I do the same thing ~ I get paid in advance of care with post dated cheques as my preferred method of payment so I am not having to remind parents all the time to pay ~ thankfully I do no fee banking so my bank does not charge me anything to cash cheques and I earn grocery points for 'banking' so they technically pay me

I pass the cost of bounced cheque onto the client if they were to do it and keep a security deposit as well so if a cheque bounces I typically know by the Tuesday into the first week of care so I am not out money for services already rendered cause I make them pay CASH to continue care and if they bolt than I have their SD paid to cover the bounced cheque for services given. Plus I like the benefit of the cheque as the paper trail provides additional proof of my income should I ever get audited by CRA.

I just credit their account if they've paid in advance and I end up being closed ~ on their next cheque I either have them 'change and initial' for the lower payment to apply the credit in a timely manner or some parents just choose to let the credit sit there until they run out of post dates and write one for the lesser amount of the credit to balance their account back out.

In 5 plus years I have only had 1 client with an issue with bounced cheques and both times it was her banks fault cause she had some auto transfer of funds set up and they did not transfer it as per the instructions and put it in some other account on her ... the bank provided refund off all fees associated with their mistake and a letter of apology for her to provide to business affected by their mistakes.