Issuing a dud cheque can have serious financial consequences, with repeat offenders facing penalties of up to 20% of the cheque’s value, a ban on issuing cheques and restrictions on accessing new credit facilities.

Under revised sanctions issued by the Bank of Ghana (BoG), customers who issue dud cheques can face escalating penalties depending on the number of offences committed.

The measures are contained in Notice No. BG/GOV/SEC/2026/12, issued on June 24 and communicated to banks, Specialised Deposit-Taking Institutions (SDIs) and the public.

So, what happens when you issue a dud cheque?

1. First dud cheque

If you issue a dud cheque for the first time, your bank or SDI will charge you 10% of the cheque’s face value.

You will also receive a warning about the consequences of repeating the offence.

The bank or SDI will report the offence to the Credit Reference Bureaus (CRBs) and the BoG, while you will be placed under surveillance for at least one year.

The warning may be communicated through SMS, email or another established means of communication.

2. Second dud cheque

If you issue another dud cheque within one year of the first offence, the penalty increases to 15% of the cheque’s face value.

You will receive another warning, while the offence will again be reported to the CRBs and the BoG.

3. Third dud cheque

The consequences become more serious if you issue a third dud cheque within one year of the first offence.

You will be charged a 20% levy on the cheque’s face value and the offence will be reported to the CRBs and the BoG.

But there is more.

The BoG will impose a minimum three-year ban on you from issuing cheques in Ghana.

However, the ban does not mean you lose access to the affected account completely. The BoG notice states that “the customer may, however, be permitted to receive cheques and funds into the affected account and perform other electronic transactions on the account.”

You could also lose access to new credit

A third-time dud cheque offender will also be barred from accessing new credit facilities from the banking system for one year.

In simple terms, this means you cannot obtain a new loan or other new credit facility from a bank or other regulated financial institution during the one-year restriction.

The BoG said it will notify all banks and SDIs of the ban.

Why is BoG doing this?

The central bank said it had observed “with grave concern the high issuance of dud cheques” by some customers of banks and SDIs.

According to the BoG, the development has “consequential effects on the acceptance of cheques for transactions.”

It said the measures are intended to “discourage this malpractice, and to sustain confidence in the payment system.”