Go to small claims court with as much evedince as you can muster and have them sort it out with an arbitrator.

Writing a bad check, on an account that is closed, is a felony. writing a check on an active account and it bounces, is a misdemeanor, below $500 dollars.

This person now has a criminal charge that can be placed as well as a civil charge, to collect your money.

Small claims court can handle your civil collection very nicely.

Giving this person a 10 notice through the mail, is evidence enough for you to secure a warrant for his arrest for a bad check.

You have a couple options, depending on your local laws. You can file a police report for a bad check as long as you deposited the check and it was returned for insufficient funds. The police will then pursue the matter.

You can also sue in civil court for the money. Writing the check isn't an admission of guilt but it doesn indicate a debt owed. However, the friend could say he was lending you money or that this was a done under duress. Hopefully you have a promissory note or receipts for the original $290.

Do you even like this guy? He won't come around if he thinks you want money and 290 bucks isnt a real expensive price to have him out of your life for good if he sucks.

Well, your options depend on your situation as mentioned in previous answers, however there is one thing you may want to consider. If he's writing checks that bounce, maybe ask yourself how badly do you need the money? What is his financial situation? If you don't need it and are just collecting it for the priciple of the thing, then maybe sitting him down and reviewing his situation and seeing where he is at might be beter than taking him to court and ruining him even more so than he all ready is.............

Small claims court. Yes the check is an admission.

Hound them with letters, emails and text messages. Maybe they'll get tired of it and pay you... that's what banks do.

The site at http://www.PayMePlz.com/ can automate the emails and text messages.