Weird banking question
 

Do any of you have a checking account where you have a debit card only and can't write actual physical checks?

Even if you do have them there (this is for the younger set) do you actually use the checks at all? Or do you look at them like "WTF are these things?"

Thanks :)

I haven't writen a check in probably three years. They have an address on them that I haven't lived at since 2003 . . . in fact, I'm not really sure where my checkbook is located (in a Ty Webb moment).

That's about how I am. If I absolutely need a check, I either get a money order, or I have my mom write one, and I e-pay her the money through my bank (for free) - why waste $$ on checks when my bank will send them for free....

I still occasionally use checks. I use them if I'm making a big purchase, like textbooks. When I left for college, my dad told me to do that, because checks leave a better paper trail than using a debit card. I don't know if that's true or not, it made sense at the time. The last time I bought checks was maybe 2 years ago, and I've only gone through one book.

I'm going ot keep my checkbook with me. I seem to demagnitize my damn debit card every other 6 months or so, and that 2-3 week shipping time is brutal.

I only use checks for big things, or things that I need a paper trail for, like rent. Other than that, it goes on the debit card.

I still use cheques for paying things like rent, alumnae dues, dance class fees. I also need void cheques for direct deposit at work and monthly car insurance payments. Although I don't use them like I use to, i.e. for paying monthly bills - that's now all done online.

I use checks for mortgage and a couple of other bills, but for the most part I use my debit.

Damn Canadians.;) :D

Perhaps my age is showing (and I'm really not that old), but I'm exactly the opposite. I destroy my debit cards whenever I receive them. While I can see their convenience, I'm terrified of what would happen should my wallet get stolen. Credit card companies will protect you, and so will your bank (if it's obviously not your signature on the check), but debit cards aren't nearly so safe. At least, that's what I've always thought, anyway.

Actually that's not true anymore. I have 100 percent protection, on my debit/check card if it were to be stolen. I think on my credit card, I'm still responsible for the first $50. I think most check and debit cards offer that protection.

I usually don't write checks, except for my dog walker. She prefers to have checks. Other than that it's bill pay through my bank, or debit card.

As long as you don't actively give out your PIN, you should be protected through your bank if you report a card lost within 2 days of realizing it's missing. Even writing your PIN on your card (DON'T DO IT) doesn't count as giving it out to people.

I use checks more often now than I did in school. In school the only checks I wrote were, occasionally, between bank accounts and to the sorority. Now I use them to pay bills, because until recently I haven't been able to get settled enough to use my online bill pay. And I do tend to take advantage of the ability to float checks. Even at Walmart where they run it as an electronic debit, it still takes a day or two to hit your account. :o I really shouldn't do that.

WTF?? A bank would actually insure someone stupid enough to write their PIN on their card???

Yes, my checkings account is set up like this. I have a debit card, and I have checks as well, but because my account is set up the way it is, I'm not allowed to use the checks and I can't order them either. I have the Wachovia free student checking account.

I hate it when I have to go look for my checkbook because I can never find it. The last time was a check to the US Department of State for a passport. Otherwise I probably write about 3 checks a year.

Not to go too far off topic, does anyone else's bank offer Deposit @ Home where you scan the checks you need to deposit yourself and then send the scan to the bank? I was a little weirded out by it at first but I love it now. It has revolutionized my banking because now I do not need deposit slips or envelopes, nor do I have to wait for the mail to deliver my check to the bank for deposit. It's available the next day.

That's exactly what I wanted to know - if this sort of thing exists. Thanks!! By the way, you have a cool number in your name. ;)

Thanks everyone else too for their input.

Sadly yes. As long as they report it in the time given. It doesn't fall under the narrow guidelines of "giving out" your PIN, probably because you didn't intentionally hand out your card either.

The banking regulations are really specific, and so are the internal policies. Some banks might specifically deny claims with the PIN on the back but if the card is lost, how are you going to prove it? I've had to report mine missing before to a larger bank and they did ask me if I had written the PIN on the back or kept it in the wallet or anything, but I think this was for their own information.

I use checks a few times a month - donations at church, items here or there at school, and rent.

The husband rarely uses checks, he always either takes out cash to have on hand or uses the debit as a credit card.

I tend to write more checks as I almost never have cash on hand and it's kind of a PITA to get to a bank-owned ATM (whereas husband has one in his office building). Plus after 10 debit transactions, our CU starts charging $.50 for every non-CU POS use.

i write checks at daycare-- they dont take cards and i dont want to drop $200 in cash each week in the box.
i dont order checks though- i write so few, 4 a month- that i go to the bank and the girl prints out a couple of sheets for me.

The only check that I write consistantly is for rent. Other than that, I hardly ever write checks. Right now I'm waiting on my new checks because I want to switch my direct deposit and work needs a voided check to set it up.

Yes, I know of several people who have the "E-Z Checking" (that's what Citibank calls it) account.

I write checks about 5-8 times a month, between rent, weekly PT appointments, and student loans and club charges.

I try to pay as much online or by debit card as possible. I write a monthly check for rent and for the one credit card I use. Everything else is set up to auto-debit or is paid online. It's more convenient for me. I check my accounts at least once every two days online.

I do. I have two accts one with check writing and the other without. The one without is for direct deposit of alimony and child support purposes only so my ex husband could not have my other acct info and also so i won't comingle it with my own earnings.


With my checking acct with checks i only use checks on places that dont use electronic means of payment. I pretty much bank and pay bills online or debit it.

Some times it is nice to have a paper trail espc. for IRS!

They demand it. Been there 7 times and it sucks!:mad:

For everyone talking about a "paper trail" . . . I don't get where the paper trail is missing from debit transactions. Doesn't a receipt carry just as much weight as a canceled check? Can't the bank lose or forget to send a canceled check just as an electronic copy?

I get the rent issue if your landlord is a douche, but I don't mind direct withdrawal there either (again, for the recording purposes above) - am I naive/too trusting/too Gen Y here?

Ah, only if there is not a break down on the computor link?

Oh, tell me it does not happen?:(

where do your checks go when the are written?

Not in your possesion, but stored in caves that we are paying for.:(

Since all of your checks are processed electronically, there isn't much more of a paper trail. They're all scanned onto servers and usually you don't get "cancelled" checks back, you get images of the check. After the processing, there's just as much proof of a check as there is of the debit.

Server problems happen, but they are backed up offsite daily. There's a limit to the amount of data that can be lost barring a big catastrophe. And even then the offsite storage is supposed to be a sufficient distance away to prevent that.

This is my whole point, really.

Tom, uh . . . the bank losing your canceled check is just as likely as losing your electronic information - there are approximately equivalent procedures in place (in fact, I'm pretty sure they're literally analogous), so I'm not sure why you feel 'safer' the old way.

Add to this the fact that receipts are entirely in your possession (and there is some degree of retailer potential as well, past the simple "welp, cashed the check") and I don't get it.

Yeah I was agreeing, it was more coherent than trying to pick apart Earp's post because it makes my brain hurt sometimes. :)

Oh, also, off the top of my head I think they shred your cancelled checks once they're imaged. I don't know if paper copies are kept anymore, but I'm not involved in operations and I haven't audited it so I don't know exactly.