NSF in Other Account

My understanding about the Other Account is the it has funds are regularly coming in and going out, so sometimes there is a positive balance and sometimes there is a negative balance. Well recently I wrote a check for camp and the bank has notified me that the check came back for non-sufficient funds, so I must have been wrong about the Other Account. What do I do now and how do I avoid this happening in the future?

I didn't think it was possible to overdraw your ward account. We have wards with negative balances in a Budget or Other category from time to time.

simonmudge wrote:Well recently I wrote a check for camp and the bank has notified me that the check came back for non-sufficient funds...

What bank notified you? Was it the bank the attempt to cash the check was made at? Or was it Zion's National Bank, the Church's bank? How were you notified?

simonmudge wrote:My understanding about the Other Account is the it has funds are regularly coming in and going out, so sometimes there is a positive balance and sometimes there is a negative balance.

It is not acceptable practice to carry a negative balance in any Other:AMFA category. While I have heard of letters from headquarters being issued to units carrying a negative balance (The letter goes to the stake president.), I have never heard of a check being dishonored for non-sufficient funds. You may want to contact LUS to find out if there is a new policy being enforced and what impact the dishonored check is going to have. For personal checking accounts there is usually a fee for dishonored checks. But I have no idea if there is a fee in this situation or if the fee would be passed through to the unit if there is. LUS should be able to get you the answers. You could also send a message through MLS to the finance department.

simonmudge wrote:What do I do now and how do I avoid this happening in the future?

Issue the check from a Budget category. An Other:AMFA category should have funds in it to draw against. In the situation where payment must be made for summer camp and the funds have not been collected then the check will have to be written from a Budget category. Once the funds are collected then the expense can be re-categorized from a Budget category to the Other:AMFA:Scout Camp category.

jdlessley wrote:

simonmudge wrote:Well recently I wrote a check for camp and the bank has notified me that the check came back for non-sufficient funds...

What bank notified you? Was it the bank the attempt to cash the check was made at? Or was it Zion's National Bank, the Church's bank? How were you notified?

It should be noted that there is more then one way to cash a check. It's possible the camp attempted to deposit the check electronically as a EFT and it was refused because units are not allowed EFTs. It has to be processed as a check.

Thank you so much for the help. The checks cleared fine.