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It amazes me that cheques are still used. I'm 36 and I've never issued a cheque, I think I was issued a cheque book with my first account but never used it.
by sleet 8y ago
It amazes me that cheques are still used. I'm 36 and I've never issued a cheque, I think I was issued a cheque book with my first account but never used it.
- crazygringo 8y agoOver the past 6 years, literally the only thing I've used my checkbook for was security deposit and first month's rent. But my last two apartments required cashier's checks for both... so honestly, I don't expect to write another check my whole life.
- spacehome 8y agoLandlords only want cashier's checks if they don't trust you. If they don't trust you, they're less likely to rent to you. So requiring cashier's checks is uncommon, barring some extenuating circumstance like you've previously written a bad check or been late.
- gregpilling 8y agoAs a landlord, I always request cash or cashiers check for move in money. I don't want you living there for 3 months for free while I fight your bad check through the court system to get you evicted. It may sound shocking, but some people will do this. Source: me, landlord since 2001.
- spacehome 8y agoFair enough. My experience is I've been living in apartments for decades and never been asked for cash or cashier's checks.
- ascorbic 8y agoWhy not a bank transfer?
- patio11 8y agoTenant: "Reverse this payment from 6 weeks ago." Bank: "Why?" Tenant: "Well my landlord [tale of woe]." Bank: "So I'm hearing that the payment was unauthorized." Tenant: "Yes!" Bank: "Reversed." Landlord: "... YOU DID WHAT?!" Bank: "sigh We don't want to be in this discussion." Landlord: "YOU HAD ONE JOB!" Bank: "It's not sitting between two adults trying to figure which of them screwed the other. We've got courts for that. Good luck."
- detaro 8y agoIn the US, bank transfers are reversible? (Here in Germany, if you sent the money it's basically gone, you can only reverse payments that the other side "pulled" from your account) Always interesting how the types of service available and their rules shape what's used where.
- skookumchuck 8y agoCashier's checks are frequently fraudulent. You've been lucky if they worked for you. I use a credit card much more often these days, because the CC company takes fraud seriously. The banks don't. At least my bank did not.
- jimnotgym 8y ago>CC company takes fraud seriously. On behalf of the cardholder they do. When a cardholder complains the card company just reverses the payment to the merchant in a 'chargeback', sometimes months later. Then the merchant has to appeal to get it back. So no the credit card companies don't care about fraud. I would ask for cash...
- jandrese 8y agoI was always asked for the deposit in cashier's check form, and I had a credit rating over 800 and a steady high paying job. It's a real hassle when you're new to the area and don't have the bank account moved over. Luckily convenience stores will write them for you but they charge for it.
- itakedrugs 8y agoI'm 36 too but I've issued hundreds of checks... and also issued some indirectly (Bank of America's bill payments issue paper checks to companies when they don't accept electronic payments)
- Merad 8y agoFair warning, I used to work for the company that makes BofA’s bill pay product, and it can have a mind of its own. Even payments that should always be electronic will sometimes decide to mail checks for reasons that you’ll never a get a good explanation for.
- hyperdimension 8y agoFiserv?
- sleet 8y agoProbably the big difference is that I live in New Zealand. We've had good electronic funds transfers systems for a long time.
- skookumchuck 8y agoI've been going back to written checks lately because of huge timewasting problems with electronic billpay systems - problems like the bank says they transmitted the money go talk to the vendor. The vendor says they never got it, go talk to the bank. Around and around and around. In the past, I'd wave around the cancelled check and resolve it quickly. With ebanking, it's hours and hours on the phone and sitting in the bank manager's office refusing to leave until they deal with it. With that particular one, I eventually made the bank issue a "clawback" on the funds they transmitted. Wonder of wonders, this caused the vendor to find the money they'd received :-)
- sleet 8y agoSorry to hear your woes. Most inter-bank transfers are settled within the hour here. Overnight at most. Hopefully your systems improve.
- lotsofpulp 8y agoI've never had a problem with Bank of America bill pay in the decade plus of using them. Never had to write a check in my life or have a checkbook. You just put in the name and address of who you want to pay, the amount, and BoA mails a check to them.
- supertrope 8y agoThe payments clearinghouse in USA is in need of an upgrade but no one wants to pay for it or suffer any downtime or errors. Waiting up to three days is the reason why Paypal/Venmo, credit cards, cash and wire transfers are still so popular but these fast options can carry hefty fees. e.g. Credit cards skim 2% of businesses' revenue, ATMs can charge $3, and wire transfers are 25USD. Banks also benefit from the liquidity problems that can result - it's another reason to apply for credit or leave a larger cash reserve on deposit.
- ryanhuff 8y agoAn upgrade is actually in progress. https://www.nacha.org/news/nacha-membership-approves-same-day-ach https://www.nacha.org/news/nacha-membership-approves-same-da...
- jdavis703 8y agoDo you still live with your parents or rent from a slum lord who only takes cash? Most landlords seem to only take cash or checks, it's really only the national apartment companies that take online payments.
- _asummers 8y agoMy landlord takes Chase Quick Pay, which is really nice.
- sleet 8y agoI live in New Zealand. Everything is done by electronic fund transfers. I have been a renter, now I'm a landlord. I have also run businesses.
- ajdlinux 8y agoHere in Australia I'm not even sure if my real estate agent would accept a cheque for rent at all - I'm pretty sure they told us from the outset that electronic payment was the only option they offer.
- dbetteridge 8y agoAustralia, pretty much everyone accepts BPay which is an online direct payment system or direct bank to bank transfers. These both take < 3 business days
- Reason077 8y agoEven waiting one day is pretty poor when it comes to funds transfer times, let alone three! It's a significant burden on commerce, businesses, and individuals to be without their funds for that long. And a big win for greedy banks who boost their balance sheets and profits by holding all those "in transit" funds. In the UK, the "Faster" payment system, introduced about 10 years ago, means that the vast majority of bank-to-bank funds transfers are completed instantly.
- 8y ago
- mulmen 8y agoThey can be pretty handy. I don't have a physical checkbook and that causes problems for me once or twice a year. Typically when I am buying motorcycles. Those transactions tend to take place on weekends when my bank is closed and for amounts larger than my ATM cash withdrawal limit. They also tend to occur with parties that do not accept electronic payment methods.
- stephen_g 8y agoI think the "parties not accepting electronic methods" bit is more surprising to people in places with more modern banking systems... In Australia you can hardly buy anything anymore with ordinary cheques (you can still use a bank cheque for a car from a dealer or deposit on a house something, but that's the kind that you go to the bank, pay a fee and they print it out). Hardly any private seller for a car or anything would ever take a cheque though - it's mostly always electronic. This year they're bringing in a real-time system (the current one is free overnight transfer to other banks and immediate for the same bank) which you can send people money immediately with just a mobile number.
- mulmen 8y agoThe last motorcycle I bought I had to wait two days to go to a physical branch and get a (free!) cashiers check then go back to the shop to buy the bike. We made the deal on a Saturday and the guy asked for a check and I said "It's 2018, I don't have a checkbook" to which he chuckled but it wasn't clear what I would have used instead. Normally I would just carry cash but I don't make habit of holding on to that much cash. There are billpay methods I could use with my bank but they are not instant, anything instant would have cost something like 3% which on ~$5,000.00 is not feasible. This is how it has always been (tm) here. It's interesting to hear about the glorious future that other countries have. How do you identify the account you are transferring to? I was technically interacting with a business, do they just give me a phone number/email and I use that? I think my bank is working on a way to do instant transfers but I'm not sure how any of that works.
- stephen_g 8y ago
- beedogs 8y agoThe American banking system is still basically at the level of the horse and buggy. Inter-bank transfers are next to impossible. Here in Australia, I can just give out my bank account number freely -- the worst you can do to me with that information is send me money.
- glenneroo 8y agoLikewise in most if not all of Europe.
- grkvlt 8y agoI _think_ you could set up a direct debit, for example: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7174760.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7174760.stm although this was almost ten years ago, i think the protections are still the same.
- stordoff 8y agoFWIW, that's mostly a non-issue because of the Direct Debit guarantee: > If an error is made in the payment of your Direct Debit, by the organisation or your bank or building society, you are entitled to a full and immediate refund of the amount paid from your bank or building society https://www.directdebit.co.uk/DirectDebitExplained/pages/directdebitguarantee.aspx https://www.directdebit.co.uk/DirectDebitExplained/pages/dir...
- jandrese 8y agoInter-bank (wire) transfers aren't that hard. You just need to ask your bank to do it. Sometimes you have to come in person to do it, sometimes a faxed signature is all you need. I've always been slightly nervous about how easy it is in fact, since anybody can forge a signature and send a fax. The big caveat is that the Fed likes to sit on the transfer for a day or two, or sometimes more. Very annoying if you are on a deadline for the money.
- Digital-Citizen 8y agoSome banks allow customers to send cheques/checks printed by the bank, even on a schedule. This makes it easy for the bank customer to routinely pay predictable bills or send someone money on a schedule without having to go through the hassle of setting up direct deposit to their bank account (which is needlessly difficult even transferring money across two customers of the same bank, or across two banks in the same country). But the paper sent is far too revealing. The amount of information printed is remarkably high in order to do something that should be considered routine by now. And cashing or depositing still requires physically depositing paper somewhere like a bank teller's station or some ATMs. Remarkably few places will accept a picture and conduct the transaction from information gleaned from the picture.
- Double_a_92 8y agoThat seems like a overly complicated workaround. The solution is to make the electronic banking work properly! Seriously how can that be?
- ptaipale 8y agoI'm 51 and the last time I used a cheque was 32 years ago, so go figure... direct debit bank cards became common here in about 1985.
- toephu2 8y agoIt amazes me that one person thinks the environment they live in is how the entire rest of the world lives too.
- 5555624 8y agoI'll write a check if charged a fee not to write one. A few years back, I lived in an apartment building that added the 3% processing fee if you paid by credit card and 1% to pay electronically from your checking account. I'd write a check and just drop it off when walking through the lobby. (They eventually dropped the charge for one's checking account.) The only check I routinely write now is to the gas company. They use Western Union as their payment processing vendor and WU charges $2.95. It's petty, but it's easy enough to write a check.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- krisdol 8y agoI’m 29. I and many people I know have used checks several times over the past decade. It always surprises me when I read these stories on hn about how checks are dead, but this is not dissimilar to the mentality that self driving cars will be ready any day now. Maybe this is how life is like in the Valley, but even so I doubt it’s the experience or thought process of the non-tech worker. I just used a check this month to pay for my earnest money deposit for a house I’m buying. Before that, I’ve had to use either money order or personal check for the deposit and application fee of every apartment I’ve ever rented. Several landlords only accepted checks for the regular rent as well. They weren’t slumlords (as some of the other commenters here assume), those who took only checks for rent were individuals who rented out a house or apartment building and took good care of it. I’ve paid my gas bills with checks back when I lived with college roommates. Checks aren’t as ubiquitous as they once were, but I remember in my life time, growing up, when they were ubiquitous.
- astura 8y agoI assume the person you are replying to is not American due to their spelling of "cheque."
- ghaff 8y agoIn the US, they're still a pretty standard way for individuals to pay each other or to settle accounts with service people. I don't write a lot but it's how I would square up with someone for a weekend trip or pay for my housekeeper or furnace servicing. I also "write" checks through my online banking but don't do those by hand.
- ryandrake 8y agoI use checks (USA) for all my bills (including online payment they my bank where they mail the checks for me) because most places either do not accept credit cards or they charge an outrageous fee to accept credit. Lots of local businesses, especially contractors, cleaners, etc, either do not accept credit or highly resist it.