NC Penguin

I'm probably not alone as a British BE member who's shocked to have to pay for checks in the US.

Where do you order your checks?

Immediately after we moved to the new house last year, we automatically ordered checks from our bank. One box of 150 checks (with duplicates) cost a little under $17.00.

Not wanting to pay that much, I ordered two boxes from Checks Unlimited. This is for a total of 300 checks (again, duplicates) and this cost $16.00 with free Shipping and Handling.

The downside to ordering online is that the checks could take as long as 3 weeks to be delivered (would be two weeks but I'm a new customer to Checks Unlimited so they verify my details with my bank).




NC Penguin

fatbrit

What are you using checks for? Sign up for interet bill pay -- it's easier and cheaper. We write maybe 10 checks a year for odd stuff -- everything else goes thru' bill pay.

BritGuyTN

Yeah, although it initially may seem tough, you can do a lot to eradicate checks

i point blank refuse to take personal checks from friends for stuff, if they own me money I need cash (free electronic transfers are not prevalant like in the UK)

NC Penguin

Mostly for bills. If "Bill Pay" is like a standing order then I'd rather hold off using this mechanism since I'm not wholly convinced that things work smoothly in the US yet.





NC Penguin

Manc

I guess it's no riskier than trusting a check in the mail with the USPS.

fatbrit

Nope, it's not like a standing order or DD. These things I would never recommend in the US as they are simply too unsafe.

Think of Bill Pay as an electronic browser-based checkbook. You tell the bank to pay the bill when it arrives by USPS. You specify the payee, your account number with the payee, their address, the amount you are going to pay, and the date you want to initiate the transaction. The bank has 2 options: if the payee is a common one and they have a relationship with them (e.g. Verizon Wireless), they will send them an electronic payment; if the payee is not known to them (e.g. your dentist), the bank will print and mail them a check on your behalf. The former takes around 3 business days, the latter 5.

It is totally safe, and in nearly 4 years of using it with 3 different banks, I have never had a single problem with it. Recommended!

Who do you bank with? I’m pretty sure they’ll have a Bill Pay system. It’s often free, but some charge up to $10.

fatbrit

Get a multimedia demo here. Would avoid the "e-Bill" service -- I like paper records! Though I might consider it if we didn't have lockable post boxes in our area.

fatbrit

Don't you love the way the bank charges you if you pay in a check that bounces! Don't think American's will ever have them pried from their cold head fingers. The banking system is in the friggin’ dark ages.

Before I came to America, I lived in the newly-liberated Eastern Block during its transition. The banking system progressed from passbooks to state-of-the-art banking in a couple of years. Paying your bills from the internet was a real-time transaction directly into the payee’s account, and access to your accounts was incredibly secure using secondary one-time passwords sent to your mobile phone as you logged in. Moving to the states is like going back in time…

cindyabs

Bank of America has it and it's free. You pick the payment date and they tell you how long it takes to process the payment. You get a confirmation number showing the payment that can be printed off instantaneously.
I still use checks if I want to pay on my mortgage and show that I want x amount for the payment and x amount for additional principal or whatever. Still between ATM payments and online, the need for regular paper checks has gone down dramatically!!

ladylisa

I cannot believe the Americans tollerate being charged a fee to use an ATM that does not belong to their bank. The banks in the UK tried that and there was merry hell.

The other thing that gets me and I dont know if its just a Wisconsin thing is being charged an extortionate insurance fee if you cannot put down a 20% deposit when getting a mortgage. Is this nationwide?

fatbrit

Can't remember on BoA Bill Pay (it was the first one I used, but I left them a while back), but on my current bank's Bill Pay you still get the option of the memo line, which I use for additional instruction, e.g. Excess funds to principal ONLY.

fatbrit

The rule is that there are no rules -- shop about!

Ray

well I like checks!!! and I like the various designs you can get...I dont want to know about all their new fangled systems.. thank you ...
Next your be telling me my 8 track stereo has to be updated..

BritGuyTN

PMI is nationwide and is designed to cover the risk of taking on a borrower who may walk away

alos in the UK they have started charging for ATMs again...

Whats really bad using the US ATM is that you get charged by the bank whose atm you are using and also a disloyalty charge from your own bank

fatbrit

So, do the NRA do good designs?