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Thread: Do you use cheques?

  1. #1
    Administrator CatInASuit's avatar
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    Default Do you use cheques?

    Banks in Great Britain are looking to get rid of them as more electronic methods of payment are rolled out and cheque guarantee cards are being phased out as well.

    Personally, I might use a cheque once or twice a year, but everything else is electronic or through phone banking.

    So do you still use cheques and what for? Is there anything specific you prefer using a cheque for instead of paying by card?
    In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.

  2. #2
    Elephant Feirefiz's avatar
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    No, not at all. Personally I have written out exactly one cheque in my life and even that was just a technicality in an international transaction. Back in the nineties when such things cost real money I had registered a domain name without a credit card. That meant that I had to send a cheque from a US bank to Network Solutions. My local bank arranged for that.

    Here cheques disappeared for practical purposes when the Eurocheque system decided to end its payment guarantees in 2002, but even before that they weren't that common. In general we always were a rather cash-friendly society. That's also the reason why credit cards always remained a niche product.

  3. #3
    I've had better days, but I don't care! hatesfreedom's avatar
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    I still use a few checks a month to pay bills.

  4. #4
    Oliphaunt The Original An Gadaí's avatar
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    Sensible people around here use cheques to pay their bills, precisely because it gives them the breathing space of a few days before the cheque is cleared. In my store we used to get hundreds of cheques a year down to I'd say at most 2 dozen in the year nowadays.

  5. #5
    like Gandalf in a way Nrblex's avatar
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    I've never written a check in my life. As soon as I got my first bank account, I had a check card in my hand. I've known too many people who bounced checks because they weren't paying attention to ever actually get a check book, too.

  6. #6
    Elen síla lumenn' omentielvo What Exit?'s avatar
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    I don't carry them, but there are still some bills we pay by check.

  7. #7
    Prehistoric Bitchslapper Sarahfeena's avatar
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    I pay most of my bills by having them automatically billed to my Discover Card (more points!), and then I pay the Discover Card online. I do still use a check to make my car and insurance payments, and pay my daycare provider.

    I was writing a check from the account my husband usually uses the other day, and noticed that he hadn't written a check since May...everything he pays was done electronically.

  8. #8
    Free Exy Cluricaun's avatar
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    Checks? Hell, I'm screwed if they don't take debit cards since I don't even carry cash anymore. My fiancee writes a few every month to pay some of our bills, but that's just because the current incarnation of our financial institutions online billpay feature works like a Geocities web site from 1997. Supposedly they've got a brand new one in the works and after that I don't know that we'll ever write another one.

    Oh, she writes checks for buying things at Come To My House And Buy Shit Parties too, like Tastefully Useless and the like too.
    Hell, if I didn't do things just because they made me feel a bit ridiculous, I wouldn't have much of a social life. - Santo Rugger.

  9. #9
    Elephant Feirefiz's avatar
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    Here the usual way of paying bills is a bank transfer. Even when cheques were still common nobody used them for that. Don't you use those at all?

  10. #10
    Free Exy Cluricaun's avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by Feirefiz View post
    Here the usual way of paying bills is a bank transfer. Even when cheques were still common nobody used them for that. Don't you use those at all?
    If the account you're paying is with the same bank that your checking or savings account is at, sure. So since my mortgage is held by the same place that I do my banking you can transfer funds from one account to the other. Do that every month.

    But if you have a Chase credit card and do your banking with Bank of America for example, they do not allow you to really initiate a wire between the two unless you really have to and are willing to pay a fee cleary designed to discourage that type of behavior, something between $50 and $100.

    Online bill pay allows to to appear to do such things, but in reality it's a third party company who collects the money from your bank and disburses large wires with along with lists of accounts to the creditior. That used to be my job back around 10 years ago, and it is not without it's own pitfalls.

    ETA- some accounts do allow you do pay by "Electronic Check" by entering your account number and banks routing number, but those are still not true wires, they're honored as checks by your bank and processed by the same departments that do the paper check processing.
    Last edited by Cluricaun; 25 Nov 2009 at 02:03 PM.
    Hell, if I didn't do things just because they made me feel a bit ridiculous, I wouldn't have much of a social life. - Santo Rugger.

  11. #11
    Elephant Myglaren's avatar
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    A couple a year on average, usually something one of the kids needs.

  12. #12
    Elephant Feirefiz's avatar
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    Cluricaun, I guess that explains it.

    Here bank transfers are often free for private accounts or they cost cents at worst. That is to any bank in "Euroland" (the countries using the Euro.)
    The old-fashioned way to do it is to fill out a form and drop it into a mailbox at your bank. Nowadays you can send the orders online, on the phone or at special terminals at the bank, but under the hood it is always the same type of transaction.
    That means that usually writing a cheque at home wouldn't make much sense even if the recipient was willing to accept it.

  13. #13
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    Well, I seem to of written out about 1000 checks in the last 8 years.

    I'd do more on-line payments but my bank has a limit of NZ$1000 per transaction which makes about 30% of my bills too big. I could get the limit increased but the list of required documentation required made me wander off in a daze.

    The main killer though is the fees, about $3 per transaction, where the cheques are "free" (well there's the envelope and stamp and the $0.25 clearance fee the other party pays). Why the high fee for when I do all the work?

    I'm sure other banks are less blinkered with on-line payments, but it's hard work changing banks and all those auto payments.

  14. #14
    Yes, I'm a cat. What's it to you? Muffin's avatar
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    I write myself cheques, from my trust account to my general account. Electronically, the bank statement just indicates money going from my trust to my general, but on the cheques I can write down what I need to know to keep track of why each cheque was written. E.g. Cheque #1 was for Fred's second bill, cheque #2 was for Willma's fourth bill. When bank errors are made, it's very handy to be able to pull a copy of the cheque.

    I also write cheques when the outfits receiving the cheques do not regularly receive money from me, for it is a lot easier for me to write a cheque to Acme Co. than it is for me to call Acme Co. to learn their bank transit and account number or other direct payment information, then either have my banker complete the transaction or set up direct payment online myself.

  15. #15
    Elen síla lumenn' omentielvo What Exit?'s avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by dynamitedave View post
    Well, I seem to of written out about 1000 checks in the last 8 years.

    I'd do more on-line payments but my bank has a limit of NZ$1000 per transaction which makes about 30% of my bills too big. I could get the limit increased but the list of required documentation required made me wander off in a daze.

    The main killer though is the fees, about $3 per transaction, where the cheques are "free" (well there's the envelope and stamp and the $0.25 clearance fee the other party pays). Why the high fee for when I do all the work?

    I'm sure other banks are less blinkered with on-line payments, but it's hard work changing banks and all those auto payments.
    That really is robbery. The banks lose far more money processing checks than electronic transfers. (Unless NZ has some sort of weird tax on said transactions).

  16. #16
    Stegodon
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    I personally haven't written a check in years.

    My GF (who handles all the household finances) writes two a month: one to the HOA (which too small - read: expensive - to set up an electronic account), and the other to our "water company" (the company that maintains our well). They charge a $3.95 "convenience fee" for paying over the phone and a $5.95 one for paying online, so she just writes them a check every month.

    Aside from that, she might write the occasional check to a family member or for a "hangover pizza", but that's about it.

    I'm 100% cash or debit.

  17. #17
    Sophmoric Existentialist
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    I pay whatever I can online, and I like it because it's "instant" and because I can print a record immediately. I write the odd cheque, for instance one of our feed companies is in the US and I write a cheque "in US funds" and get whatever the exchange rate is on the day it's cleared. If I pay that bill by credit card, the feed company takes a 4% hit - and Visa and Mastercard are increasing that percentage if they're not stopped. It's not interest, it's their fee for those businesses that take Visa or Mastercard. Which is why Costco won't let you use Mastercard or Visa, only American Express. A/E sucks so bad, I refuse to use it. I pay my payroll remittances (for our employees) online on the due date and the government of Canada regards that as "paid on time" and so do Visa and Mastercard, but goddam American Express says I have to pay FIVE days before the due date, even if I pay online and I say, "Screw you, American Express."

    My bank doesn't return my cleared cheques, but I get a printout with my monthly statement, and I can also go online and see the image and print it whenever I want, which is nice. I pay our employees by cheque instead of electronic deposit, because sometimes for the month-end pay period there's not enough money in the farm account to pay them by electronic deposit and our bank will clear the cheques anyway, our overdraft covers that but not electronic transactions.
    Sophmoric Existentialist

  18. #18
    Wanna cuddle? RabbitMage's avatar
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    I've probably written about 10 checks in my entire life.

  19. #19
    Stegodon SilverTygerGirl's avatar
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    I use checks to pay my bills (all two of them) and to pay my parents on what I owe them. I'm another of those people who never has cash either.
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  20. #20
    The Queen Zuul's avatar
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    I was going to say I'd never even filled out a check, but then I remembered I have done some for business purposes. But personally, I don't have any.

  21. #21
    Elephant Myglaren's avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by dynamitedave View post
    Well, I seem to of written out about 1000 checks in the last 8 years.

    I'd do more on-line payments but my bank has a limit of NZ$1000 per transaction which makes about 30% of my bills too big. I could get the limit increased but the list of required documentation required made me wander off in a daze.

    The main killer though is the fees, about $3 per transaction, where the cheques are "free" (well there's the envelope and stamp and the $0.25 clearance fee the other party pays). Why the high fee for when I do all the work?

    I'm sure other banks are less blinkered with on-line payments, but it's hard work changing banks and all those auto payments.
    That is just scandalous!
    I can make payments, set up direct debits and standing orders with my online account in a matter of minutes and there are NO charges.
    Amendments are just as quick and simple.

    My lowest payment is £1 per month and could be half that, the bank doesn't care.

    Statements (online) are reasonably detailed and downloadable. I keep track of income and expenditure on all accounts with a spreadsheet that I keep online in Google Docs. Used to be on one of the computers but it was always the one I wasn't at when I wanted access, keeping it online is so much more convenient.

  22. #22
    Village Idiot dogbutler's avatar
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    I write a check for my rent, everything else is electronic.
    dogbutler-100% fact free!

  23. #23
    Elephant artifex's avatar
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    Mostly just for rent. Checks used to be a convenient way to pay a bill or buy groceries a couple days ahead of payday, but now that everyone seems to present checks electronically, they're no longer really helpful in that regard.

  24. #24
    Aged Turtle Wizard Clothahump's avatar
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    I used to write 10-20 a month. Then I got a debit card. Now I write maybe 5 a year.

  25. #25
    Oliphaunt
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    I have to use checks for my rent, and paying my flatmate for the communal bills. Everything else is debit card or online payments.

  26. #26
    my god, he's full of stars... OneCentStamp's avatar
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    I go through the "ten items or less" checkout line with exactly ten items in my cart, I use coupons for each one, and only when the cashier tells me the total do I pull out my checkbook and ask to borrow a pen.

    OK, not really. But saying that almost made me hit myself in the face.
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  27. #27
    Yes, I'm a cat. What's it to you? Muffin's avatar
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    I accept cheques.

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