Eh? You have to have ID in the US to pay a cheque in?
And to drive, apparently.
Land of the free and brave and stuff, eh?
It’s weird that they took her license and told her that they’d mail it, without any form of temporary ID. In Iowa, they no longer give the license right away, but in the meantime they stamp out a hole in the old one and give you a temporary card explaining it. If you present both, they serve as ID for the next 30 days.
I’d tell her to contact the DMV and find out what she’s supposed to use as ID until this mailed one arrives; as you’re required by law to present it to an officer if stopped, I find it very difficult to believe that the procedure in WV is that people just aren’t supposed to drive for some unspecified time if their license expires.
Only if you’re asking for cash and you don’t have a bank account. The bank has no idea if the check is good.
A long shot – if she can go to a branch of the bank where the check is drawn on, she may be able to convince them to cash it for her if she explains the situation. They should be able to see if the check is good.
Of course, banks will be closed Monday, too.
We’d need new banking laws. What you describe is not generally done in the US. I think Chase lets people image checks at home for deposit, but I’m not aware of any other banks doing anything like this yet.
It’s not uncommon for one’s first paycheck at a new job to be paper and subsequent checks are direct-deposit. Aside from that, the OP’s daughter apparently doesn’t have a checking account yet.
Her friend Shawn could lend her some money, no? Because I assume that his bank will cash a check that he presents only if his accounts have enough money to cover the check.
No other friend or relative or someone that she is living with will help her out? And she can’t sell her plasma? I assume that your daughter will offer some new-hire-orientation suggestions to the call center when she returns to work.
But no US national bank has to cash a check for a non customer. A 19 year old can of course be ignorant of this.
The US Department of the Treasury has basic check-cashing and other info here, if more questions than “Answers About Cashing Checks” (all right, I get it already).
She started this job about three weeks ago, but her first paycheck was messed up (17 hours short), and he did have enough cash available to help her out with that one. Other than that, she’s been living off of loans from Shawn and other friends. Being 19, most of her friends are where she is (or in a similar situation) financially. IOW, they’re making enough money to live from paycheck to paycheck, not a lot left over to ‘carry’ another person. Her roommates have been taking care of her share of the bills and stuff. They’ve all been ‘loans’, though, and she really hates the idea of getting more in debt when she effectively ‘has’ a few hundred sitting in her
pocket with just no way to access it!
Well, as I’ve said, she’s pretty much tapped out all her friends. The only relative she has living locally is her older sister, who is unemployed (and probably unemployable) and totally broke. All other relatives are too far away to do much good on short notice.
I have no idea what the prospects are on selling plasma in that particular town.
Thanks for the info.
I will be wiring her some money later today via Western Union, as sure as I make certain she won’t need ID in order to collect it.
Keep in mind that if her buddy’s checking account doesn’t have any cash in it, there isn’t much he can do. The bank would wait for the check to clear before he would be able to withdraw the money.
She needs a friend with a decent balance.
Remarkable as it seems to many people, most Americans still don’t own a passport.
My bank requires a photo ID, which a birth certificate is not. And even if it were, I doubt she still looks like her infant self.
Everywhere I’ve worked, direct deposit required at least one pay cycle to take effect, sometimes two.
Great. I for one would like to know how this all turns out.
Per Western Union, https://thewesternunion.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/7: “With all services, your money may be on hold or services unavailable based on certain transaction conditions, including amount sent, destination, country, currency availability, regulatory issues, identification requirements, Agent location hours, differences in time zones, or selection of delayed options.” Maybe a recipient without a photo ID could have a unique tattoo or something. Or maybe one of your daughter’s friends could be the one to receive the money.
Really? Harsh. I just assumed that the way my credit union does it – letting you put a check in at the ATM and withdraw up to your daily limit immediately, or as much as you want from the actual tellers – was the standard. Seemed scarily TRUSTING, of course, but…
Yeah… Wisconsin here, and last time I got mine renewed, I offered my old one up to them and the DMV told me to hang onto it in case i ever needed a backup ID. This was after they handed my new one to me.
Oooh, good idea to wire it to a friend with a photo ID. One of her roommates would be willing to go with her to the store to pick up the money, I’m sure!
Banks have weird rules. The thing to remember is the federal or state governments set rules for banks but they always make an exception for “suspicious transactions”
This basically means banks, if they think a check might not be honored can subject them to greater scrutiny.
Here’s an example:
I was the asst controller of a hotel. I was in the process of getting a new bank for payroll. I chose Bank Of America, SOLEY because they assured me that any employee of the hotel I worked for, would be able to cash their payroll check at any of their branches. Other banks said things like “Only at the main branch”
So I was shocked when I tried to cash my payroll check at BoA and was denied. I called BoA and they said, “No, that’s wrong. Here’s what you should’ve done.”
- Tell them your company has a payroll cashing agreement with BoA
- Present valid state issued ID or driver’s license
- Present valid company photo ID
- Submit a thumb print
No one told me that employees would have to do this. So I tried it again and had another employee try it at a branch of BoA way out in the suburbs. BOTH TIMES IT WORKED.
So you can see banks will do things for customers but make them jump through hoops to get there.
The old days of service and banks are pretty much gone 
My credit union (based in CA) also allows deposit from a scanned image of a check, a new feature this year.
Why does it take a full pay cycle for direct deposit to start? Here in Canada the first paycheck (-que) was direct-deposited, and they didn’t even require the usual voided cheque (-ck), just the routing information. The process was exactly the same, just faster.
The only employer in the US I’ve had where direct deposit started on the first check was the Federal government - and that was in 2009. So either first check direct deposit is a new thing, or there’s some weird regulation stopping it from occurring, or… I don’t know.
As of a few years ago, you can send money to a recipient without ID via Western Union by specifying a “secret word” when sending the transfer that you would give to your daughter when you contact her to give her the control number that she needs to pick up the money. There is a max amount that you can send with only a code word, I want to say $1000. I would not be overly concerned about any holds or delays with WU, as you mentioned above, unless you are sending a large amount (I believe >$1500) via credit card and there are inconsistencies between your credit card contact info and your physical address/ph#. If you are concerned, just go to a physical WU location.
While I am here, I’ll contribute my $.02 about why it usually takes more than one pay cycle to start receiving your paycheck by direct deposit - I believe the most common reason is that most employers outsource their payroll processing which can cause delays in adding new employees because the employer needs to pass on the info about the new hire to a third party. This is further complicated by the fact that, in order for your money to be credited to your account on payday, the payroll processor would need to electronically notify your bank, via the Automated Clearing House (ACH) system, of its commitment to forward the funds to your bank a few days in advance. For example, if you get paid on Fridays, your bank must receive confirmation of the direct deposit via ACH the preceding Tuesday or Wednesday, which means that you probably would need to be in the processors system the previous week, at a minimum. Other, “one time” payments such as tax refunds, Paypal, etc., that also utilize the ACH system can be processed immediately by the payer and received by the payee within 24-48 hours.
(Snipped)
Well, I skirted any doubt by actually wiring the money to a friend of hers who has photo ID and was available/willing to go with her for the pick-up.
Thanks for the info, though!
I use USAA.
Can’t she endorse the check to you and you deposit it to your account? Then you can withdraw the cash and give it to her.
The other reason is that many employees don’t last beyond the first paycheck or two. If an employee is going to be let go, the most common time is right after they start the job, while they are still on probation. Supervisors can often tell within the first few days that this new person isn’t suitable for the job.
And it costs money to set up a direct deposit, and even more money to shut it down. Plus extra fees if you use an outside payroll processing company. By not setting up direct deposit till the 2nd or 3rd paycheck, the company saves all those costs on the people who don’t work out as employees. That adds up. Plus it makes sure the first paycheck gets to the employee on time, and it gives the company more time to get it set up.