For Ames resident Carolyn Geise it was just another errand to the grocery store that turned out to be an expensive trip.

“My husband said be careful,” Geise said. “I thought there was enough money in the account, and it bounced like a rubber ball.”

Geise was charged $10 by the bank for writing the bad check. “It was a good learning experience. I didn’t do it intentionally, I just thought surely there was enough for a $40 check,” she said.

The internal money debate in the grocery store line is all too familiar to thousands of people every day.

“There are a lot of checks written everywhere,” Ames Detective Mike Johns said. About 19,000 checks are written every second in the nation, Johns said.

The convenience of paper credit can cause headaches and havoc as the number of bad checks written in Ames keeps retailers and police on the rebound.

“It’s a big problem,” he said. Most of the checks handled are because of insufficient funds.

In 1995, Johns said there were 1,252 non sufficient funds checks that were turned into the Ames Police Department.

“About $63,000 was recovered last year in Ames,” Johns said.

When someone bounces a check, it is usually a math error or playing the float game were a person writes a check thinking he or she will deposit the money shortly after, said Tony Hotchkiss, president of Firstar Bank, 405 Main St.

“Those are the two key reasons [checks bounce] and they get caught,” Hotchkiss said.

Whether a bad check is written because of a tight budget, math errors or fraud, the check writer will be responsible for large fines.

“There are a lot of private collection agencies that businesses hire,” Johns said. With so many out there, “it has become an industry.”

On many occasions, fines from bounced checks can be turned over to a collection agency, which in turn causes even more financial problems for the check writer.

Most of the collection agencies try to make contact and collect the dollar amount. They have a right to charge a $20 service fee plus the amount. The service fee is kept as commission, Johns said.

There are other options for the merchant to claim payment for the bad check.

“Suing in small claims court is an alternative,” said Mary Richards, Story County attorney.

Hiring an a attorney and high court costs can be expensive and not worth the trouble. There are agencies involved in check mediation that bring the merchant and check writer together, Richards said.

The Commission on Criminal Justice, 210 Lynn Ave., offers a Bad Check Recovery Program that provides Story County merchants the opportunity to recover bad check funds, said Helen Jensma of CCJ.

Officials advise merchants to take extra precaution when accepting checks.

“We encourage them to take two IDs. They can also call into a check protection service that will tell if a check is valid,” Hotchkiss said.

Target, 620 Lincoln Way, has developed its own check protection service.

“All checks are read by a micker reader that accesses a person’s account and researches a person’s history with the store,” said Bill Zook, Target store manager.

With the large student population in Ames, merchants are encouraged to get students’ permanent addresses with the checks they write.

If they know the student has a university address, they will usually ask for an additional address, Jensma said.

Merchants also have the right to deny any checks to save the trouble of collecting the funds.

“Toward the end of the school year [merchants] stop taking checks from anyone. That’s how they handle it,” Jensma said, to avoid students that leave town and their expenses behind.

For the last 10 years, Charlie Stewart, owner and manager of Peeple’s Music, 303 Welch Ave., has been very selective when in comes to accepting checks.

“I don’t take checks for the last two weeks of each semester,” he said.

It is hard to determine what time of the year most of the bad checks are written, he said. “There is a little bit of an increase in the month of December, because more checks are written then,” Johns said.

While it can be considered a fraud for willingly writing a check without sufficient funds, it depends on the situation before criminal action is taken, Johns said.

The bank must notify check writers by certified mail if they have insufficient funds in their accounts, Johns said.

“It becomes a theft 10 days after the notification,” he said. There is a grace period, because people do make mistakes.

“If you do not pay restitution in 10 days, then we assume it was the intention to commit a theft,” Johns said.

No matter the amount, forgery is a Class C felony, Johns said. Non sufficient funds and closed accounts is determined by the dollar amount.

“If the amount is under $100 it is a simple misdemeanor,” Richardson said.