I write 'em fast. A function of writing so many back in the day.

 

Almost guarantee I'm faster than sliding the card, signing the receipt, etc.

 

No chance, I bagged my 5 items, swiped, my card, and grabbed the receipt faster (Earlier today) than you can write out the amount. :lol2:

See Hellbird's post above. The check has to be deposited or be a received item at your bank is the key. Until it is you have the float of the money.

 

A large portion of checks are converted to ACH items currently and ACH items carry an effective date supplied by the Originator. So say you mail in a check for a phone bill. You have use of that money while the telephone company is waiting on the mail. And then after they receive it and they convert it to an ACH item it has to be put into a file and sent to their Originating Depository Financial Institution for entry into the ACH stream. It will have to be passed thru an ACH Operator to get to your Bank as a received item.

 

I understand still being able to float, when sending the check by the mail. But, you're really floating on the US Postal Service only, then. Back in the "old days" it seemed like even after someone received a check, it still took another 3-4 days to clear the bank. Nowdays, it seems like I've had some checks that I've written clear the next day, when I've written them during the day at a retail outlet.

Randy Moss does not write checks.

Randy Moss does not write checks.

 

Straight cash homey...

While I fully admit that I'm wrong , I get a bit perturbed when I'm in line and I am behind someone writing a check.

 

This is good information to know.

A box of checks will last me about a year.

 

Don't have a debit card. Have a credit card, but swipe it VERY seldom. It's mostly cash for me.

Randy Moss does not write checks.

 

"...rich people don't write checks..."

I used to sign 600-800 per month in my job.

My wife corrected me, said she was closer to 500...but 600-800 is a lot of checks, I'm assuming a lot of those were payroll checks.

 

We never used checks at work in my career.

I don't use a debit card and never will. I have zero trust in the security. I also don't trust buying things online and try to do that as little as possible. Some of it you just can't avoid (e.g. BGP fee ) Hence, we write checks.

 

Your fears about the security are real but you would never lose any money because Reg E places all burden for loss on the Financial Institution. Plus if you think about handing someone a check, you are giving them your routing number, account number, name, address and often times phone number. That is everything someone would need to order a box of checks and watch your mailbox or to generate web/ach payments.

I understand still being able to float, when sending the check by the mail. But, you're really floating on the US Postal Service only, then. Back in the "old days" it seemed like even after someone received a check, it still took another 3-4 days to clear the bank. Nowdays, it seems like I've had some checks that I've written clear the next day, when I've written them during the day at a retail outlet.

 

Back in the day you would give a check to a merchant, that merchant would take that check to their bank and deposit it. Their bank would courier that check to their proof department. Their proof department would process and encode the item and courier it to the nearest Federal Reserve branch. The Fed would then process it and courier the check to the fed branch of the paying financial institution (your bank) and then after they process it goes to your bank for collection. Then the process got reversed but with cash letters which were much faster.

Now, there are no couriers or proof departments that is done at the teller line when deposits are made, the items are scanned and sent to fed in an electronic file. In many cases the merchants will have a remote deposit capture machine which means they don't even have to go to the bank to process your check. Collection times have gone from 10 days in some cases to 24-48 hours.

Anyone still awake?:lol2:

My 26 and 21 year olds seldom write checks and seem to have to ask questions every time they do. It drives me crazy how they travel back and forth a couple hundred miles with little or no cash or checks on them, relying on their debit cards. I keep telling them they are going to find themselves in a position where they can't use the cards for one reason or another so they better have a backup plan.

Here's a related question....for those who never write checks, how consistently

do you keep up with your checkbook(if you call it a CHECKbook) balance? I know the younger crowd prefers to use the debit card for everything....when I asked a banker how good the young crowd is at keeping up their balance the response was "they don't". They think the "banks balance" is always correct. Little do they know the bank makes errors.

I agree. Unless the check is received after-hours on Friday or on the weekend, I believe checks clear at midnight the same day they're deposited.

 

Back in the day the rumor was that you could run checks thru microwaves and screw up the magnetic print. This forced the checks to be processed by hand which gave you another day. Don't know how valid that is but wouldn't recommend it if you have a powerful microwave as you might end up toasting the check.

Here's a related question....for those who never write checks, how consistently

do you keep up with your checkbook(if you call it a CHECKbook) balance? I know the younger crowd prefers to use the debit card for everything....when I asked a banker how good the young crowd is at keeping up their balance the response was "they don't". They think the "banks balance" is always correct. Little do they know the bank makes errors.

 

I use Quicken software. It syncs transactions with my bank and all I have to do code the transaction. My automatic bill pay stuff is already coded, so I only have to manually do my card transactions every couple of days or so. My "checkbook" is always in balance. And really, that's more for budgeting than anything else. Since you can access your bank balance and transactions whenever you want from your computer (or smartphone), you already have an updated bank register. The only stuff missing would be those rare checks that you write that don't show up until they post. Before Quicken and Online banking, I rarely kept up with my check book. And while I agree banks can make errors, my experience is that it is exceedingly rare. I've had one major error in my 25 years of banking (which happened 15 years ago), and only 1 or two minor errors. One just happened last week, when I opened a new checking account for my son to use, and they ordered checks without my approval (which cost $24 for 150 checks!!! Another reason not to use checks). Because I check my balance daily, I caught it, and had it reversed instantly. In this day and age, if you have access to any technology, there is no reason to sit keep an old fashioned check register by hand, unless you just simply enjoy doing it that way.

I write at least one (1) check per month, sometimes as many as two or three, but rarely more than that.

 

I typically pay with a credit card, unless there is a processing fee of some sort that I am forced to pay. I like the fact that I can track every penny that I spend on a credit card, whereas I get a little too loosey goosey with cash.