Under Colorado law, it is a crime to issue or pass a check when you know there are insufficient funds in your bank account to cover the check or you have no bank account at all.

Issuing a bad check is a petty offense with penalties of up to 10 days in jail and $300 in fines.

In this article, our Denver Colorado criminal defense lawyers will address:

• 1. What is a “bad check”?
• 2. What are the penalties for writing a bad check in Colorado?
• 3. What are the best defenses to this charge?
• 4. Related Offenses
• Additional reading

Under Colorado law, it is a crime to pay with a check knowing that you do not have enough money to cover the funds.

1. What is a “bad check”?

Bad checks are checks that bounce when the recipient of the check tries to cash or deposit the check.

To be convicted of issuing or passing a bad check in Colorado, you had to have known that you had insufficient funds to cover the check. Colorado law presumes you knew you had insufficient funds if either:

• You did not have an account with the bank (and therefore the account/routing numbers on the check were fake), or your account had been closed at the time you issued the check; or
• You had insufficient funds in your account when the check’s recipient tried to cash or deposit the check, and it remains unpaid for 30 days after you issued the check.

Merely post-dating a check (or money order) will not cause Colorado courts to presume you know the check was bad.¹

2. What are the penalties for writing a bad check in Colorado?

Issuing a bad check is a petty offense in Colorado. The penalties include:

• up to 10 days in jail and/or
• up to $300.

As a condition to qualify for a pretrial diversion program and thereby avoid a conviction, you may also have to pay restitution to the originally designated payee.²

One possible defense to this charge is that you honestly did not know there were insufficient funds in your account.

3. What are the best defenses to this charge?

There are several possible defenses your attorney may raise if you are facing charges of issuing a bad check. These include showing that:

• You honestly did not know there were insufficient funds in your account;
• You post-dated the check, but your paycheck or other incoming funds were delayed for some reason beyond your control;
• You placed a stop payment on the check after issuance (you realized funds were insufficient, so you made a good faith effort to stop the check)

For example, let’s say you mistakenly thought that your checking account was linked to your savings account and any extra funds would be drawn out of the savings. If the checking account does not have enough to cover the funds, but your savings did, you may have a defense to bad check charges. However, your bank and the original payee may still charge fees or penalties for writing a check with insufficient funds.

4. Related Offenses

Fraud by Check C.R.S. 18-5-205

If you write a bad check and have the intent to defraud someone out of goods or services, then you can be convicted of check fraud. This is a more serious crime than knowingly issuing a bad check, which does not require the intent to defraud anyone.

The penalties for fraud by check will depend on the value of the fraud involved.

Theft/Larceny C.R.S. 18-4-401

Theft, or larceny, involves using someone else’s property in a manner that deprives the other person permanently of the use or benefit of the property. Writing bad checks to obtain things of value may be considered a type of theft. The punishment for theft is based on the value of the property stolen.

Additional reading

For more in-depth information, refer to these scholarly articles:

• The Inappropriateness of the Bad Checks Penalty – University of Michigan Public Law.
• Bad Checks Make Bad Law and Bad Policy – Air Force Law Review.
• Bad check diversion program collection letters may violate federal consumer protection laws – Journal of the National District Attorneys Association.
• Problems with Bad Checks in Bankruptcy – Business Law Review.
• Time to Close the Collection Agency: Addressing the Abuse of Bad Check Laws – Charleston Law Review.

Legal References