Back-to-School Needs Often Turn Checks to Rubber

Grade schoolers wander the malls looking for the perfect Hello Kitty backpack. College students seek out the cheapest copy of the Riverside Shakespeare. Mothers try to convince their teens that Sears brand cargo pants are just as “fly” as the Tommy Hilfiger brand for the first day of class.

The back-to-school shopping frenzy can be expensive, and law enforcement officials say it also brings a sharp jump in the number of bounced checks.

As a result, the county’s Bad Check Restitution Program has sprung into action, tracking down check bouncers and helping them spend within their budgets.

“It starts up with back-to-school shopping. That gets people out there in the stores,” said Denise Simmons, spokeswoman for the program, which is run by the Orange County district attorney’s office. “There’s a surge, many retailers get stuck with bad checks, and it continues like that until the holidays.”

Program organizers estimate that the number of bad checks passed in Orange County increases about 30% from August to September. There’s an even higher jump after the holiday season in January and February.

The program began in 1990, in response to complaints about bad checks from merchants. Prosecutors developed a diversion program for people caught writing bad checks that total less than $1,500.

Officials are alerted to check bouncers by retailers. Many of the checks are in the $30 to $150 range, said Simmons.

Once tracked down, bad-check writers can enter the diversion program and avoid criminal prosecution as long as they pay back the amount owed to retailers, as well as any fees incurred from the overdrafts.

Participants in the program also undergo eight hours of counseling. Offenders must also pay a $100 fee to enter the program.

Though they are busy year-round, officials said the back-to-school season is especially hectic. Many retailers relax their standards regarding the acceptance of checks because of the high volume of shoppers, Simmons said.

“During rush periods, [merchants] will sacrifice the procedures so they can try and speed up the process,” she said.

“As a result, they ignore some of the policies, such as taking down a driver’s license number, in order to get people through.”

For smaller businesses, such as the Irvine Valley College Bookstore, the costs of bad checks can be steep.

“We usually carry a [yearly] balance of $10,000 in outstanding checks. It’s quite a bit of money,” said Jim Harding, the bookstore’s manager.

Having to swallow the losses is only one problem for merchants. “It also becomes uncomfortable for our employees, who have to run a check on the students coming in,” Harding said.

During the last two weeks of August, the bookstore usually gets about 50 bad checks. “Primarily, it’s the new check writers,” Harding said.

“You can tell because the check numbers are in the low hundreds. You can see they’ve never used them before, never balanced a checkbook.”

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The counseling phase of the district attorney’s program--which is run by American Corrective Counseling Services--offers help for first timers and those who may have lost control of their bank balances.

“For most it’s a matter of poor planning,” said Alicia Romanowski, an instructor with the program.

“A lot of college kids have to become acquainted with the policies that the banks have. . . . If they’re not learning it in high school or at home, they’re going to get bombarded. When these kids get to college, they’re surrounded by credit card offers, and it can get out of hand,” Romanowski said.

Among other participants are newly single parents who are for the first time confronting financial responsibilities on their own.

“A lot of times they are prioritizing in their head what they believe is important for their kids. . . . Often there’s a lot of love behind it,” Romanowski said.

“When they complete the financial part, it’s just a big relief. Then, [after] completing the class, they feel, ‘I’ve made a mistake, but I don’t need to keep making that mistake.’ ”