Purpose: To establish the practice of assessing a charge for any check received by the Department which is returned unpaid by the Department's depository banks for any reason. Such a charge is permitted under Georgia law as set out in O.C.G.A. 16-9-20.
Effective date: This policy is effective on receipt.
Policy: Georgia law permits the recipient of a check which has been dishonored to assess a bad check charge of $20.00 or 5% of the face amount of the check, whichever is greater. The law further stipulates that such charges shall not be deemed interest or a finance charge. The Department will assess such charges in every case. No employee is authorized to forgive bad check charges.
It is important that all checks received by the Department be deposited within thirty (30) days of receipt. (Good business practice dictates that checks be deposited as quickly as possible regardless of other considerations.) Upon receipt of a dishonored check the depositing office shall promptly notify the issuer using the prescribed notice. The charge will be computed in accordance with the law as $20.00 or 5% of the face amount of the check or instrument, whichever is greater.
Any checks returned by the depository bank on or after receipt of this directive, and any checks on hand which have already been returned by the bank at the date of receipt of this directive, shall be subject to this bad check charge. The law provides a specific form by which a dishonored check should be returned to the issuer. That wording is given in Exhibit A which is attached to this directive. ALL CHECKS MUST BE RETURNED BY "CERTIFIED MAIL RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED."
Each and every employee who accepts payments, in person, for the Department in the form of checks, drafts or orders shall assure that the instrument displays, at least, the name, and address of the issuer; if a telephone number is not shown then one should be obtained and the employee must then initial the check on its face.
The law provides that if the issuer of the instrument has not paid the face amount plus the additional charges within ten (10) days after receiving written notice then the issuer is considered to have committed a criminal act which is punishable under the provisions of O.C.G.A. 16-9-20.
The Office of General Accounting will accumulate all bad check charges in a specific miscellaneous income account.
When a bad check charge is collected, it is to be receipted separately as Miscellaneous Income--Bad Check Charges. The face value of the bad check is to be acknowledged as per the instructions found in the Cash Receipts Policies and Procedures currently in effect.
Special Instructions for the Office of Permits & Enforcement, Overweight Citation Payments: Whenever a Bad Check Service Charge Letter is prepared one should identify the bad check charges that have been deposited into this bank account to be transferred to the Department as Miscellaneous Income--Bad Check Charges. Bad check charges that have been collected for permit checks can be handled per item 2.
Commentary: A public notice regarding this policy is attached to this directive. This notice should be posted conspicuously at every location where checks are received in person.
Routine operations under this directive will take some care. While Department personnel should take every reasonable measure to protect the Department's assets there are some situations which are not economically feasible to pursue. Each manager must decide these situations for themselves. For example, is it wise to expend time, effort and postage to send notice to an individual concerning a check or instrument of $5.00 or less? If the individual is a repeat issuer of bad checks then it may be appropriate to give notice; if not, then perhaps a phone call will suffice to prompt a payment. In such cases the service charge is still applicable.
Some operational areas process a substantial volume of check transactions. Repeat issuers of even low-value checks which are dishonored are, at least, likely candidates for consideration under the prosecution options. An Office Head or District Engineer is, however, not authorized to unilaterally invoke the prosecution options available under this code section. This may be done only after consultation with the involved Division Director and the Treasurer and with the concurrence of the Deputy Commissioner.
In order to protect the Department's rights managers must assure that employees understand and comply with the provisions of the law with respect to obtaining the necessary identification data.
Operational problems encountered in this process should be referred to the Office of the Treasurer.
The procedures that accompany this policy may be read in 
the
Manual of Administrative Procedures.
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