Ran out of checks - What should I do?

Factual Questions
21

[QUOTE=LSLGuy]
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.
[/QUOTE]

Aah, thanks for that. Cheques still get written here in healthy numbers, but usually only by businesses or - I’m guessing - folks over forty or fifty or so (my parents run their finances primarily by cheque). Australian banks - like banks everywhere these days - are killers for fees, and it seems they’re making cheques more expensive than ever, and making clearance times longer than ever. They’re also closing bank branches, and many accounts (mine included) charge a hefty fee for “human assisted withdrawals” as they call them. Online banking is the cheapest option for me, as well as being by far the most convenient. As well as people being reluctant to write cheques, we also groan when we receive one, because that’s a trip to the bank.

[QUOTE=Elendil’s Heir]
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.
[/QUOTE]

I feel the same way. Most Australian companies and utilities push hard to get people to sign up for direct debiting. This is because they get their money faster. I resist this for all I can, even when they offer incentives (I had to pay $200 security deposit to get the electricity connected, or no deposit if I signed up for direct debit. I chose to pay the $200 - just on principle: if I’m a “no pay” risk on a billing system, what’s the difference between that and my cleaning out my bank account before they try to access it?).

So I do all my banking online, but the vast majority of it is manually initiated by me. I sit down in front of my computer and pay my bills each month. It takes five minutes, and the companies don’t have to know Jack about my account details. We have a system called BPay, whereby each billing company has a code number, and I just instruct my online banking to pay X amount to code number Y. I can even automate it to make regular payments, but that’s still initiated by me and not them. I can also do it over the phone or at a post office. Then there’s the BSB system which is similar, and is used to transfer money to individuals - beats Western Union.

22

[QUOTE=Elendil’s Heir]
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.
[/QUOTE]

When I log in to my bank’s website, I can choose from a list of businesses, set up my account number, and then have them show up in a list of people I can pay in 2 mouseclicks (or set them up as a monthly automated payment). Even picking up a pen seems like a PITA to me compared now.

23

[QUOTE=TheLoadedDog]
So I do all my banking online, but the vast majority of it is manually initiated by me.
[/quote]
Yes. I prefer to make the bill payments at my time, not theirs, because if I set up auto withdrawls, I always forget about one and mess myself up.

As do I. The banks have lists of companies they can accept bill payments for, and if the bill you want to pay is on the list, you’re in luck.

Ah. That’s the thing we Canadians don’t have. We can’t easily send money to any arbitrary bank account within the banking system, without getting into the old “wiring money for a $25 fee” mentality.

We do have something called Interac Email Maney Transfer, in which you send an email to someone, and it cantains a link to download the money into the recipients bank account, but it’s not used as much as one would think. You need to know an email address for the recipient, and not everyone has one. It only costs $1.50 though.

24

[QUOTE=TheLoadedDog]
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?
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!'m 39.
I write a check for rent, payable to an individual.
I write a check for car and renter’s insurance. I could do this on-line, but years ago I couldn’t.
I occasionally write checks to business for goods and services, when I don’t want to carry my cards.
I write checks to the credit card company. I could do this on-line, but years ago I couldn’t.
I’m sure there are more. And when I was treasurer at the library, I paid everything using checks.

25

[QUOTE=LSLGuy]

But for now, about 2/3rd of Americans write paper checks to pay most ro all their monthly bills.
[/QUOTE]

Yes. But only bills. Those that shop with checks annoy the hell out of me.

26

Most major stores here won’t accept cheques any more.

Would anyone from Sweden like to confirm that cheques are no longer used there at all?

I washed my cheque book last week, in my jeans pocket. It isn’t a whole lot of use now. Not that it will be missed, I have written three cheques in the past two years.

27

[QUOTE=DrDeth]
Yes. But only bills. Those that shop with checks annoy the hell out of me.
[/QUOTE]

What if I fill out most of the check ahead of time and it doesn’t take much more time than a card? Around here they don’t check ID so it takes less time than cash.

28

[QUOTE=gigi]
What if I fill out most of the check ahead of time and it doesn’t take much more time than a card? Around here they don’t check ID so it takes less time than cash.
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I occassionaly help out at by buddie’s retail operation around the holidays. Checks are annoying to retailers too, and to the dudes standing in line. What’s wrong with a check-card? But thank you for havong them filled out at least. :cool: Most women don’t even have their purse open, let alone the check mostly filled out. :stuck_out_tongue:

29

You didn’t need to fill out a check here, the checkout operator fed it into a printer that filled in everything but your signature.

It is nice, if rare, to see that someone is actually prepared to pay when the time comes instead of fiddling around in pockets and handbags at the very last minute.
Twerps!

30

[QUOTE=Myglaren]

Would anyone from Sweden like to confirm that cheques are no longer used there at all?

[/QUOTE]

No longer used perhaps, but still accepted at many retailers. I worked part-time as a cashier in 2000-2004 in Sweden and we accepted cheques. I think I saw two cheques during my years there.

Cheques for paying bills (invoices) were obsolete long before the computer age in Sweden thanks to an extensive giro system.

So, in Sweden, your local supermarket would be much more likely to accept a cheque than your landlord. Not that any Swede would try either.

31

[QUOTE=Myglaren]
You didn’t need to fill out a check here, the checkout operator fed it into a printer that filled in everything but your signature.
[/QUOTE]

Wouldn’t do me any good: I use two-part checks, the kind with the built-in copy.

32

[QUOTE=LSLGuy]
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.

[/QUOTE]

You sure about that? HSBC, Bank of America, ING, Citibank, and Countrywide bank all offer free online bill paying.

My bank lets me type in the info of who it should be payable to (and where). I’ve never tried writing a payment to myself, though, so I’m not sure exactly what happens when I fill it out and say “send payment”. Maybe it validates based on a hidden list?

33

I write a lot of checks for the business, and quite a bit for personal bills as well.

One thing that frustrates me, is that very few government entities take credit. Check or cash only. The building permits, the licenses, motor vehicles. Stupid.

34

[QUOTE=Yag Rannavach]
You sure about that? HSBC, Bank of America, ING, Citibank, and Countrywide bank all offer free online bill paying.
[/QUOTE]

I think I can see where the difference is now.

A lot of our utilities and the like have an online bill paying feature, each indigenous to their company: you sit down, enter your c/c details, and away you go. I almost never use those, because of BPay.

I’m not sure if there’s a North American analogue to BPay. As far as I can tell, it’s a private company that all the banks and billing businesses have signed up to - a bit like the banks sign up with Mastercard and Visacard. You can pay through the bank, but it’s BPay that processes the transaction (I assume they make their money from merchant fees). So there’s no ad hoc bank-by-bank approach to online banking these days - they all have their own web facilities with different bells and whistles, but the basics are generic to all banks and billers: go to your bank’s online banking page (whatever the bank), enter the biller code and the customer code (these appear on your bill as one of the payment options), the amount, the date you want to pay it, and the account you want to draw the money from. Once this has been done once, the fields are populated for you, and next time, if you don’t want to change anything you just select the biller from a list, and hit submit.

35

[QUOTE=fisha]
I write a lot of checks for the business, and quite a bit for personal bills as well.

One thing that frustrates me, is that very few government entities take credit. Check or cash only. The building permits, the licenses, motor vehicles. Stupid.
[/QUOTE]

Aye. When I went to renew my car tabs recently, to use my credit card I had to head 'round to a terminal set up and do the whole online song and dance. Then I could go back to the window and pick up the tabs once the order hit the printer. I found it all rather a bit silly. Don’t they process enough tabs and whatnot to afford the CC processing charges? :stuck_out_tongue:

36

My experiences vis a vis cheques match TheLoadedDog’s… if I want to pay any of my bills, I go to the Post Office and pay them over the counter there (made possible because of Bpay), or if I can’t get to the Post Office, I phone the bill issuer up and use my credit card.

The only dealings I have with cheques at a personal level are the ones I receive when I get an article published in the magazine I write for, at which point I take them to the Post Office (Bank@Post is a wonderful thing!) and deposit them. Never had to actually write a cheque, nor can I envision a situation when I’d need to- if I can’t pay by Bpay or Credit Card, then I can get a Money Order from the Post Office which can be redeemed at any other Post Office in Australia.

We get a few cheques coming through work from businesses purchasing things, but almost never from private individuals- the cheque verification procedure is comparatively time-consuming and everyone has EFTPOS and/or Credit Cards, so there’s really not much call for cheques for non-business use anymore.

37

[QUOTE=DrDeth]
Checks are annoying to retailers too, and to the dudes standing in line. What’s wrong with a check-card?
[/QUOTE]

In my case, I’m a food addict and if I carry a card, I will use it to buy food and more food. If I know ahead of time what stores I will go to (for necessity non-food items), I fill out a check for each one with the store name before I leave the house. This prevents unauthorized spending on the card. I am aware that I am an outlier, though, and make sure to be very efficient with the filling out of the check.

38

[QUOTE=Yag Rannavach]
You sure about that? HSBC, Bank of America, ING, Citibank, and Countrywide bank all offer free online bill paying.
[/QUOTE]
Both my current bank (BankNorth) and the one before (Granite State Bank) charge $6/month for online banking. Unless you open a new account in which case it’s now free, which ticks me off. Since I only have a couple of bills that don’t have an automatic debit system themselves, I’m not about to pay $3 a month for each of the others.

39

[QUOTE=TheLoadedDog]
I think I can see where the difference is now.

A lot of our utilities and the like have an online bill paying feature, each indigenous to their company: you sit down, enter your c/c details, and away you go. I almost never use those, because of BPay.

I’m not sure if there’s a North American analogue to BPay. As far as I can tell, it’s a private company that all the banks and billing businesses have signed up to - a bit like the banks sign up with Mastercard and Visacard.
[/QUOTE]
Sounds like a logical next step for the Interac Association in Canada to take. That, and the person-to-person transfer. (And they’re almost there with that.)

When you use the person-to-person transfer (BSB?), does it take place entirely within the banking system? Is it available to every account holder?

What’s “DEFT”?

40

[QUOTE=Bagistan]
Cheques for paying bills (invoices) were obsolete long before the computer age in Sweden thanks to an extensive giro system.
[/QUOTE]
Thanks for the clarification on the giro. I’d heard the term occasionally, but never understood it before.