its account holders. If the check was forged, you're okay. They'll ask you to complete an Affidavit of Forgery and then they'll put the money back into your account. On the bank's books, if you're interested, they just charge an expense account - "forgeries, thefts, teller over/under" They may or may not refer the matter to the police.
If you accidentally sent two checks to the plumber and he cashed them both then your recourse is through the plumber. The bank can't help you with that foul-up.
Go to the bank and request a print out of the last three weeks of transactions and compare them to your records. If everything is ok and you suspect that there may be a future fraud then freeze your account or cancell suspect checks you may feel have been written. Or if things don't work out you may have options either with the bank or the plumber or the attorney general.
Smells like a bank screwup to me!
So do you know what happened yet?
Ok all thanks a lot for replying. It turns out that the plumber is doing another job for someone with the same first name as mine. So when the wife told mr. plumber Mr. billy bob(me) needs to pay call him, they needed money from the wrong person Latter they realized this and called me in the morning to tell me they already had my check. BIG SIGH Thanks again for posting guys.
You should be swapping signatures on lien documents, in exchange for those checks.
blue"...if you just do what you think is best testing those limits... it's pretty easy to find exactly where the line is...."
From the best of TauntonU.
sending them out right now.
sending them out right now.
Okay...it's a little out of order...next time, get the signatures first! Wink, wink!
blue"...if you just do what you think is best testing those limits... it's pretty easy to find exactly where the line is...."
From the best of TauntonU.
Yeah I know better. But sometimes we let our selves get too trusting of people. Even if they are trustworthy these arnt the days of leave-it-to-bever any more.
Leave It To Bever, just had better writers than we do.