received a bad check ...

I was given a bad check last year for some work I did as an independent contractor. It is for over $800, the account is closed, the company is out of business. Does anyone know if I have any recourse anywhere? I live in Missouri and the business / bank account are in Georgia.

You should contact your local county attorney's office to find out what you need to do. There has got to be a way for you to recoup the $800.00 for the services that you performed.

I'm with Ladybug on this. Failing all else, you can take the face value of the check as a bad debt on your federal Schedule C. How old is the check, and how many times did you present it for payment?

It is 15 months old now, and I had gone to the prosecuting attorney for my county a year ago. They said because it was an out of state check, all they could do was send her a letter. They did, and the responsed came back that the person did not respond, and that even if she had, they couldn't do anything as there was no drivers license number on the check so they couldn't verify who actually wrote the check. It was signed very clearly by the person who owns the business, but that didn't seem to matter.

It wasn't just the hours I was out, it was that I had to drive 7 hours and stay overnight in a hotel to do the work, so I was also out the hotel fee and gas money. I had done some work for the same company before and they were fine, but apparently they had done that sort of thing before and I was unlucky enough to get suckered into it.

Dishonest people really piss me off!

I'm sorry to hear that has happened.. there isn't anything else they could do for you?

No, they just said "don't take out of state checks" ... helpful advice after the fact, eh?

yea, i wish i could offer better advice myself - i was just really surprised to hear that there was nothing they could do..

They said I could go to Georgia and file small claims there, but considering that I live 10 hours from the county she lives in now, plus the small claims fees are around $80, and with no guarantee I'd be paid, it just seems fruitless. nice that I ended up giving away FREE labor, eh?

My honest opinion on this from the information you've provided is to find out if the business owner was incorporated or LLC. If they were in a trade that requires a license you might have been BONDED - INSURED so you can contact your state BONDED - INSURED licenses regulators.

If they don't have it you should just move on. But if they were not incorporated you might be able to take them to small claims court but I would investigate to make sure they have the ability to pay.

You don't want to put new money going after old money.

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