Weird banking question

[KSig RC]

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?

[Tom Earp]

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.

[KSig RC]

Originally Posted by Drolefille

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.

This is my whole point, really.

Originally Posted by Tom Earp

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.

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.

[Drolefille]

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.

[Drolefille]

Originally Posted by KSig RC

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?

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.