Bob

drawing out the funds immediately isn't a problem, but it isn't properly cleared funds, more like a temporary fund status, if the cheque then bounces your in the shit for using the money etc...what really annoys is no cheque guarantee card and each place having different rules for cheques, now that's annoying...

AmerLisa

Yes I appreciate that, but that's not ever been the case. Where in the UK, it was always on hold until it cleared. Perhaps there are more incidents over there like that?

jamjar

When I was in England I rarely used cheques and I never kept a written balance. When I moved to the U.S. my husband had the same reaction.
Now I bank online and use quicken to balance the accounts. I import the transactions straight from the bank's website. We pay most bills online or using the bank's web bill pay. I use my debit card for just about everything (get cash back for using it) and only write checks for things like my son's school meals.
I think I'm too dependant on my debit card. Can't tell you how many times I have found myself at a toll booth on I-95 and realised I have no cash.

Big D

That is quite rare in the UK now though - especially DD

BigDavyG

Yep. Benefits are now paid directly into bank accounts in the UK, so even the very poor have them.

cpe111

I actually went into my bank armed with a chequebook and a utility bill - fully intending to pay the bill there - they looked at me like i was from Pluto ....

The banking system here invests huge sums of money in 'check' management - where else can you view a scanned picture of your checks online or even get the cancelled checks returned to you - yes, its definately a US thing. In the UK I used to go through a book of 30 cheques in maybe a year or two - here I go through a book every couple of months even though I pay as many bills as i can 'electronically'. Most of the online systems are just portals that front end a huge manual process.

The US banking system is archaic - probably not helped by the fact that there are so many of them - seems every small town west of Smallville has its own bank.

allserene

i will tell your wife naughty man ! good idea though... I will do the same .

My USc wife does the pencil checkbook thing - i use excel spreadsheet... i can see everything i spend and mark it when the bank statement (on screen) catches up... piece of cake.. then i analyse it with macro and compare it to year to date budget !

She gets 5 dollars 39 cents per 8.5 days to feed the cat !

She has no online account and its all done like 1955 in England (her not the cat)

The US is further back than New Zealand and that is saying sumfink !

I could rip these bozos off deluxe if I wanted to - no chip and pin credit cards either - dinosaurs or what !

Englishmum

Where are you located? Up here in NJ and go on the Turnpike (I-95) we just use the EZ Pass lanes at the tollbooths.....some of them now have high speed lanes so you need not slow down as you approach the overhead gantry. You don't ever need to use cash, credit or debit cards at the booths.

There is an electronic reader in our car and we top up the EZ pass account online from time to time....can also use it to go on bridges and tunnels in the Tri State area (and PA I think) and also for parking at Newark and JFK airports.

Bob

EZ only handy if you commute all the time, but for occasional interstate users...have to use cash really...and that's a pain finding enough quarters...and now they have raised rates to a stupid number like 60c and 85c on a stretch in maine...well annoying that *l*

CaliforniaBride

I really miss Direct Debit. They have a standing order thingy here but the amounts cannot vary each month. I just can't get my head around the fact that DD don't exist. It just seems so archaic to be writing a cheque for everything each month. He actually has to wonder if the bill doesn't come and call the company. And when we went away this summer he had a hell's game tring to pay bills in advance so they wouldn't be overdue when we got back.

I'm with you! Hubby keeps trying to get me to fill out the ledger thingy in the checkbook and I'm just incapable. Drives him mad that I even have a checkbook since it means the check numbers are out of sync with us both using a different checkbook. Even though I write about three checks a year!

CaliforniaBride

Ha! My words exactly!

fatbrit

They do have a variable debit thingy here, but it should be avoided at all costs since it has minimal protection for the customer and is abused by the corporate world without redress. It basically says, "Here's my bank account, take out whatever you need." It's common to be unable to cancel magazine subscriptions and gym memberships because they happily go on taking it out for ever whether you have cancelled whatever it is or not. The banks are singularly unhelpful with this and if it continues, sometimes the only solution is to start again with another checking account number. Madness!

CaliforniaBride

Still not for a variable amount. That's similar to a standing order not a DD. Have experienced the sign up problem though, I'm more careful these days.

RICH

I hate checks too.

In UK i wrote about 2 a year - to the local pizza delivery when pay day was still a couple of days away!

Here, ironically, the checks I write are to the uk credit cards i still owe, and rent. The apartment wont do dd.

As to the archaic us banking system, before i came stateside, I read the book and saw the film "catch me if you can" (DiCaprio) and could not fathom how he got away with it -now i see!

On a positive note to BoA. Yesterday my debit card would not work so I called and found out they put a hold on it due to "unusual activity". Turns out someone has my details and on Saturday while i was really visiting Tampa Zoo and using the card, I was also in Atlanta trying to buy out Sports Authority. They declined my Sports Authority transaction and suspended the card till the real me called to find out whats happening. Good news, I lost no money, bad news I have no card for a week till a replacement arrives.
weird at the time, but has its advantages.

Someone mentioned the paperwork and the patriot act at the bank. I recently worked for a bank as a temp. Sole purpose - to get the paperwork on file, required to identify the owners of new accounts with high balance, to "ensure" they were legit, and not funding terrorists or money laundering. It involved loads of forms, but no real independent verification that the info on them was correct/valid. The culture seems to be get the form filled and we are covered. And I got paid relatively well for that job too!
Rich

jamjar

I was in Maryland -- Baltimore metro area but just moved to Georgia. They have EZ Pass in Maryland too and you can use it on the PA turnpike and in Delaware. I just never applied for an EZ pass account --- kept saying I should every time I did the mad scramble for cash but then would promptly forget about it.