Court Wants Me To Pay By Certified Check or Money Order

G'day all. I received a civil infraction and I am paying the fine. The form states, "return this notice immediately with your certified check or money order." I think it's unnecessarily inconvenient that the court won't accept a regular check. In protest, I am sending a personal check to see if they will accept it.

These are the possible outcomes
1. They accept the check.
2. They refuse the check.
3. They refuse to cash the check, I send a money order right before the due date, and they cash both.

I'm hoping for number 1. Number 2 is a possibility. If that happens, I'll just send in a money order before the due date. What do you think will happen? This is supposed to be an experiment to see if a government employee will actually refuse money.

RS4Rings said:   #4. They tell you they are refusing your check and you send a money order, then they also cash your personal check. Not worth screwing around here

Edit: oops that is your #3The worst that can happen is that I pay twice the price but I eventually will get a refund. The payment isn't due until the end of May so I'm not worried. I'll leave extra money in my checking account so I don't get overdrawn.

caterpillar123 said:   G'day all. I received a civil infraction and I am paying the fine. The form states, "return this notice immediately with your certified check or money order." I think it's unnecessarily inconvenient that the court won't accept a regular check.

The court probably figures that the kind of people who commit civil infractions are frequently the kind of people who also write rubber checks. Given that you can get a money order for less than a buck at a post office, I'd do that and save the hassle of trying to fight city hall.

And it could be worse. I know people who have gotten their cars towed in the city where I work - if you want to get your car back. you have to pay cash. And they don't give change.

Don't mess around when it comes to the government picking on the small guy - they WILL win against you. Meanwhile, the big time fish get away scott-free.

MadAnthony said:   The court probably figures that the kind of people who commit civil infractions are frequently the kind of people who also write rubber checks.I think it might be because the city is somewhat trashy. My local court accepts checks.

Technically a certified check is your check that the bank then certifies as funds being available. The bank will then set aside those funds from your account until the check is cashed. The bank guarantees the check, the account holder is the one that signs one of these checks.

Cashier's check and bank checks are checks written by a bank on their own account. In the US, they are considered a note owed by the bank. The bank would sign this check.

Beyond technicalities, they are both checks that are considered guaranteed funds and really aren't used differently.

UPDATE: They cashed the check. i win.