Bounced checks in South Carolina

The first ten days — the $30 charge and the notice

A check the bank refused is not just an unpaid invoice. It is a debt with its own statutory machinery attached, and the first steps have short clocks.

Deposit the check promptly. The fraudulent check chapter does not apply to a check that was not deposited to the payee's account within ten days from the date it was presented, so a check held in a drawer for a month loses its special remedies whatever the account balance says.

The first demand is short and cheap. The statute's own notice form tells the customer the check was dishonored, that they have ten days from the mailing to pay the full amount plus a service charge of $30, and that failure may be turned over for criminal prosecution. The charge is payable to the payee, and the form of notice is printed in the statute, so the letter can be lifted nearly word for word.

10 daysSouth Carolina's fraudulent check chapter does not apply to a check that has not been deposited to the payee's account within ten days from the date the check was presented to the payee. — South Carolina Code of Laws, Title 34, Chapter 11, retrieved 2026-09-29

$30A dishonored check not paid with a $30 service charge within ten days after written notice by certified mail is prima facie evidence of fraudulent intent, with the notice form in the statute. — South Carolina Code of Laws, Title 34, Chapter 11, retrieved 2026-09-29

The 30-day certified-mail demand that turns on treble damages

The civil route carries its own demand, separate from the criminal notice and worth more money. A person who knowingly or with fraudulent intent issues a dishonored check and fails to pay the amount in cash within 30 days following written demand is liable for the amount owing plus damages of the lesser of $500 or three times the amount owing.

The demand letter has required contents: a description of the check and the circumstances of its dishonor, a demand for payment with notice of intent to sue for treble damages if payment is not received within 30 days, and mailing by certified mail to the last known address.

A $400 check that clears nothing carries a potential damages claim of $500 on top of the amount, because the statute caps the damages at the lesser of $500 or three times the check. Add a reasonable attorney's fee the court may award the prevailing party as part of the costs. On a $250 check the treble number is the smaller one, so the amount of the check decides which cap binds.

30 daysA person who fails to pay a dishonored check in cash within 30 days after written demand is liable for the amount plus damages of the lesser of $500 or three times it, and a reasonable attorney's fee. — South Carolina Code of Laws, Title 34, Chapter 11, retrieved 2026-09-29

The treble-damages demand must describe the check and its dishonor, demand payment with notice of intent to sue for treble damages within 30 days, and be mailed by certified mail. — South Carolina Code of Laws, Title 34, Chapter 11, retrieved 2026-09-29

The evidence the statute hands you at the window

The bank does part of your proof. The drawee's duty is to write, print or stamp the reason for the dishonor in plain language on the check or attach it, and an unpaid and dishonored check with the reason written or stamped on it is prima facie evidence of the making, the presentation, the dishonor, and that the dishonor was proper.

Your part is at the moment you take the check. To establish the identity of the issuer, the full name, residence address and telephone number of the person presenting the check must be obtained, recorded on the check or on a check-cashing identification card, and the signature witnessed with your initials on the check.

That is the collection procedure for the counter: a mover's deposit, a cleaner's monthly invoice, a food truck's catering balance, all taken as checks. The identification discipline is what makes the treble damages letter something a magistrate reads in one pass rather than an argument.

A dishonored check with the drawee's reason for refusal written, stamped or attached is prima facie evidence of the making, presentation, dishonor, and that it was properly dishonored. — South Carolina Code of Laws, Title 34, Chapter 11, retrieved 2026-09-29

To establish the issuer's identity, the presenter's full name, residence address and telephone number must be recorded, and the receiver must witness the signature and initial the check. — South Carolina Code of Laws, Title 34, Chapter 11, retrieved 2026-09-29

The criminal warrant runs on a 180-day clock

Issuing a check knowing the account cannot pay it is a crime in South Carolina, and the business that took the check can seek a warrant. The window is fixed: no warrant for a violation may be obtained more than 180 days after the date the check was uttered.

The criminal route has cautions the civil route does not. If the payee knew or had reason to believe the drawer did not have sufficient funds when the check was accepted, the payee instituting the prosecution can be assessed all the costs of court. The statute also provides immunity for a notice given in substantially the prescribed form after waiting ten days from mailing before instituting proceedings.

The honest reading for a business: use the criminal process with the statute's own paper, only where the facts fit it, and let the certified-mail demand do most of the collecting. The warrant is the heaviest tool in this chapter, and the tools around it cost nothing but postage.

180 daysNo warrant for a violation of South Carolina's fraudulent check statute may be obtained more than 180 days after the date the check was uttered. — South Carolina Code of Laws, Title 34, Chapter 11, retrieved 2026-09-29

10 daysA person instituting prosecution who gives the prescribed notice and waits ten days from mailing before proceeding gets a presumption of reasonable and probable cause and immunity for the notice. — South Carolina Code of Laws, Title 34, Chapter 11, retrieved 2026-09-29

The defenses that take the wind out of the letter

The treble damages route has honest limits, and a demand letter that ignores them invites a waiver. The court or jury may waive all or part of the treble damages on a finding that the failure to satisfy the check was due to recent discharge from employment, personal or family illness, or a personal or family catastrophic loss.

There are affirmative defenses: full satisfaction of the check before the action begins, an error by the bank in dishonoring it, or the acceptor knowing at the time of acceptance that the funds were insufficient.

What survives those defenses is the claim itself, the amount owing and the ordinary collection route. A customer who was laid off and bounced the rent check is still a debtor; they are just not a treble-damages debtor. That distinction belongs in the demand letter's tone as much as in its arithmetic, and the escalation if the letter fails is the magistrate's court, where the claim fits up to $7,500.

The court or jury may waive all or part of the treble damages on finding the failure to satisfy the check was due to recent discharge from employment, illness, or catastrophic loss. — South Carolina Code of Laws, Title 34, Chapter 11, retrieved 2026-09-29

It is an affirmative defense to a treble damages action that the check was satisfied before the action began, the bank erred in dishonoring it, or the acceptor knew the funds were insufficient. — South Carolina Code of Laws, Title 34, Chapter 11, retrieved 2026-09-29

Next step — build the letter the day the check returns

The sequence from the day the bank returns the check: deposit it inside ten days of receiving it, keep the stamped reason from the drawee, send the ten-day notice with the $30 service charge by certified mail, and if the cash is not there, send the 30-day treble-damages demand.

Both letters go to the last known address, and both are sent certified. The certified-mail receipts are the paper trail the magistrate sees, so file them with the returned check rather than in the drawer that lost the last one.

The invoice terms that prevent the next one are on how to write payment terms, and the day-by-day order of moves for any past-due balance is the past-due checklist. If checks keep returning from the same customer, the deposit schedule in deposits and down payments is the structural fix.

10 daysNotice of a dishonored check is complete ten days after the notice is deposited in the mail, and the payee's certificate that it was sent is presumptive proof of it. — South Carolina Code of Laws, Title 34, Chapter 11, retrieved 2026-09-29

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