Sending Payments by Check Online

[SMSgt]

The city utilities department here recently turned its billing over to a third party--which charges a fee for all credit card and electronic payments. Screw that. I mail a check.

 

[arjay]

We developed a convoluted system to pay grams bills. At 92 she isn’t comfortable with electronic banking. The bills are mailed to my sisters house as grams (she has dementia and is stubborn) kept misplacing them. Sis comes by weekly,bills in hand,sits with her and explains them then has her write and sign the checks and,fill out the ledger. Sis then stops by the po and mails them on the way home. Anything to keep the peace lol

 

[Rustyt1953]

ALDI and Amazon owned Whole Foods don't accept personal checks and in 3 days neither will Target.

 

[glenwolde]

Checks are a hassle for the banks. You can expect them to start charging extra for them one of these days. It used to be somebody wrote you a check and you deposited it, then the check would make its way back to the writer's bank. No more.

The plan had been in the works for a long while (Google "Check 21") but 9/11 made them accelerate enforcement. Why? All the planes were grounded for days and the financial system almost seized up because all those checks moved around by air freight. The Federal Reserve had to hire every armored car they could find and move cash to the banks to make up for the money they weren't clearing from checks.

Now if you deposit a check in your bank, your bank will image it and destroy the paper check. It goes nowhere and the image becomes the legal document. The image is transmitted electronically to the writer's bank. Remember the old days when you got all your checks back in your snail-mailed paper statement? Those days are gone forever.

 

[pasound]

I have 8 electronic checks and 8 debit card transactions per month for the regular bills. The rest of the month, maybe 1-2 physical checks, recently only for forum transactions, and a couple of payments from computer repair clients deposited to savings.

In the last three years, the USPS has lost 4 of my checks (including a bank counter check), so rolling everything over to electronics has made sense. Local bank, good security, nearly immediate logging on my account.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

Way back, went down to a check processing location with a Buddy who was a NCR Field Engineer.
WOW! What a mess!
So I ask, is this a regular day?
Yes it is! Not that large a bank, not that large a town. Ft. Collins, CO.

 

[smoothshooter]

I still pay most of my bills with a check. I believe nowadays it is more secure than electronic transfers.

 

[Onomea]

...Now if you deposit a check in your bank, your bank will image it and destroy the paper check. It goes nowhere and the image becomes the legal document. The image is transmitted electronically to the writer's bank. Remember the old days when you got all your checks back in your snail-mailed paper statement? Those days are gone forever.

You say that like it's a bad thing!

I like not having a gazillion cancelled checks to keep track of in a filing cabinet. So much easier to just look 'em up online and if I need copies from back years, as I did recently for a tax audit by Oregon, it's easy to retrieve 'em.

 

[TX-Dennis]

Yup. My (relatively small locally owned) bank will do the same thing. Takes a few days extra compared to an electronic payment. Many payees aren't set up for electronic payments. Those automatically receive paper checks mailed by the bank.

And, yes, I pay EVERYTHING I can electronically.I write maybe one or two checks a year.

 

[jeffrefrig]

I haven’t seen a paycheck or or any SS or retirement checks in, like, forever. Auto does darn near everything for me. I’ll usually write paper for the car payments just to “mess” with them. My property taxes too. I lent my sister 30Gs few years back when she & Dan bought the South Carolina house instead of electric transfer just because I don’t get to write away that much cash at once very often. Auto and keyboard transfer take care of most bills for me. So far, Bo Ling-Ali hasn’t grabbed anything from my cyber book. (Knock cyber board!)

 

[375hh1973]

I haven’t written a check in at least ten years. I’m surprised people still do.

Same here.

I don't own a checkbook, checks, or envelopes

Have some stamps somewhere. I think.

 

[Krogen]

Interesting thread, with some interesting and divergent beliefs. FWIW, I wrote many checks in the old days. Now, I find them to be a pain, and I'm frugal enough to be annoyed by the cost of postage. Most everything I do now is bia automatic credit card payment. I get a 2% kickback from the card company. I also get an email notification, so I see beforehand if something has gone sky-high. I make one electronic payment each month to the card company. There are some payees that would ding me for a credit card transaction, so they get a bank electronic transfer (ACH). I will succumb to a written check when I'm paying someone unable to handle a credit card or ACH bank transfer. An example is a private purchase from a forum member. I will not send a money order for private purchases; it's akin to sending cash in an envelope. Even if the post office manages to lose one of their own money orders, good luck getting you money back. At least with a check, if it's lost it's unlikely to be drawn on your account.

Now to Onomea's original post, I agree there are likely people who have no clue how to write a check. I offer up an example of a young man at hunter sight in. I asked him to read the range rules and sign at the bottom. He gave his Dad a panicked look. He didn't understand how to sign a form or even what a signature is.

Time does march on. Things change. There are kids who don't know what an LP is; or even a CD. I embrace newness (usually). Life experiences are not static. Heck, I've never cranked a Model T. Am I deficient in some way? I don't believe so.