Let’s say that your family is dealing with unemployment or short paychecks, and you’ve decided to take on some part-time work or a home-based business.

One of your customers wrote a bad check for the products or services that you sell.

What can you do about that?

Monroe County Prosecuting Attorney William Paul Nichols has a Bad Check Restitution Program that can help you recover those lost funds. There’s also a flier about the program posted at the Monroe Police Department, and the flier has these tips for a business that is accepting a check:

• Institute a check acceptance policy. A clearly posted policy for your employees and customers can reduce your losses.
• Accept checks written only with today’s date. Post-dated checks are civil matters and are not accepted in the Monroe County Prosecuting Attorney Bad Check Restitution Program.
• Trust your instincts! If something doesn’t seem right, ask questions or ask for another form of payment. You are not obligated to accept a check.

There are, in fact, some storefront businesses in Monroe that no longer accept checks and insist on cash, bank cards or money orders. So don’t feel bad if you would rather not accept a check for your home-based business.

It would be good customer service, however, to state your payment terms up front when explaining your products or services.