The Money Mustache Community
Around the Internet => Antimustachian Wall of Shame and Comedy => Topic started by: chouchouu on January 26, 2015, 07:20:31 PM
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This came up as a topic on another forum I'm a member of. There was even a poll, all varying degrees of how "rude" it is not to cash your cheque and time frame. If you're still scratching your head wondering it is apparently rude because people might spend that money if it is left too long in their account and they need it for bills and then the cheque will bounce and they'll be punished for not having a tight grip on their finances. Any opinion otherwise is obviously classist and out of touch with the reality of the poor. Funny cause as a full time uni student earning minimum wage I never had a cheque bounce and the two times I happened to overdraw my savings account I blamed myself for my own incompetence.
Scarily enough there were only a few people who didn't think it rude and many people had even been told by their parents it's rude to not deposit a cheque quickly. This is the financial education people are getting from their parents! So glad these people only exist on the Internet...
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I hate when people don't cash checks promptly. It has nothing to do with overdrawing my account ; I've never overdrawn my account in my life. I just hate having iit hanging over my head. It's like, by writing a check I'm agreeing to give you money, so just take the damn money already! My wife and I gave my brother in law a check for Christmas and he still hasn't cashed it and it's driving me crazy! I wish he would cash it so I can just forget about it already.
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It is absolutely rude. I don't want to keep remembering that $x is set aside and I can't, I don't know, throw it at my vanguard. Does that mean I don't have a tight grip on my finances? I want things to be automatic - boom, boom, boom, no input from me. Bills get auto-debited, paychecks direct deposited, and so on.
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Don't you think it's a waste of your time worrying about it? Just leave a decent buffer in there and forget about it. Maybe use cash next time if it bothers you so much?
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Don't you think it's a waste of your time worrying about it? Just leave a decent buffer in there and forget about it. Maybe use cash next time if it bothers you so much?
1. Not everything you pay with a check can be paid in cash.
2. How much is a 'decent' buffer? I write checks of varying random amounts fairly frequently. I have one account with a checkbook and it's also the account that all my autopaid bills are drawn out of. I try really hard not to mess around with anything in that account because I have things set up to auto-transfer $X on the 1st of every month (monthly income) into it, to cover all the bills. I keep around a ~$100 buffer in that account. If I write a check, I transfer the check amount to the bill paying account. Every few months, I take any excess buffer (>$100) out of the bill paying account (I round up on all my bills/some things are variable so the monthly input vs. output is not exact) and put it towards debt or savings. If I don't remember the check I wrote three months earlier, I might have just screwed myself.
3. It worries me when a check goes forever without being cashed because I don't know if the person has LOST the check, and therefore released my bank account number, name, address, and phone number to the wind. I don't need that anxiety.
4. You can deposit checks into a lot of accounts using your smart phone these days. You just take a picture of the check. I really don't see how you could justify delaying a check deposit anymore.
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I think it's rude. I keep a tight rein on my checking account, and it's annoying as heck to know there is an outstanding check out there. it hasn't nothing to do with being overdrawn or wanting to spend the money. It's is just discourteous to hold a check for weeks or months on end.
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I think it's bad form in general. My first job out of college was at a small, newish firm, and the owner was generally unhappy with me waiting a few weeks to cash my paycheck. As a new company, cash flow wasn't the best and they didn't have a ton of reserves, so he was worried that I might cash it and then they might have a bill come up, or also he did want to know how much cash they had on hand. Eventually he insisted on direct deposit, which made my life easier.
My mom is an independent contractor and each time I go home I notice in a little storage nook that she keeps checks from the companies she's associated with. They generally run into several thousands, and many are a few weeks old. She insists that she just forgets, but won't ask to be put on direct deposit. That said, she keeps all her money in the bank, so it isn't like she's losing any opportunity cost. That said, it can be inconvienent for the companies, but oh well.
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I find it rude. I keep a decent buffer in my bank account, have never overdrawn ever, but I too don't want to have to remember month after month that there is a cheque kicking around for x amount of money that may may not eventually be cashed.
One of my hobbies/sports is dog trials. Only recently do some venues allow emts. Otherwise it's by mail via cheque. I've had a few where the trial we attended has passed and the cheque still hasn't been cashed. Took 2-3 months to finally be cashed.
Having recently switched to tangerine I *adore* their deposit function through the app. I get paid via cheque biweekly and I deposit that night. Personally I want the money in my account when I get one.
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If you ask me, what is really rude is paying with a check.
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Wow this is not the reaction I was expecting on this forum. Just keep track of pending checks, it's not that hard.
I use YNAB. Whenever I write a check, I write the check value as an outflow in the corresponding bank account. Because I spend according to YNAB, and not according to what my bank tells me when I log in, this works well.
I think the only valid reason I've seen so far is
One reason it is rude is that it prevents you from closing the bank account upon which the check was drawn.
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Is there even really a need to use checking anymore?
With most banks nowadays you can electronically transfer money instantly to anyone free of charge. I don't think I've written a check in almost a decade.
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Is there even really a need to use checking anymore?
With most banks nowadays you can electronically transfer money instantly to anyone free of charge. I don't think I've written a check in almost a decade.
These people are from the US. From what I can tell, their banking system is backwards and a lot of people get paid via check rather than direct deposit like everywhere else in the world (except where you get paid cash e.g. Kenya). Apparently costs more money to do the DD for paying people there. Personally I've only ever used bank cheques (ones that you go to the bank and they make the cheque rather than you having a cheque book), and this is for things like my house deposit, or when I bought a car.
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Is there even really a need to use checking anymore?
With most banks nowadays you can electronically transfer money instantly to anyone free of charge. I don't think I've written a check in almost a decade.
I can pay online with my bank. However, for individuals all the bank does is print a check and mail it to them. It is a slower process than if I just write a check and hand it to the individual. I wish I could do electronic instant transfers for free. I guess maybe we will get that in another 15 years or something. I am not aware of any US banks that offer it.
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I can pay online with my bank. However, for individuals all the bank does is print a check and mail it to them. It is a slower process than if I just write a check and hand it to the individual. I wish I could do electronic instant transfers for free. I guess maybe we will get that in another 15 years or something. I am not aware of any US banks that offer it.
My CapOne 360 account does it.
Ally bank also did it.
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Define "promptly" then. What's acceptable, 3 days, one week, two weeks?
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My parents taught me that it is good manners to cash a check promptly. Since it's now possible to deposit checks over your phone, via atm, etc, there's really no excuse not to.
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I still write checks when it's the cheapest option. It's sad but I still deal with organizations that charge a "convenience fee" for paying electronically.
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Some people still balance their checkbooks; that won't work out at all with a check outstanding. Thanks for the reminder; I have a check that I've already apologized about not cashing once. I'll take that to the bank this morning.
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If you're still scratching your head wondering it is apparently rude because people might spend that money if it is left too long in their account and they need it for bills and then the cheque will bounce and they'll be punished for not having a tight grip on their finances.
It's also a bit rude, because someone who won't do that still has to deal with reconciling the uncashed check every month...
I got a check for my 16th birthday, that I apparently lost. I found it when I moved permanently at 24. I called my Uncle and asked if he would mind if I cashed it, he didn't think the bank would, but offered to send me a new one. (The bank did cash it no problem). He said he saw that check in his balance every month for the past 95 months and would think of me and smile. But I did cause him a bit of extra math every month... (I asked him- if he knew I lost the check, why didn't he tell me? Apparently he was just going to keep it on the ledger forever.)
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4. You can deposit checks into a lot of accounts using your smart phone these days. You just take a picture of the check. I really don't see how you could justify delaying a check deposit anymore.
This is the best point as to why you should do it promptly. The barrier to entry is so low. You don't have to drive to a bank when it's open or anything like that. Just take a picture and it magics into your account instantly!
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Agree with all the other foreigners; it's extremely rude of america to still use somethings so antiquated and backwards as paper checks! "Yes good sir, perchance I can pay you in bales of hay instead?"
Had never seen one until I came to the US. In the civilized world, If I owed someone money (for a dinner or some such) they'd send me their account number, I punch it into my online (no fee) bank and the money is transfered. Done. I guess it's progress that I can take a picture on my phone, so I don't actually have to go the bank.
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As a European I confess to never having used a cheque in my life...
It's a totally alien concept to me.
Direct debit all day, every day.
At a conference I remember talking to an Austrian and somehow we ended up talking about checks. He told me in Austria, individuals are not even allowed to write check (though businesses still are).
Agree with all the other foreigners; it's extremely rude of america to still use somethings so antiquated and backwards as paper checks! "Yes good sir, perchance I can pay you in bales of hay instead?"
Had never seen one until I came to the US. In the civilized world, If I owed someone money (for a dinner or some such) they'd send me their account number, I punch it into my online (no fee) bank and the money is transfered. Done. I guess it's progress that I can take a picture on my phone, so I don't actually have to go the bank.
The US is backwards in some areas (as every country is in some way). I mean, in the US, there are still very few credit card companies that issue true Chip and PIN cards, even though many other parts of the world switched over years ago.
I asked him- if he knew I lost the check, why didn't he tell me? Apparently he was just going to keep it on the ledger forever.
Again, this is what I do. It's not that hard guys.
Some people still balance their checkbooks; that won't work out at all with a check outstanding. Thanks for the reminder; I have a check that I've already apologized about not cashing once. I'll take that to the bank this morning.
It will if they just record the check as a pending transaction. Not that hard.
Seriously guys, why is the burden on the person receiving payment in this transaction? The only valid reason that I've seen so far is that you may want to close the bank account you just wrote a check from. Which thankfully doesn't happen very often.
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This is funny because for the last three weeks I've been annoyed about an uncashed check for $800 that I wrote to reserve a rental for our summer vacation. I would much rather not have written a check, but the guy insisted on a check rather than a credit card.
Part of the problem is that, like a lot of people around here, I like to keep the amount in our checking account fairly low and put the extra either into investments or (for short-term savings) our money market account. This is how we control our spending; our income is large enough that, before I discovered MMM, we had gotten into the bad habit of not really worrying about how much we were spending (of course we never spent more than we had, though!). The easiest way to impose discipline on ourselves is just not having the money sitting around in the first place.
So these days, extra money in the checking account is somewhat tempting to my less-than-Mustachian spouse (who is very good about saving, but just doesn't want to be as hardcore as I would like to be). Theoretically we both know the $800 is already spoken for but he might tend to forget. I'd rather just have the $800 be gone than have to be in charge of reminding him that it's not available. That's what bugs me.
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I dunno about "rude" but it's annoying.
With people (friends, specifically) who I know to be "administrative cluster-smucks" I will either give them cash or send them an instant electronic transfer.
I track everything to the penny so it's not like it would cause me to bounce anything; all it would do is carry-forward, indefinitely, until they sorted their life out. No thanks; I like things to be neat and tidy.
And yes, the high percentage of "ENTJ/INTJ" people on the board, myself included, are probably the only people who this bothers. To each their own.
This is funny because for the last three weeks I've been annoyed about an uncashed check for $800 that I wrote to reserve a rental for our summer vacation. I would much rather not have written a check, but the guy insisted on a check rather than a credit card...
When a business does this, it makes me think they're trying to fuck me over in the hopes I'll bounce the cheque so they can collect an additional "$40 NSF fee".
(http://images.sodahead.com/profiles/0/0/1/9/8/3/9/3/3/Dilbert-50747779793.jpeg)
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Is there even really a need to use checking anymore?
With most banks nowadays you can electronically transfer money instantly to anyone free of charge. I don't think I've written a check in almost a decade.
These people are from the US. From what I can tell, their banking system is backwards and a lot of people get paid via check rather than direct deposit like everywhere else in the world (except where you get paid cash e.g. Kenya). Apparently costs more money to do the DD for paying people there. Personally I've only ever used bank cheques (ones that you go to the bank and they make the cheque rather than you having a cheque book), and this is for things like my house deposit, or when I bought a car.
AFAIK most people here are paid with direct deposit. I have been for every job since high school. I still use checks for transferring large amounts of money between individuals, though... for example, my boyfriend's parents and I went in on a Christmas gift for him. I bought it and his mom mailed me a check for their portion. I had no idea everyone just did electronic transfers in Europe!
I think waiting longer than two weeks is rude. I can understand a week... not everyone has a smartphone, not everyone has a bank with a deposit app that works well (mine doesn't, and now I have a Windows Phone so I don't think the app works at all), and it might take you a week to get to your bank. I keep a $1k buffer in my checking account, and I know you can put outstanding checks in Mint, but it still annoys me for some reason.
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Part of the problem is that, like a lot of people around here, I like to keep the amount in our checking account fairly low and put the extra either into investments or (for short-term savings) our money market account.
Think about it this way. Because the payee is not cashing the check promptly, you have money in your checking account longer than you "should." Meaning that it is still earning interest while it sits in your bank account instead of the payee's.
Of course this requires that you have an interest bearing checking account. And nowadays interest is virtually nothing.
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I know you can put outstanding checks in Mint, but it still annoys me for some reason.
Thanks for mentioning this -- I had no idea you could do that! It might resolve my annoyance with delayed check cashing :D Though I am INTJ so maybe not...
Also, you're right that most US companies do direct deposit paychecks at this point. The only jobs I've had where they still did checks were small retail-ish companies with less than 25-ish employees. And they were small town family businesses being run by fairly elderly people, so I think it was more a matter of not wanting to change a system they'd used for such a long time.
I write checks for some medical co-pays, for our car payment (-ducks facepunches-) which is to a small credit union 8+ hours away from where we live now that has the world's most frustrating/annoying/confusing/stupid online banking system, to the town dump when I dispose of something bulky and forget cash, and other town services that don't have online payment options (dog registration, annual sewer bill, marriage license - obviously a one-off but it was fairly recent, etc). Town population is only like 3000 people so we don't have much in the way of modernity ;D
I don't start to get annoyed until it's been more than a week or so, but after that there's really no excuse. It's not hard to deposit a check.
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(I asked him- if he knew I lost the check, why didn't he tell me? Apparently he was just going to keep it on the ledger forever.)
Failing to cash a check promptly is rude, and reminding someone to cash a check (implying that you're annoyed they haven't done it yet) is also rude. It's a vicious cycle.
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(I asked him- if he knew I lost the check, why didn't he tell me? Apparently he was just going to keep it on the ledger forever.)
Failing to cash a check promptly is rude, and reminding someone to cash a check (implying that you're annoyed they haven't done it yet) is also rude. It's a vicious cycle.
I don't think it's rude. If months go by you can say, hey, did you lose the check I sent you, I noticed it hasn't cashed yet.
I agree that it is also rude to not cash/deposit check promptly, unless you are planning not to cash it at all.
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If you ask me, what is really rude is paying with a check.
No what is rude is asking me to pay with a check....and then not cashing it for a month.
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Ugh, this reminds me why I avoid cheques like the plague. I had one apartment where I needed to write cheques to another tenant for my portion of utilities, and he was HORRIBLE about getting around to cashing them because he frequently left town for long stretches. Sometimes he would hang on to one for a month, and I had no way of contacting him to see if he lost it, or it was stolen by housemates during his absence, or whatever. Drove me nuts.
We also had the following conversation more times than I remember:
Him: Hey! You owe me money for utilities!
Me: Yes, I have my cheque book here, how much do I owe you?
Him: Uh... it's been around $X-$X per month for the last few months... I think.
Me: Can you give me a dollar amount to put on the cheque? (I'm holding a cheque book and pen at this point)
Him: I'll double check and put a note under your door with the amount.
Me: Great!
*A couple days pass, nothing - I go to his unit to investigate*
His roommate: Oh, he left town - he'll be back in three weeks!
*repeat over and over*
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I almost never cash checks timely...it never occurred to me that I was being rude. "Balancing your checkbook" means that you keep track of the balance including outstanding checks. That's the entire point of balancing it. Don't accuse me of being rude because you're either too dumb or too lazy to balance your checkbook and know what checks are outstanding.
When I write a check, I'm always hoping the recipient NEVER cashes it...sadly it doesn't usually work out that way.
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I almost never cash checks timely...it never occurred to me that I was being rude. "Balancing your checkbook" means that you keep track of the balance including outstanding checks. That's the entire point of balancing it. Don't accuse me of being rude because you're either too dumb or too lazy to balance your checkbook and know what checks are outstanding.
When I write a check, I'm always hoping the recipient NEVER cashes it...sadly it doesn't usually work out that way.
I have perfectly adequate finances and I hate when people don't cash them quickly. Maybe "rude" isn't the right word, but its really annoying. I hate owing people money just as much as I hate people owing me money. I'm neither dumb nor lazy - I'm well aware of when I still have checks to be cached, and I certainly have no chance of overdrafting, its just more work to keep track of. For those of us who are somewhat OCD about their finances, it is absolutely frustrating, and judging by the responses here, plenty of folks agree
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About the only time I write checks that aren't always promptly cashed are for presents. For me "not promptly cashed" is where it's two or more banking cycles behind e.g., I write you a check for Christmas that is still outstanding when I reconcile my February statement. A couple of weeks or a month, I don 't care.
Why to I care? First I have to keep remembering to track it when I reconcile each month. When it is cashed, I may need to spend a moment or two figuring/remembering who the check was originally written to. Lastly I've sometimes called people to ask, did you get the check? Did you lose it? WTF?
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About the only time I write checks that aren't always promptly cashed are for presents. For me "not promptly cashed" is where it's two or more banking cycles behind e.g., I write you a check for Christmas that is still outstanding when I reconcile my February statement. A couple of weeks or a month, I don 't care.
Why to I care? First I have to keep remembering to track it when I reconcile each month. When it is cashed, I may need to spend a moment or two figuring/remembering who the check was originally written to. Lastly I've sometimes called people to ask, did you get the check? Did you lose it? WTF?
I think it *is* rude not to acknowledge the receipt of a check that was given as a gift.
The misanthropic part of me now wants to wait even LONGER when cashing checks I receive after reading people's responses in this thread.
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I never thought of it as being rude, but I did get called out a few weeks ago by my aunt.
She had sent the kids checks for Christmas and I hadn't gotten around to cashing them. We have four kids, she sent four $5 checks. So, I diligently deposited each of them with my phone.
I hate checks. Half and hour to photograph the front and back of each check and deposit them with my lame phone.
I could have biked to the bank and back in less time. See, that was my mistake. I think most of my problems can be solved with a bike ride.
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It bugs my wife when people are slow to cash checks. Me, not so much. I've already subtracted it in my ledger, so it's not like I'm going to accidentally overdraw the account. From my POV, it's already "gone". Worst case the money that they could have already sits in my account for a bit and earns me an extra penny of interest.
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For starters, I find the nationalistic bashing of the US to be pretty rude. Every country has different systems a customs.
Also, I think some people outside the US think we pay for checks with everything. I might write four checks/year and receive about as many. The bulk of check-writers seem to be older individuals who were adults before automated banking began in earnest in the 1980s.
Yes, almost all businesses pay their employees via direct deposit. Some individuals and businesses like accepting checks because they don't have hefty cc fees.
Still, I prefer to pay individuals via direct deposit.
That said, to address the OP, I'm not sure I would go so far as to call it rude, but I think it is in poor form not to cash a check in 1-2 weeks. The main reason I think this is that the transaction isn't complete until the check is deposited, and you are basically holding someone in your debt until you cash the check. If it is a gift there is an uncertainty until it is cashed; it could get lost in the mail or misfiled. If it was lost I would want to cancel the check and reissue a new one. If it is for services rendered I cannot be certain that the business/individual won't come back to me claiming I failed to pay them.
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For starters, I find the nationalistic bashing of the US to be pretty rude. Every country has different systems a customs.
I thought it was pretty damn funny. Having lived outside of the US, our banking system really does seem antiquated. Checks are something grandparents might have used, like wash boards or slide rules.
And person to person money transfers are awesome. I am waiting for the day when we can do this here.
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I find it very inconvenient if someone don't cash their check in reasonbale time frame. I share internet with my neighbor and one time she didn't cash my share of bill for a long time. I forgot about the check and cashed out the account for some purpose. Then boom, $35 penalty and I paid her share of penalty also for bounced check. Before writing checks, I used to give cash, but then disagreement arose about my share for a particular month.
Another time, I wrote two checks for large amounts to my friend with the intention that he will cash them over 2month period. I wrote two dates on the checks. Since he lives far away, I mailed them together. I was shocked to see both of them cashed at the same time and one of them was post-dated check. Came to know even a post-dated check can be cashed any-time and I ended up paying penalty again. Lesson learned. Communicate!
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When a business does this, it makes me think they're trying to fuck me over in the hopes I'll bounce the cheque so they can collect an additional "$40 NSF fee".
If one of my clients sends me a check I'm cashing it ASAP. I can't imagine that any business would risk having a check bounce in hopes that they can then collect the check amount PLUS the nsf fee.
For starters, I find the nationalistic bashing of the US to be pretty rude. Every country has different systems a customs.
I thought it was pretty damn funny. Having lived outside of the US, our banking system really does seem antiquated. Checks are something grandparents might have used, like wash boards or slide rules.
And person to person money transfers are awesome. I am waiting for the day when we can do this here.
I also thought it was funny. And I've never lived outside the US but know enough about our antiquated banking systems to know they are worthy of mocking.
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Is there even really a need to use checking anymore?
With most banks nowadays you can electronically transfer money instantly to anyone free of charge. I don't think I've written a check in almost a decade.
I can pay online with my bank. However, for individuals all the bank does is print a check and mail it to them. It is a slower process than if I just write a check and hand it to the individual. I wish I could do electronic instant transfers for free. I guess maybe we will get that in another 15 years or something. I am not aware of any US banks that offer it.
Also, when the bank mails a check on your behalf, they debit your account as they print the check, not when the individual cashes it, so if you have a dispute about actually having paid a bill, it's harder to prove the person actually received it.
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And person to person money transfers are awesome. I am waiting for the day when we can do this here.
While it's not a common feature provided directly by banks in the US, you can do it easily with a 3rd party service like Venmo or Square Cash
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I thought it was pretty damn funny. Having lived outside of the US, our banking system really does seem antiquated. Checks are something grandparents might have used, like wash boards or slide rules.
Alright, point taken. Maybe I need to relax a bit more and not take offense as easily. I guess it was kinda funny...
..and yes, checks are antiquated. My point was that they're not very common. credit, cash and direct deposit make up the bulk of transfers these days.
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Also, you're right that most US companies do direct deposit paychecks at this point.
My (U.S.) employer pays solely by direct deposit, but to set it up they required…a voided check from my account. And no, they wouldn't just accept the routing and account number (I asked).
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Also, you're right that most US companies do direct deposit paychecks at this point.
My (U.S.) employer pays solely by direct deposit, but to set it up they required…a voided check from my account. And no, they wouldn't just accept the routing and account number (I asked).
Lol, my husband's last employer did too. Mine had a standard form with routing number/account number though.
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Also, you're right that most US companies do direct deposit paychecks at this point.
My (U.S.) employer pays solely by direct deposit, but to set it up they required…a voided check from my account. And no, they wouldn't just accept the routing and account number (I asked).
If its a bank with local branches you can have the banker just type a letter stating John Smiths's routing number is ###### and his account number is #####. Signed: banker. Banker attaches his business card.
The reason they have you attach a voided check is because such a large % of the US population can't properly read the routing and account number. The employee's money ends up going into someone else's account or into the hidden world of missing electronic funds. Now its a nightmare for the company HR and the banks to fix all while the employee is whining like a little baby because they don't have money for an extra week... they live paycheck to paycheck of course... and they can't fathom that its their fault this happened. Yes... this happens ALL the time, enough that most banks have dedicated people just for managing all the missing electronic funds. In very unlucky situations the money goes into someone else's account and that person spends it. In this case the employee is SOL because they filled out the form so the bank nor HR is liable for the error so 'legally' they just gave a stranger their paycheck.
HR wants a voided check so HR can manually type in the numbers and know its the right numbers. They will accept a letter from the bank because if its wrong its the bank's fault. Some companies won't even accept a voided check. They will only accept a written letter from the bank or they have the bank fill out their forms for you, and the banker has to sign or they won't accept it. (I use to be a banker.)
On topic: I hate checks, and I hate it when people sit on them. After all my bills are paid and my cash back cards are paid off I leave exactly $500 in my checking account and the excess goes to Vanguard. Now I have to mentally remind myself that I need to keep X+500 in checking. Thats ok for a week or two, but after that you are screwing up my mojo! Now I only write less than 6 checks a year... and most around Christmas for 529 contributions.
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A bit off-topic: any Europeans here old enough to remember how it was done before the widespread availability of direct transfers? I grew up in Soviet block and there it was just cash, but perhaps in the West there were checks like in USA?
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Wow. The last time I had to write a cheque was on my dad's behalf for one company that didn't accept EFT or credit card payments... back in 2007... when my folks were on holiday overseas.
Now that I think about that, that's the only personal cheque I have ever written or received.
I certainly agree with the idea that it'd be rude to hang on to a personal cheque more than a week or two, but on the flipside I'd consider it rude if someone offered me a personal cheque that I'd have to go and deposit myself (or download an app, take a photo, etc) instead of just making an EFT deposit straight into my account from theirs, easypeasy. I sure as hell hate receiving business cheques, but those are few and far between, anyway.
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Here's an alternative if you frequently pay friends who are awful at cashing cheques:
Have them add one of their credit cards as a "payee" in one of your online banks. Anytime you need to pay them, make a payment to their credit card.
It's been my experience the people who are worst at cashing cheques are also carrying a balance on an AMEX and won't object to this setup. (it was one of those friends who suggested this to me)
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Delay cashing that check all you want! The longer you hold that check, the more interest I'm collecting off of what is now your money! (Granted, the return rate is insignificant)
From an accounting standpoint, I hate having anything floating over my head. However, my ledger helps me determine what's still out there.
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And person to person money transfers are awesome. I am waiting for the day when we can do this here.
While it's not a common feature provided directly by banks in the US, you can do it easily with a 3rd party service like Venmo or Square Cash
Cool, thanks for the ideas. I haven't used either of these services, but will check them out.
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And person to person money transfers are awesome. I am waiting for the day when we can do this here.
While it's not a common feature provided directly by banks in the US, you can do it easily with a 3rd party service like Venmo or Square Cash
Cool, thanks for the ideas. I haven't used either of these services, but will check them out.
CapitalOne360 allows P2P transfers as well. I've done it twice this week already.
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My crappy local credit union allows P2P payments with a name and email address or mobile number. So does Paypal.
That said, doesn't anybody keep some kind of account register anymore? Or do you just trust your bank that much? Maybe because I opened my first checking account when debit cards were relatively new and deposits could take up to six days to clear, I never trust the balance on the ATM screen to tell the whole story. (Yes, I remember keeping a handwritten check register and being thankful for carbon-copy checks so I didn't have to write it down at the cash register.) Record the check, subtract it from the running total (or have Quicken/Mint do it for you), go on with life.
I know many people don't balance their checkbooks. It kills a little piece of my accountant heart to think about it.
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I live in Canada. Most young people pay each other through electronic transfers and old people use cheques. I have never paid with a cheque in my life, and I don't think I will ever have to.
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My crappy local credit union allows P2P payments with a name and email address or mobile number. So does Paypal.
That said, doesn't anybody keep some kind of account register anymore? Or do you just trust your bank that much? Maybe because I opened my first checking account when debit cards were relatively new and deposits could take up to six days to clear, I never trust the balance on the ATM screen to tell the whole story. (Yes, I remember keeping a handwritten check register and being thankful for carbon-copy checks so I didn't have to write it down at the cash register.) Record the check, subtract it from the running total (or have Quicken/Mint do it for you), go on with life.
I know many people don't balance their checkbooks. It kills a little piece of my accountant heart to think about it.
I'm an accountant who doesn't "balance my checkbook". I just don't see it as required. I've got a pretty good idea of the balance at any point and I don't run close enough to $0 to worry about overdrafting. I check the balance occasionally and review transactions for accuracy.
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I understand how it might be annoying to have outstanding checks. However, if you paid me with a check, you just assigned me an errand to run, "Here's that money I owe you, plus some chores!" I will run the errand at my leisure. If it bothers you, don't pay with checks.
I have a co-worker who refuses to deposit any checks smaller than $10. She just throws them away, saying it isn't worth the hassle to deposit (I have tried to convince her to give them to me, but no dice).
Delay cashing that check all you want! The longer you hold that check, the more interest I'm collecting off of what is now your money!
Ha ha, yep!
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One of the primary uses of cheques for me is when I need to provide a void cheque for some automatic payment or other.
Some kids activities still require payment by cheque, for whatever reason. And right now I have two post-dated cheques for several thousand dollars in my wallet (someone has bought my boat with postdated cheques). I don't like carrying them around, but don't have a lot of choice at least until I get into my bank for some reason.
Cheques do seem like a relic from a bygone age, but on the rare occasions I write one I very much prefer it be cashed sooner than later. That said, I don't invest a hell of a lot of energy in giving a crap one way or another.
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I have a co-worker who refuses to deposit any checks smaller than $10. She just throws them away, saying it isn't worth the hassle to deposit (I have tried to convince her to give them to me, but no dice).
I wonder if somewhere out there are billionaires that do the same for any checks with fewer than five figures.
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My crappy local credit union allows P2P payments with a name and email address or mobile number. So does Paypal.
That said, doesn't anybody keep some kind of account register anymore? Or do you just trust your bank that much? Maybe because I opened my first checking account when debit cards were relatively new and deposits could take up to six days to clear, I never trust the balance on the ATM screen to tell the whole story. (Yes, I remember keeping a handwritten check register and being thankful for carbon-copy checks so I didn't have to write it down at the cash register.) Record the check, subtract it from the running total (or have Quicken/Mint do it for you), go on with life.
I know many people don't balance their checkbooks. It kills a little piece of my accountant heart to think about it.
Not me. Why bother? I only write one cheque a month, for my rent. My credit card transactions always post within 48 hours, and I don't use my bank accounts except to pay rent, my credit card bill, and transfer money into my investment account. Mint does provides every type of record keeping I need.
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I understand how it might be annoying to have outstanding checks. However, if you paid me with a check, you just assigned me an errand to run, "Here's that money I owe you, plus some chores!" I will run the errand at my leisure. If it bothers you, don't pay with checks.
I have a co-worker who refuses to deposit any checks smaller than $10. She just throws them away, saying it isn't worth the hassle to deposit (I have tried to convince her to give them to me, but no dice).
Delay cashing that check all you want! The longer you hold that check, the more interest I'm collecting off of what is now your money!
Ha ha, yep!
Mobile deposit much? Takes about 30 seconds. Can be done anywhere.
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I actually do write a fair number of checks. Our water bill can't be paid by cc, and I don't really want to drive to city hall to pay in cash. There are constantly things coming up for school -- lunch money, field trip, yearbook, etc. -- and I don't trust my kindergartener to carry cash. We give to our church by check. Daycare is paid by check. I admit, I do actually keep up the check register, and balance it every month so I always know what is outstanding. I rarely have a check that takes more than a week or two to be cashed. I hate carrying cash around, and plenty of things don't take cc, so checks come in handy.
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I understand how it might be annoying to have outstanding checks. However, if you paid me with a check, you just assigned me an errand to run, "Here's that money I owe you, plus some chores!" I will run the errand at my leisure. If it bothers you, don't pay with checks.
I have a co-worker who refuses to deposit any checks smaller than $10. She just throws them away, saying it isn't worth the hassle to deposit (I have tried to convince her to give them to me, but no dice).
Delay cashing that check all you want! The longer you hold that check, the more interest I'm collecting off of what is now your money!
Ha ha, yep!
Mobile deposit much? Takes about 30 seconds. Can be done anywhere.
I thought you had to have a flip phone to join the MMM cult :-)
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I wrote 3 checks for a total amount of $270 about 3.5 years ago. They were for my daughter's tennis and karate classes through our local Policy Activity League. Those checkes have not been chased as of yet. I still have that back account open, but I plan on closing it over the summer. If they ever find those checks and decide to cash them, they will have to find me and ask for new checks.
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A bit off-topic: any Europeans here old enough to remember how it was done before the widespread availability of direct transfers? I grew up in Soviet block and there it was just cash, but perhaps in the West there were checks like in USA?
My parents (Nordic countries) had checkbooks when I was a kid. But a lot was paid in cash. Or if you transferred money over distance you could get the post office to issue a note, that the recipient could cash or deposit in his/her post office savings account. But I think even in the -80s, you could get the local bank (or post office) to do direct transfers for bills. Checks were an alternative to ATMs, to get cash for food, etc.
I still remember the smell of my freshly stamped post office gold book, after depositing my birthday money as a kid.
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For those of you who wait weeks to cash/deposit checks (or sympathize with those who do), WHY do you wait so long? Do you not WANT money?? If I receive money, I can't wait to deposit it! If you don't want the money, just give the check back and save the giver of the check a lot of frustration (and money). And don't give me a bullshit line of "it's such a hassle to go to the bank." Really? You couldn't find ANY time over the course of 3 weeks to go to the bank? You couldn't have stopped on the way home from work? The bank doesn't even have to be open; you can deposit it at the ATM.
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For those of you who wait weeks to cash/deposit checks (or sympathize with those who do), WHY do you wait so long? Do you not WANT money?? If I receive money, I can't wait to deposit it! If you don't want the money, just give the check back and save the giver of the check a lot of frustration (and money). And don't give me a bullshit line of "it's such a hassle to go to the bank." Really? You couldn't find ANY time over the course of 3 weeks to go to the bank? You couldn't have stopped on the way home from work? The bank doesn't even have to be open; you can deposit it at the ATM.
With Fidelity's checking account, if the remote deposit is rejected you have to send it in using an envelope and a stamp. So at the very least I would wait until I have another check to deposit.
Now I have a secondary account with a local branch with an ATM that's just a short bike ride away so I don't hold on to them anymore.
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Another time, I wrote two checks for large amounts to my friend with the intention that he will cash them over 2month period. I wrote two dates on the checks. Since he lives far away, I mailed them together. I was shocked to see both of them cashed at the same time and one of them was post-dated check. Came to know even a post-dated check can be cashed any-time and I ended up paying penalty again. Lesson learned. Communicate!
You needed to instruct your bank not to honor the check prior to the date per UCC Section 4-401.
U.C.C. - ARTICLE 4 - BANK DEPOSITS AND COLLECTIONS (2002) › PART 4. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PAYOR BANK AND ITS CUSTOMER › § 4-401. WHEN BANK MAY CHARGE CUSTOMER's ACCOUNT.
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(c) A bank may charge against the account of a customer a check that is otherwise properly payable from the account, even though payment was made before the date of the check, unless the customer has given notice to the bank of the postdating describing the check with reasonable certainty....
http://www.law.cornell.edu/ucc/4/4-401
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I'm guilty of holding onto checks for awhile before I cash them. I don't have a car and my bank is not conveniently located. My other option, until a couple weeks ago when I learned my small bank finally has a mobile deposit app, was to mail in checks. This required stamps, and the foresight to always have envelopes handy. I don't love mailing checks so I'd wait until I had a few and send them in together so I could keep an eye on them to make sure they arrived safely.
It may be inconvenient to wait for a check to be deposited, but in my case, it was very inconvenient to deposit a check.
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I give the school PTA cash now since they sit on checks for so long.
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Another time, I wrote two checks for large amounts to my friend with the intention that he will cash them over 2month period. I wrote two dates on the checks. Since he lives far away, I mailed them together. I was shocked to see both of them cashed at the same time and one of them was post-dated check. Came to know even a post-dated check can be cashed any-time and I ended up paying penalty again. Lesson learned. Communicate!
You needed to instruct your bank not to honor the check prior to the date per UCC Section 4-401.
U.C.C. - ARTICLE 4 - BANK DEPOSITS AND COLLECTIONS (2002) › PART 4. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PAYOR BANK AND ITS CUSTOMER › § 4-401. WHEN BANK MAY CHARGE CUSTOMER's ACCOUNT.
...
(c) A bank may charge against the account of a customer a check that is otherwise properly payable from the account, even though payment was made before the date of the check, unless the customer has given notice to the bank of the postdating describing the check with reasonable certainty....
http://www.law.cornell.edu/ucc/4/4-401
Read the full text of that section. It goes on to say that you have to give the bank notice of the postdated check before they act on the check, if you want them not to cash it before the date on the check. In other words, the section is irrelevant to this situation.
Maybe my English is not so good and I didn't phrase it right but what I was writing was that she needed to let her bank know that she didn't want the check cashed prior to the date of the check (which is what I understand what I wrote to mean - You needed to instruct your bank not to honor the check prior to the date per UCC Section 4-401.).
The time to do that I would think is obviously before it is acted upon - I didn't think I would have to spell that out.
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I give the school PTA cash now since they sit on checks for so long.
I always wondered if I was an outlier regarding this issue? My kids are in their early 20s now, but back when they were grade schoolers, check writing was far more common. My wife and I eventually reached the conclusion that many parents who ran programs, such as Brownies, PTA or similar, were simply incapable of dealing with simple financial tasks , and could not be trusted to handle checks. It was common to have 2-4 checks to organizations that were floating around for months,, or lost by irresponsible moms. In our case it had nothing to do with a danger of bouncing another check, when a long forgotten one was cashed, it was just the irritation of dealing with folks who couldn't handle a basic task. We tried to switch to hand delivered cash, but we even had one Brownie leader take my cash, record it in her ledger, then tell me that I owed it, weeks later. I had to make her open her ledger, then show here where SHE recorded the transaction!
As for those that claim to never write checks, I would love that, but it really isn't practical. Several transactions in my world, including anything involving local government business, are pretty much limited to checks. My real estate taxes are four separate payments. School, county, and two smaller ones. They all are paid by check, and mailed in with a SASE and all copies of the bill. A copy is sent back as stamped and certified. I could do all this, with cash, and in person, but here in rural America, the local tax collector tends to keep some very limited and inconvenient hours, and the "Office" is often an enclosed porch on the side of their house, in the middle of nowhere.
The other odd reason to own a checkbook is that we are serious RVers, who travel for months at a time. We occasionally hit a campground or other service provider, in a remote location, who is happy to take an out of state check, but refuses a credit card. On other occasions we end up at a campground, after closing, and find a self-check in setup. The choices are often pretty bad, including listing all your CC info. on the outside of an envelope, or filling it with the exact amount of cash. I then write a check. I don't have to worry about CC fraud, or anybody claiming that I didn't put cash in the envelope.
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I find it very annoying when people don't cash them immediately. I wrote a check to a contractor for replacing our furnace over two weeks ago and he still hasn't cashed it. If it was $50 or $100 no big deal. But I hate hate HATE having an extra $3500 in my checking doing nothing because he won't cash it. Just take my money!
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I hate checks. I hate writing them, I hate cashing the, I hate signing them, I hate everything about them. :)
Sure it's rude to not cash a check for a long time, but if you care that much just give cash. I love paypal, wish everyone would switch to things like that. It would push the progress of moving money around more quickly. In my ideal future money flows securely from one person to the other without paper and with minimal cost. Why should it cost a lot of money or take paper? It's just computers talking behind the scenes at this point.
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I find it very annoying when people don't cash them immediately. I wrote a check to a contractor for replacing our furnace over two weeks ago and he still hasn't cashed it. If it was $50 or $100 no big deal. But I hate hate HATE having an extra $3500 in my checking doing nothing because he won't cash it. Just take my money!
Just an idea but if you had a Schwab Bank High Yield Investor Checking Account your money would be earning 10 basis points while your contractor was holding the check.
What are the fees and minimums?
- Monthly service fees: $0
- Account minimum: $0
What do I get with this account?
- Unlimited fee rebates from any ATM worldwide
- A 0.10% APY variable interest rate on any balance
- Free bill pay on Schwab.com and Schwab Mobile
- Apply for Schwab Mobile Deposit™ to deposit checks from anywhere
- Free standard checks and a Visa® Platinum debit card once the account has been funded.
- FDIC insurance up to $250,000
- A linked Schwab One® brokerage account
http://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/banking_lending/checking_account
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I find it very annoying when people don't cash them immediately. I wrote a check to a contractor for replacing our furnace over two weeks ago and he still hasn't cashed it. If it was $50 or $100 no big deal. But I hate hate HATE having an extra $3500 in my checking doing nothing because he won't cash it. Just take my money!
Just an idea but if you had a Schwab Bank High Yield Investor Checking Account your money would be earning 10 basis points while your contractor was holding the check.
What are the fees and minimums?
- Monthly service fees: $0
- Account minimum: $0
What do I get with this account?
- Unlimited fee rebates from any ATM worldwide
- A 0.10% APY variable interest rate on any balance
- Free bill pay on Schwab.com and Schwab Mobile
- Apply for Schwab Mobile Deposit™ to deposit checks from anywhere
- Free standard checks and a Visa® Platinum debit card once the account has been funded.
- FDIC insurance up to $250,000
- A linked Schwab One® brokerage account
http://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/banking_lending/checking_account
And this is exactly why from my point of view, the payee is doing you a favor by not cashing your check promptly.
I have a rewards checking account that earns 3% interest on the first $10k (and I never keep more than $10k in my bank accounts anyway), so the effect is far more dramatic for me.
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I asked him- if he knew I lost the check, why didn't he tell me? Apparently he was just going to keep it on the ledger forever.
Again, this is what I do. It's not that hard guys.
Some people still balance their checkbooks; that won't work out at all with a check outstanding. Thanks for the reminder; I have a check that I've already apologized about not cashing once. I'll take that to the bank this morning.
It will if they just record the check as a pending transaction. Not that hard.
Seriously guys, why is the burden on the person receiving payment in this transaction? The only valid reason that I've seen so far is that you may want to close the bank account you just wrote a check from. Which thankfully doesn't happen very often.
I don't think people are saying it's, like, a tragedy, just that it's annoying.
Like, if somebody on the internet says something you disagree with and it annoys you to the point that you write back in response to it.
And then it keeps popping up in your new replies page, so you're continually kept aware of it and keep replying back.
That kind of annoying.
On the general topic, I do agree if you insisted on receiving a check when the person would have been willing to pay in other ways, it does seem rude not to be on top of your shit enough to deposit it promptly.
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Mobile deposit much? Takes about 30 seconds. Can be done anywhere.
One would have to own a device capable of doing that. Our household does not contain such spendy anti-mustachian devices. :-)
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Mobile deposit much? Takes about 30 seconds. Can be done anywhere.
One would have to own a device capable of doing that. Our household does not contain such spendy anti-mustachian devices. :-)
Come on now... Be realistic. My used tablet that I paid $50 for about 2 years ago can do this no problem. So can my smart phone that is over 3 years old. All while connected to any available wifi. For that matter I could connect the old cracked screen iphone that someone gave me to wifi and do it.
I think(hope) you are being sarcastic.
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Mobile deposit much? Takes about 30 seconds. Can be done anywhere.
One would have to own a device capable of doing that. Our household does not contain such spendy anti-mustachian devices. :-)
Come on now... Be realistic. My used tablet that I paid $50 for about 2 years ago can do this no problem. So can my smart phone that is over 3 years old. All while connected to any available wifi. For that matter I could connect the old cracked screen iphone that someone gave me to wifi and do it.
I think(hope) you are being sarcastic.
There are lots (and lots) of people that own neither a smartphone nor a tablet. I know a decent amount of people, including my dad and my wife's parents, that have absolutely no way to remote deposit a check.
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My country makes it easier. You are required to keep available funds for 30 days after you sign the check.
After day 31, you can´t be held responsable for empty / closed account
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My country makes it easier. You are required to keep available funds for 30 days after you sign the check.
After day 31, you can´t be held responsable for empty / closed account
Interesting. Which country is this?
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I actually do write a fair number of checks. Our water bill can't be paid by cc, and I don't really want to drive to city hall to pay in cash. There are constantly things coming up for school -- lunch money, field trip, yearbook, etc. -- and I don't trust my kindergartener to carry cash. We give to our church by check. Daycare is paid by check.
+1 I always pay daycare a month in advance instead of weekly. With 3 kids in school I can't stand the way our school is always one offing us for checks! Just let me put $500 in each kids account and take it when you need it. $4 check only for the field trip, school planner, movie in class, etc. I swear I write 2-3 checks to them a week. All under $10. Ugh. Otherwise I pretty much only do checks for property taxes.
I used to be horrible about cashing checks before the smartphone app. Now it's super easy!
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In NZ there are very few cheques used. My husband however has one client for his business that pays by cheque (and I really don't know why) its the one trip I have to make to that bank every month. Also our cheques expire (for want of a better word) after 6 months.
I do think it is somewhat annoying if people were not to cash cheques promptly, especially for a business, so I try and make sure I walk to the bank within a week of receiving the cheque. I do think if it was for a larger amount I might be quicker, but this is normally <$100
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A bit off-topic: any Europeans here old enough to remember how it was done before the widespread availability of direct transfers? I grew up in Soviet block and there it was just cash, but perhaps in the West there were checks like in USA?
In Australia there were certainly cheques and I believe they were fairly commonly used. My parents certainly paid for sporting activities, and school activities via cheque. However I don't know waht the arrangements were at supermarkets for supermarkets as I don't remember a time prior to plastic cards for credit cards. I think for one of the rental places I stayed at while in uni the landlord had given us a deposit cheque book to pay the rent with.
I do remember that for bank accounts you used to have pass books (essentially a ledger with your account withdrawals and inputs). I think I had a passbook until I was 18 and was eligible to get a debit card, however I could have a faulty memory on this (Aside from which I had little money at the time).
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Mobile deposit much? Takes about 30 seconds. Can be done anywhere.
One would have to own a device capable of doing that. Our household does not contain such spendy anti-mustachian devices. :-)
Come on now... Be realistic. My used tablet that I paid $50 for about 2 years ago can do this no problem. So can my smart phone that is over 3 years old. All while connected to any available wifi. For that matter I could connect the old cracked screen iphone that someone gave me to wifi and do it.
I think(hope) you are being sarcastic.
There are lots (and lots) of people that own neither a smartphone nor a tablet. I know a decent amount of people, including my dad and my wife's parents, that have absolutely no way to remote deposit a check.
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the people you describe are very unlikely to be readers here. A smart phone and/or tablet is a fantastic tool to vastly increase your efficiency in life. And an efficient life is one of the core principles of MMM.
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Mobile deposit much? Takes about 30 seconds. Can be done anywhere.
One would have to own a device capable of doing that. Our household does not contain such spendy anti-mustachian devices. :-)
Come on now... Be realistic. My used tablet that I paid $50 for about 2 years ago can do this no problem. So can my smart phone that is over 3 years old. All while connected to any available wifi. For that matter I could connect the old cracked screen iphone that someone gave me to wifi and do it.
I think(hope) you are being sarcastic.
There are lots (and lots) of people that own neither a smartphone nor a tablet. I know a decent amount of people, including my dad and my wife's parents, that have absolutely no way to remote deposit a check.
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the people you describe are very unlikely to be readers here. A smart phone and/or tablet is a fantastic tool to vastly increase your efficiency in life. And an efficient life is one of the core principles of MMM.
I personally, don't have a smartphone or tablet.
Here's a poll where 20% of the respondents say they use no data. http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/welcome-to-the-forum/how-much-cell-phone-data-do-you-consume-each-month/
That doesn't address people who might have a device but only use wi-fi, of course.
But efficiency means very different things to people.
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Mobile deposit much? Takes about 30 seconds. Can be done anywhere.
One would have to own a device capable of doing that. Our household does not contain such spendy anti-mustachian devices. :-)
Come on now... Be realistic. My used tablet that I paid $50 for about 2 years ago can do this no problem. So can my smart phone that is over 3 years old. All while connected to any available wifi. For that matter I could connect the old cracked screen iphone that someone gave me to wifi and do it.
I think(hope) you are being sarcastic.
There are lots (and lots) of people that own neither a smartphone nor a tablet. I know a decent amount of people, including my dad and my wife's parents, that have absolutely no way to remote deposit a check.
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the people you describe are very unlikely to be readers here. A smart phone and/or tablet is a fantastic tool to vastly increase your efficiency in life. And an efficient life is one of the core principles of MMM.
I personally, don't have a smartphone or tablet.
Here's a poll where 20% of the respondents say they use no data. http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/welcome-to-the-forum/how-much-cell-phone-data-do-you-consume-each-month/
That doesn't address people who might have a device but only use wi-fi, of course.
But efficiency means very different things to people.
I'm not sure what kind of efficiency is gained by not having the sum of the worlds learning available virtually anywhere anytime but whatever floats your boat.
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I wouldn't necessarily described it as being rude but it can be annoying. I usually have it all written in a spreadsheet what the money is for but if it takes too long, I find it bothersome. I like updating my spreadsheet and keep everything up-to-date. I pay for parking on a monthly basis and I just transfer the money instead of a cheque, as I feel I'd probably keep forgetting. But when I pay for rent, since this amount goes to my SO, I just use a cheque as they're free.
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Rude:
I interact with a lot of people who pay by check and live pretty close to the bone. If you don't cash a $20 check for months and they forget, it can cost them hundreds of bucks in bounced check fees that they need to spend on food and rent and heat.
I know that they should have their financial houses in order and not make the mistake, but it is unkind to make their lives harder.
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I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the people you describe are very unlikely to be readers here. A smart phone and/or tablet is a fantastic tool to vastly increase your efficiency in life. And an efficient life is one of the core principles of MMM.
Cars vastly increase the efficiency of long distance travel in life. Doesn't mean you should own one.
And no joke, I have neither a smartphone nor tablet. Typing this from an antique ASUS eeePC running Linux. :-)
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I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the people you describe are very unlikely to be readers here. A smart phone and/or tablet is a fantastic tool to vastly increase your efficiency in life. And an efficient life is one of the core principles of MMM.
Cars vastly increase the efficiency of long distance travel in life. Doesn't mean you should own one.
And no joke, I have neither a smartphone nor tablet. Typing this from an antique ASUS eeePC running Linux. :-)
In 2006 I bought a T-Mobile prepaid flip phone and paid $100 for 1,000 minutes of airtime. Each subsequent year I paid an additional $10 for some more airtime to enable me to roll over my minutes. I did this for six years and I certainly didn't feel inefficient for not having a smart phone.
In 2012 at a new job the company gave me an Apple 4 phone so that coworkers could send me emails. I did learn how to text on it after I asked my boss to show me how to reply to someone. Frankly I had no love for it and no use for it outside of my job.
Then late last year the company offered us $75 monthly reimbursement if we used personal phones. So I went out and bought a Virgin Mobile prepaid Samsung phone and pay $35/month for phone/text/data. It makes me money. But does it make me more efficient? Again I would say no. All it does is provide a way for my company to make sure I get emails. It is an electronic leash.
When I move on to another job I'm going right back to my flip phone if I have any say in the matter.
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I have a lot of devices (laptop, iPad, kindle), but not a smartphone. I don't want to be one of those guys who instead of speaking with people they are with spend their time incessantly checking Facebook (which I also don't have) or playing candy crush. There are rare occasions when I wish I had one (for maps), but there is no real need. All I really need is being able to call and send SMS and my 60$ phone with a prepaid car is more than sufficient for that.
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I have a lot of devices (laptop, iPad, kindle), but not a smartphone. I don't want to be one of those guys who instead of speaking with people they are with spend their time incessantly checking Facebook (which I also don't have) or playing candy crush. There are rare occasions when I wish I had one (for maps), but there is no real need. All I really need is being able to call and send SMS and my 60$ phone with a prepaid car is more than sufficient for that.
iPad can use the mobile check depositing apps...
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iPad can use the mobile check depositing apps...
Yes, but not relevant to me since I live in Switzerland and we don't do checks.
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A bit off-topic: any Europeans here old enough to remember how it was done before the widespread availability of direct transfers?
Used to be cash being handed out weekly or biseekly in an enevlope (Lohntüte) usually on Friday. That changed in the late sixties to early seventies when direct money transfer was established. Not everyone liked the change, eg.
http://www.mao-projekt.de/BRD/DGB/Bargeldlose_Lohnzahlung.shtml
iPad can use the mobile check depositing apps...
You must have one of the newer iPads that have a camera. ;)
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My landlord always, always, waits until the end of month X to cash the rent payment for month X, even though I have my bank set to automatically send a check on the 26th of the previous month (to make sure it is always there by the 28th).
This moderately annoys me. It means that I generally have two rent checks outstanding at the same time (he'll often cash the rent check for month X a day or two before the rent check for month X+1 gets sent out), which bothers me--I hate having checks floating out there, even though I keep a running tally on my "real" checking account balance (balance - outstanding CC balance - outstanding checks). One time the landlord lost the check (asked if I ever sent it--not accusingly, but it still pissed me off). I had to cancel the check and send a new one. He seemed surprised that I took the check cancellation fee out of the rent. You're damn right that's coming out of the rent, dude.
One of the disadvantages to dealing with a "landlord as a side gig" person. Fortunately, if he ever really tries to harass me, the fact that he is a "landlord as a side gig" also led him to make several mistakes in how he handled my security deposit, which would entitle me to 2x the deposit + the deposit when I move out, so I have a security blanket. He's generally a really good guy, and the rent is below market for the area, so I never intend to sting him (and after I get my security deposit back, I intend to give him a head's up about the things he didn't do right so that he can fix the problems,) but still, come on.
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We actually decided not to renew a lease once because the landlord was so bad about holding onto checks (we're talking upwards of 2 months). The first few times, we calked him after a month to make sure he'd received it; his voice mail was always full. We briefly wondered if he had died. I think maybe he was just bad at life
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I had an otherwise decent rental management, but one time they said they didn't received our check, though I know I mailed it on time. So I went in person and wrote another check and made them swear if they found the other check to rip it up. 2 days later, they cash both checks at the same time, causing overdraft fees for that and 2 other transations. When I called to complain, they said how were they supposed to know, and they will just keep the money for next month (this was when I was poor graduate student). By happenstance told the story to a friend who was a lawyer who was so incensed for us he wrote a stern letter, and got the money and fees refunded.
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I had an otherwise decent rental management, but one time they said they didn't received our check, though I know I mailed it on time. So I went in person and wrote another check and made them swear if they found the other check to rip it up. 2 days later, they cash both checks at the same time, causing overdraft fees for that and 2 other transations. When I called to complain, they said how were they supposed to know, and they will just keep the money for next month (this was when I was poor graduate student). By happenstance told the story to a friend who was a lawyer who was so incensed for us he wrote a stern letter, and got the money and fees refunded.
I'm not saying that what the rental company did wasn't wrong, but this is exactly why there is such a thing as a stop payment. You can cancel a check that you've given away but hasn't been cashed yet.
Of course, many banks charge a fee for this. Which again, you'd have to fight the rental company to refund you, because they were in the wrong.
Just some knowledge for the future. Oh and there are banks such as Charles Schwab that have no min balance requirements, no monthly maintenance fees, and do not charge for stop payments. They incidentally also don't charge for foreign transactions and reimburse ATM fees worldwide, making it the most effective way (as in, fee free way) to get local currency while abroad.
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Define "promptly" then. What's acceptable, 3 days, one week, two weeks?
My roommate transfers her share of the rent to me every month. It takes 5 days between when she transfers and the money actually clears my account. Her bank is at fault here - one of the smaller ones that doesn't have the capability in place to do it better.
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Yeah well I was so dumb I didn't even know there was such a thing, otherwise would have done it.
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I was selling a house, and the property taxes went up substantially because of the improvements they noticed. Fine, it's probably fair, I sent in the interim tax checks.
The township didn't deposit them for months, to the point where the taxes were going to be deducted from me at closing because nobody could certify that I had paid them. I had to call up the township and make them search through the evident piles of checks in one of their offices, find mine, and deposit them. Then I had to get them to send me a receipt, because the county wouldn't certify them as paid for a few weeks. Infuriating.
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And person to person money transfers are awesome. I am waiting for the day when we can do this here.
While it's not a common feature provided directly by banks in the US, you can do it easily with a 3rd party service like Venmo or Square Cash
Cool, thanks for the ideas. I haven't used either of these services, but will check them out.
Chase does it, and PNC Bank (midwest at least). I think US Bank does as well.
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My crappy local credit union allows P2P payments with a name and email address or mobile number. So does Paypal.
That said, doesn't anybody keep some kind of account register anymore? Or do you just trust your bank that much? Maybe because I opened my first checking account when debit cards were relatively new and deposits could take up to six days to clear, I never trust the balance on the ATM screen to tell the whole story. (Yes, I remember keeping a handwritten check register and being thankful for carbon-copy checks so I didn't have to write it down at the cash register.) Record the check, subtract it from the running total (or have Quicken/Mint do it for you), go on with life.
I know many people don't balance their checkbooks. It kills a little piece of my accountant heart to think about it.
I'm an accountant, and I know I'm anal. I have a handwritten check register. I also use Quicken. I also use excel.
All my bills are electronic or auto, except my car loan. I'd prefer to do that online, but the website is stupid and won't allow me to track it as I prefer. So I pay with a check so I get the monthly statements with the details.