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The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has introduced stricter sanctions for customers who issue cheques without sufficient funds, with penalties increasing from 10% to 20% of the cheque’s value for repeated offences.
Under the revised rules, a cheque is classified as a dud cheque when there is not enough money in the issuer’s account to cover the amount stated. The bank will return the cheque unpaid, while the account holder could also face legal consequences.
First Offence Attracts 10% Penalty
For a first offence, the customer’s bank is required to impose a penalty equivalent to 10% of the cheque’s face value.
The customer will also receive a warning about the consequences of issuing another dud cheque. The offence must be reported to the Bank of Ghana and Credit Reference Bureaus (CRBs).
If the customer issues a second dud cheque within one year of the first offence, the penalty increases to 15% of the cheque’s value.
The second offence will also be reported to the BoG and CRBs, alongside another warning to the customer.
Third Offence Brings Major Restrictions
A third dud cheque offence within one year of the first attracts the highest financial penalty of 20% of the cheque’s face value.
At this stage, the sanctions extend beyond the financial penalty. The BoG will:
– Ban the customer from issuing cheques for at least three years.
– Restrict the customer from accessing new credit facilities for one year.
– Notify all banks and Specialised Deposit-Taking Institutions about the ban.
The BoG said negative reports to Credit Reference Bureaus could damage a customer’s creditworthiness, potentially resulting in a poor credit score, higher borrowing costs and reduced access to financing.
Cheque Books Must Be Returned
Once a bank receives notification of a cheque-issuing ban, it must inform the affected customer within five working days.
The bank must also recall all unused cheque books and stop issuing new ones until the sanction is lifted.
Customers who fail to return unused cheque books within 10 working days of being notified could face further sanctions.
In such cases, the bank must report the matter to the BoG, which may prohibit the customer from operating any current account and include their name in the Directory of High-Risk Cheque Issuers.
BoG Advises Customers to Check Balances
The central bank is urging customers to carefully check their account balances before issuing cheques and consider pending transactions that could reduce available funds.
Customers have also been advised not to issue cheques based on money they merely expect to receive unless they are certain the funds will be available before the cheque is presented.
The BoG further recommends keeping proper records of issued cheques and their expected presentation dates, and contacting banks promptly whenever insufficient funds are anticipated.