I agree with Andy. It appears that it is not the payor's bank rejecting the check - which would mean it bounced. It is the payee's bank. They cannot bounce a check drawn on another bank. The check is being rejected by someone in the chain...probably the payee.

Or this is just a story the "roomie" is telling to gain sympathy for a bad check. Not to be cynical, but roommate situations are difficult, having been there my self way back when and more recently while helping my daughter to extricate a roommate gone bad!

Just a guess, but could there be an OFAC issue here? Not on the roommate, but on the person he wrote the checks to?

Thank you again for all the suggestions/feedback. As I'm sure you can tell this isn't an easy situation for anyone involved, and without having all the necessary details it looks like there's quite a range of possibilities as to why this happened. While I won't rule anything out, since this is a very good friend of mine (in addition to being a roommate), I'm still inclined to take his word and give him the benefit of the doubt as much as possible. I don't think he had any reason to not come clean about what he was told by his bank. But that's not to say there aren't historical financial issues I'm not aware of, that based on some of the previous posts, could have been the cause of these check troubles.

Thanks again for your responses and wading through my limited bank-jargon.

if i wrote a check that bounced will the company i wrote it too contact me how does it work

yes. they charge you large return check fee too. big ripoff. why i never anymor write check over amoount i have in account. company could also turn check over to states attorney for hot check criminal case agianst you. happen to me in illinois.

So criminal charges were filed against you and you still don't know "how it works" Righttttt

I'm sure this must be a legitimate post Righttttt

If your friend's bank truly refused to pay a check that he wrote, when his available/collected balance adaquate, the bank is liable for "wrongful dishonor". A request for a branch manager to explain why he should not take legal action for wrongful dishonor should cut through any further obfuscation on the banks part.

I don't have a similar magic phrase to use on your friend to get him to be completely honest with you. Like the other posters, I think that is where the real problem is in this situation.