Did a case recently where a debtor had given us 5 post dated cheques of RM5,000 each to settle a RM 25,000 debt.
3 cheques had cleared, but the bank rejected the last two cheques because the "date appeared to have been altered".
We told the debtor that the cheques could not clear and asked them to replace the payments by online transfer.
Should have been a straightforward and quick replacement. But no.. every time we followed up, they said they would "check on it".
Every time we followed up, we got another excuse or another "promise to check by today".
This went on for about four to five weeks, still no replacement payment.
It seemed they were using the cheque issue to delay paying the balance.
I ran out of patience and told the debtor we would just file a Writ Saman to expedite matters. ONLY at that point did they immediately make an online transfer for the balance RM 10,000.
The point of this story is don't be euphoric even when you get post dated cheques for settlement of a debt. In some cases it may only be half the battle won.
Sometimes you still have to chase for weeks and be prepared to take further action before the debtor actually pays.
Rudi Cheu (rudi@rulecolaw.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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