I’ve got a box of old checkbooks I want to get rid of, but I don’t want someone to scrounge it out of the trash.
Lessee… I could write VOID on each one, but too many of the little buggers. Same problem with running it through a shredder.
I could set fire to it, but I don’t want my smoke alarm to go off.
Perhaps I could soak it in water? But I’d want them utterly ruined, not just a little soggy. What ordinary household item could I add to the water to really destroy the paper? Or is there a better solution? (no pun intended… ok, ya caught me, it was slightly intended)
Take it to your bank and ask them to destroy them for you. They’ve got shredders that could eat a phone book. I know, because I used to do document shredding for a bank years ago.
I’ve ripped the checks in half (while still connected in the binding). I could only do about four at a time, but it was faster than VOIDing all of them.
Maybe this is kind of a smartass question, but Controvert, do you regularly have a problem with people going through your garbage?
If not, why not just throw them in the trash? Really, what are the chances someone’s going to decide to pick through your rotten grapefruit and coffee grounds on that particular day?
Here’s a tidbit:
Writing VOID on a check may prevent many banks from cashing it for you, however it is not legally a bar to the check being cashed. I had a discussion on www.bankersonline.com that covered that…
Probably about the same as someone actually NEEDING that tin-foil hat.
But, you’re right, and my mentality is the same as yours. Mine go in the trash. If someone really wants my routing number and/or account number THAT bad, there are much easier ways than snooping through my garbage.
I think the article isn’t saying that, but rather “people CAN”. There is assumed risk in everything, and quite honestly, I’d bet more on being hit by a train than having someone root through my garbage.
The OP doesn’t mention whether the checking account is still active. If it is, I wouldn’t simply toss them in the trash. But if the account has been closed, what’s the harm in someone finding them and trying to use them? If you have a new account in the same bank, can the bank honor the checks by debiting your new account?
If there aren’t that many you could cut or tear them such that you separate the account number and bank name from your name, then dispose of them in separate places, one half at home, the other at work, or such.
I believe I mentioned this here once before. At one time my wife had several gerbils. One cage had, as I recall about a dozen. We had a similar problem, needing to dispose of a large quantity of checks necessitated by having changed banks. The solution based on the observation that the little “rats” tended to chew on everything was to give them the checks. Before we had even left that morning they had already made a good start, and when we returned that night there was nothing but little crescent shaped shreds of paper about 2 X 10 mm each.
