Partial payment refers to the offering of a

payment A payment is the voluntary tender of money or its equivalent or of things of value by one party (such as a person or company) to another in exchange for goods, or services provided by them, or to fulfill a legal obligation. The party making the ...

by check for less than the full amount claimed by the

creditor A creditor or lender is a party (e.g., person, organization, company, or government) that has a claim on the services of a second party. It is a person or institution to whom money is owed. The first party, in general, has provided some property ...

. Such an offer for

debt Debt is an obligation that requires one party, the debtor, to pay money or other agreed-upon value to another party, the creditor. Debt is a deferred payment, or series of payments, which differentiates it from an immediate purchase. The d ...

discharge by tender of a "payment-in-full" check is common practice. If the amount tendered is not grossly insufficient, the creditor must decide whether to accept the payment and forfeit the balance, or refuse and try to collect the full amount.

Court A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to Adjudication, adjudicate legal disputes between Party (law), parties and carry out the administration of justice in Civil law (common law), civil, C ...

rulings have treated the tender of such a check as the offer of an accord and satisfaction. If the creditor accepts, endorses, and receives

from the check, he has accepted the contract, and so discharged the whole debt owed by the

debtor A debtor or debitor is a legal entity (legal person) that owes a debt to another entity. The entity may be an individual, a firm, a government, a company or other legal person. The counterparty is called a creditor. When the counterpart of th ...

.Bills of Exchange Act (R.S., 1985, c. B-4)

Sources

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