I have a couple left but I have a few things which I can’t pay for online coming up this week.
I ordered new checks; maybe they’ll arrive tomorrow and this thread isn’t necessary.
In the meantime, I seem to remember hearing that I can just walk into my bank and they’ll give me blank checks and I’ll fill in my account #. Is that true?
Sorry if this is a dumb question. I honestly have never had this problem before.
Yes, they will.
Mine will even print some out for me with my account number and other info already on the check. With the exception of the background, they look just like my regular checks.
Just don’t try using them in a retail store.
Your bank could also issue cashier’s checks for you, if there’s a concern about someone accepting a counter check. There may be a small charge for a cashier’s check, though (~$1 each).
Switch to Plan B? 
Use Cash
Have the bank print a few up for you. Damn Wells Fargo charges for it, witch is one of the many reasons I’ve quit using them.
I’m thirty-seven, and I’ve so far lived, worked, run a business, travelled, and have never written a single cheque. Never felt the need to. What am I missing?
I guess this wouldn’t be the Straight Dope without pointing out that your checks you have gotten used to are just pieces of paper created by a print shop that gives you the option of Christmas themes or wildlife in the background. They have no special legal standing. You can write a legal check on a dirty napkin or print one out on your computer if you want to (a viable option that many people use). However, if you try to pay for your groceries with some scrawl on a dirty napkin, the cashier will most likely tell you to turn tail because they don’t have to sell you anything at all. If you try to pay an electric bill with the same, a court of law will eventually rule that you made legal payment although that may result in more hassle than you want to get into.
Don’t forget the tried and true method of buying a money order with your debit card.
Well, here in the primitive East Pacific societies of Canada and the United States, cheques are used often between individuals instead of larger amounts of cash. Many retail businesses will no longer accept them, but those that don’t always take debit cards or credit cards.
I pay my rent with a cheque. I pay my counselor by cheque. Those are the two main uses; my shopping is either cash or debit card; my pay is direct-deposited. I pay most bills by online banking; for a few things I load money onto my prepaid Mastercard and use that.
How do you pay your rent?
Cash. I have a private rental agreement and my landlord is just next door. In the past, at previous addresses, I have paid it through direct debit from my bank account, or through the DEFT scheme at my local post office. I do all my banking online, and pay all my bills that way. I haven’t set foot in a bank queue for years. I go to the ATM for a little “beer money”. I have two incomes, both deposited into my bank account directly. My last cash pay was in 1989.
thanks
Call the people you need to pay. They might take a check-by-phone, where you just give them your bank info and they take care of the rest. Most large companies (utilities, lenders, insurance, banks) do.
If your balance is high enough, you might not even get a charge for the cashier’s check. Mine doesn’t. When I had a rent check get lost, I walked from work to my bank, got the check, and then walked to a FedEx office to send my landlord the new one.
Money Orders work OK for many bills.
I also don’t use checks. Rent is paid by direct deposit via online banking. Anything else is either direct deposit or debit/credit cards.
I also haven’t used checks in a couple of years except to pay rent once a month. Online banking is a wonderful thing. Especially for me because I was always forgetting to pay for things. Now I don’t even have to think about it.
Some of you are probably tut-tutting.
-FrL-
For the Aussies & others from more advanced societies than us 'Merkins …
For whatever reason, we’re 10+ years behind you in electronic banking. Many banks will process a paper check for free but charge a couple bucks to pay thesame bill as an online transaction. Not surprisingly with a fee structure like that, paper checks linger on.
This is slowly changing, and in 5 years we’ll probably be where you are.
But for now, about 2/3rd of Americans write paper checks to pay most ro all their monthly bills.
Just got back from bank. They gave me five checks. No problem. Thanks again
Glad it worked out!
I write checks for virtually all of our household’s monthly bills. The only bills I regularly have directly charged to my credit cards are for cable TV and our Internet connection. I don’t mind the time or trouble of writing checks. I don’t want too many automatic taps on my credit cards; nor do I want any vendor or service provider having direct access to my bank accounts.