ChequeMan Blog

Cheque Fraudulent

Cheque fraud is one of the major cause of monetary or financial loss of banks and the business. It leads to bouncing of cheques, non payment and paying of bouncing fees.

Some of the example of cheque fraudulent are:

• Floating Cheques: people can go to shops or stores and make purchases and issue post dated cheques. Later on the store would face problems as the money would not show up in their account and the bank may later on reject the cheque.
• Illegal acquiring of money: one can take print out of cheques to withdraw money from fake bank account.
• Forging Cheques: one can forge signatures of the cheque holder and cash the cheque.

Bank Charges: 10 most common charges to the account holders

1. AQB and AMB charges: If the Average balance over a month quarterly is less than the required amount then the account holder is charged with a fine of 250/- to 500/- per month/quarter. So as to avoid it, do not let your bank account go lower than the AQB or AMB at any point of time. If owing to emergency your account balance goes below AMB / AQB, stash funds double of the shortfall for the number of days AQB / AMB was not maintained.
2. Outstation Cheques: If the cheque being deposited is payable at another city then the bank charges you an extra amount for clearing that cheque. So, avoid taking cheques payable in a separate city from your debtors. And if you have to accept such a cheque, you may want to deposit the cheque in your bank’s branch in the city where the cheque is payable.
3. Cash Deposit Charges: Some banks allow only couple of free cash deposits and charge certain amount of money for depositing cash over that limit or they have placed a limit to depositing cash in a day. Try not to accepting cash and trying to deal via cheques or online bank transfers to minimize the physical flow of cash. This would also safeguard you with the high risk of fake currency.
4. Cash Withdrawal Charges: On withdrawing large amount of funds bank charges a certain amount of money. To avoid it try paying by cheque or by NEFT.
5. NEFT/RTGS Charges: Bank charges Rs 5/- to 25/- per NEFT and Rs 25/- per RTGS.
6. Cheque Usage Charges: A certain number of cheques are issued by bank for a year. If you want extra cheque leaves then you have to make a request to the bank for the same and pay Rs 2/- per extra cheque.
7. Cheque Bouncing Charge: Bouncing of cheques due to lack of funds is an offence and banks charge a hefty sum of money for the same. It may range from Rs 250/- to 1500/-.
8. Debit Card Fee: Account holders have to pay an annual fee of Rs. 100/- to 250/- per year for the debit cards.
9. ECS Returns: You must ensure that sufficient balance is there in your account so as to prevent ECS payment is bounced.
10. In Branch Transaction: Avoid visiting to bank frequently. Try to use more of net banking and ATM facilities.

Tender Date or Clearance Date of Cheques in PPF

Suppose a Cheque is deposited in PPF on 29th March 2013 and it got cleared on 1st April 2013 then according to the Govt. Tax Deposit Rule, where if the tax is deposited within the due date by cheque but it got cleared after the due date then the cheque’s tender date will be taken as the deposit receipt  date.  This means then the tax will be deducted in the financial year 2012-13 under section 80C.