[Ice]

An NSF check can be sent to the drawee bank for collection. Its different than sending it to a collection agency. Different banks have different policies (at least down here) as to how long they will hold a check for collection purposes. The bank will check for funds on that NSF check daily and if the account has a balance that will cover the check, the drawee bank will issue a cashiers check, less their fees, to your bank which will be deposited to your account. You cannot send a check for collection that was returned as "payment stopped."

OH, I almost forgot. Most stop payments placed by customers at their bank only stop payment for six months. After that period, its the customers responsibility to renew the stop payment, and they rarely do. Now, even though most people think a check is stale dated after six months, that's not always true. Unless the check you need payment for is a sight paid item, like one with two signatures or one for over $5000.00, if you know someone stopped payment on a check, wait six months and send it through. If its not an exception check based on amount or signature restriction, it'll probably go through the clearing house with no problem. This is only effective if you call in advance or ask a teller at the bank to see if payment has been stopped so the bank doesn't return the check with holes punched through the encoding line. I've been successful at doing this twice to get money owed to me.