UAE plans new initiative on bounced cheques

Posted by: Glen Wednesday, 12 May 2010 12:51 PM[UAE] - U.A.E.

It is criminal to write any cheque knowing that you do not have the funds available at the time of writing the cheque. PD cheques are from existing funds that you do not wish to hand over until delivery or completion. Financial instituitions that ask customers to provide cheques knowing that the client does not have the funds at the time of writing are the real criminals. They only do it to criminalise their customer to put fear into them to pay what they do not have. It is time to get real pay rents on a monthly basis, do credit checks on your customers, if they are creditworthy then do the deal. Dont try to coerce customers into deby with criminalisation as the only recourse.

Posted by: Khalid Tuesday, 11 May 2010 11:43 PM[UAE]

In the civilized world, bouncing a cheque is not criminal in and of itself. It's criminal when it is done willfully, with intent to deceive, which needs to be shown beyond reasonable doubt. That is not to be confused with the concept of debtors' prison! What makes it worse is that financial commitments are regularly paid by cheques or post-dated cheques here. In the end, society ends up paying a big cost for criminalising financial inability.

Posted by: Dastagir Tuesday, 11 May 2010 10:57 PM[UAE] - India

It would be extremely difficult to enforce a law, that satisfy all the people.

Posted by: dc qatar Tuesday, 11 May 2010 8:09 PM[UAE] - Qatar

I have given my landlord cheques for the next six months as required by my contract. Now suddenly a new law is introduced in Qatar giving him the right to present post cheques immediatly! He can give his bank my cheques today and if I haven't got the money to cover them I'm suddenly a criminal! My landlord is a qatari and will presumably stay here. What if he is an expat middlemman? Will he succumb to the temptation of getting what he can from my account before fleeing the country? Of course the law will be changed but how many people will suffer needlessly before common sense is applied?

Posted by: ametis Tuesday, 11 May 2010 2:55 PM[UAE] - UAE

In response to Aex comment. Yes it is against the Law in UK to bounce a cheque, but in cases where a cheque is bounced you are given the opportunity to settle the debt. You are not locked up as in the case of UA,thereby being deprived the opportunity to work and settle the debt. No one intentionally sets out to bounce a cheque... this is called Fraud..