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By: dejah420

Is it common for people to still use checks/cheques in the US I vary rarely use them for my personal accounts, but I often use them for my business account. If you deposit a check, you still have to...

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By: amberglow

oh, i thought they were talking about what i was, which is what you said. : >

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By: occhiblu

I think y'all are arguing about different things. Amberglow is talking (I think) about depositing a check, and then during the 3-5 days when that check is already deposited in your account, writing a...

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By: five fresh fish

It only works in one direction so that the banks can make more money. Three days worth of billions of dollars of cheques equals a hefty amount of investment interest made, and account interest unpaid.

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By: Ethereal Bligh

Hmm. I was just told the thing about check dates by a former banker, who explained it authoritatively. That's what I get for believing her...my mom.

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By: PinkStainlessTail

The word "months" appears in the post directly above yours. Peripheral vision is a mischevious pixie.

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By: Civil_Disobedient

We're both out money. Don't know why I typed 'month'.

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By: Civil_Disobedient

This has already been said in other ways, I just wanted to add THIS IS BULLSHIT. If you deposit a check, you still have to wait 3-5 days for it to clear. So this magical happy-dust technology only...

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By: amberglow

I had that six months thing happen too, except it was a check i deposited--it cleared, and they credited my account after a week, and then 2 weeks after that, took the cash back out. And mailed me the...

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By: DBAPaul

By the way, banks don't even bother looking at the dates of checks when they process them anymore. Wrong on this point, EB. I recently had a check that I wrote (and dated) over six months ago returned...

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By: amberglow

I'd think if it was illegal it would have been mentioned in the many articles about this new law, and its effects. I'll have to see a cite proving it, please.

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By: sixdifferentways

Metafilter: Don't be a criminal, and you won't have any problems.

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By: kindall

If you put a check in the mail on Saturday night knowing there's no mail pickup til Monday am--and you're waiting for a check to clear (that you deposited last Monday, but it hasn't cleared as of...

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By: Ethereal Bligh

But that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about taking advantage of the float time due to processing of the check, not that it's in the mail if you mail it. That's writing a check for a...

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By: amberglow

It's completely different from your example of borrowing money. We write a check in anticipation of our own deposited checks clearing in time. When you write a check, all you've done is make marks on...

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By: Ethereal Bligh

Amberglow, how is that any different from borrowing money from somone without their permission and paying it back before they notice it? Answer: it's not. If the money isn't in your account when you...

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By: amberglow

So then they should be conservative with the fees they impose too then. When we write checks assuming the money will have cleared by the time they're deposited, we're just acting normally--it's not an...

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By: Ethereal Bligh

When you write a check for money that's not in your account, but you cover it during the float, then you've borrowed that amount of money from someone for free for that length of time. Without their...

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By: Ynoxas

I'm not a stupid person, but I do not understand how this should not speed credits to the same degree. Example: I write a check to Wal-Mart. They scan my check with their cool machine that immediately...

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By: kindall

I don't think Bush is going to listen to lil ol' me.

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By: ed

I had to learn my lesson the hard way. But others don't have to. If your lifestyle, however modest, requires that you take advantage of float, you are living beyond your means. kindall: Why not tell...

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By: skallas

Of course the bank's defense is going to be, "Well, we have to wait on those checks, they might be bad!" Hey, how about the ability to transfer funds just by connecting two debit cards? Or a free...

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By: skallas

SO they can still keep their policies of "deposits will take 3-5 days to credit" yet if I write a check during this period suddenly I'm the bad guy? Oh please, this is a big handout to the bankers. All...

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By: amberglow

What lord_wolf said. And this is my response as well to the direct deposit thing mentioned above--...maybe there was a problem with payroll at your job and your direct deposit didn't go through on the...

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By: lord_wolf

kindall, i get what you're saying, and i agree to an extent: if you're floating checks on a regular basis, you need to reexamine your behavior and priorities. however, i think you're not recognizing...

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By: whatnot

And as for you guys advocating online or automatic payments, personally I stay as far away from that sort of thing as I can. Basically, you are giving control of your personal finances to your electric...

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By: kindall

kindall and Juicylicious, have either of you ever been so poor as to have to float a check till payday or even steal food in order to eat? Or just go a day or two without any food at all? If not, I...

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By: bashos_frog

The banks not only process debits first, they process debits in size order from largest to smallest, to maximize the overdraft penalties. If you have $100 in your account, and you write 9 checks for...

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By: MetalDog

Maybe I'm being dense, but doesn't this make check fraud even easier? Not for the average middle class joe trying to fudge the time period between the paycheck and the rent payment, but for the actual...

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By: Juicylicious

Maybe it will instill some empathy for the plight of the poor in you. Well thank for that presumptuous and patronizing post. Take a look at Amberglow's post and my response.

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By: Shane

Maybe it will instill some empathy for the plight of the poor in you. Oops, badly worded sentence: If there are "poor [people] in you", then obviously you've been eating the poor when you should just...

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By: Hlewagast

Disclosure: I work at a small-ish financial institution that has been preparing for Check 21 for months. I've heard a lot of these concerns before, and I'd like to try to explain a few things....

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By: Shane

As I said, it's been illegal for years, so you shouldn't have been doing it to begin with. Don't be a criminal, and you won't have any problems. "Poor" does not equate irresponsibility. Don't spend if...

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By: AstroGuy

Check kiting has always been illegal. No big deal. But note that all "float" does not dissapear here. There is still time in transit for any bills you mail out (anyone still do that?). As far as...

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By: Juicylicious

It's not poor grad students, but millions of poorer and working class people who have already deposited their paychecks, but can't access their money--something this law does nothing to fix at all....

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By: reverendX

amberglow: direct deposit?

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By: loquacious

The true working poor don't - and sometimes just won't - use banks. The middle class uses banks. (Note, I'm probably "middle class", whatever the hell that means. I ate beans and rice two nights this...

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By: quonsar

Don't be a criminal, and you won't have any problems."What is the robbing of a bank compared to the founding of a bank?" - Bertold Brecht

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By: weston

kindall: is it criminal for me to deposit a check, wait two days and then write a draft on those funds? This isn't an issue for me right now, as I generally am pretty good at planning in advance and...

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By: amberglow

It's not poor grad students, but millions of poorer and working class people who have already deposited their paychecks, but can't access their money--something this law does nothing to fix at all. And...

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By: Mars Saxman

Screw the working poor. Make them pay the penalties so the rest of us can have low- or no-fee accounts. I would have wasted a lot less money in penalties back when I was "working poor" if my bank...

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By: Juicylicious

Don't give a dance if you can't pay the band or what kindall said. Screw the working poor."Poor" does not equate irresponsibility. Don't spend if you ain't got it. And if you ain't got it, then you eat...

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By: zeoslap

There is a story about this in this weeks Economist you can read it here but it'll cost ya 2.95. Apparently in the US cheques are still very popular and after 9/11 when flights were shut down banks...

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By: sonofsamiam

Don't pass wrong-headed laws, and people won't be criminals.

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By: kindall

As I said, it's been illegal for years, so you shouldn't have been doing it to begin with. Don't be a criminal, and you won't have any problems.

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By: whatnot

Since writing a check when you don't have the funds in your account to cover it has been illegal for years, this shouldn't affect anyone. Right, only the ones who deserve it, like those living paycheck...

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By: amberglow

If Check 21 starts Thursday, does the bouncing start Friday?-- To suggest that many bank customers are unhappy with a new law known as Check 21 is like saying that Yankees fans are a bit peevish about...

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By: Karmakaze

What about checks that you deposit? Well, the float is no longer available to you, the customer. But the bank still will hold a deposit for a few days to make sure it clears. It's not fair, but it's...

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By: pardonyou?

This is a gigantic windfall for banks, and sucks for us, as usual. Check floating was never a designed "feature" of the banking system -- it was a byproduct of the amount of time that it took for banks...

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By: kindall

Since writing a check when you don't have the funds in your account to cover it has been illegal for years, this shouldn't affect anyone.

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