This has never been an issue for us; I've sent a few letters about bounced checks, and the people are usually a little embarrassed (hadn't balanced the checkbook) and write me a new check. One time the account was closed because the parent had lost her purse. I'm sure there are some nice form letters on this site that explain how the bounced check hurts the PTO and therefore the kids, and gently guilt the person into making good on their check.

Does anyone have a recommendation for a check recovery service they have used and liked? It's easy enough to do a Google search and find a bunch, but I don't know that I want to pick one at random.

For the benefit of those who don't know what I'm talking about--these are services that collect bad checks for you. For checks that bounce for non-sufficient funds (NSF), they can usually go into their bank account and collect the whole amount of the bounced check, as well as a service charge on top of it. You get the full amount that the customer wrote the check for; the check recovery service gets the service charge.

This won't work if the account has been closed--then you need a check collection service.