US Checks
 

WTF is the 'For' bit in the bottom left about?

I take it the 'Pay To Order' bit is just like English ones pretty much. Who you're making it out to on the first line, then the amount in 'words' on the second. Signature in bottom-right.

What's weird is that I've filled dozens of US cheques in before last time I lived here, but I've just plain forgot what the 'For' bit is about... Or maybe those cheques didn't have it?

Cheers.

Re: US Checks
 

My J P Morgan Chase chequebook doesn't have 'for' written on it, but it does have a line which says "Memo". This is for writing a note to yourself to remind you what the cheque was for eg. paying the guy who cuts your lawn, gutter cleaner, school trip etc. I still find it weird that our bank sends a tiny photocopy of each cheque we've written out when they mail a statement to us....it's like out of the Dark ages the way banking is operated here.

We rarely write out cheques these days, try and do most of it online and I still can't get over the fact that the bank writes out and mails the cheques for us rather than crediting directly the bank account of the payee (except for in rare cases with a large organisation).... :confused: :rolleyes:

Re: US Checks
 

Its a memo bit. Put in there the details of what the check is payment for. (ie account number for utilities etc)

Re: US Checks
 

Just put in "for sexual services" in all the memo sections ... They don't like ..

Re: US Checks
 

hahaha, that cracked me up too! But then I would rather they write the checks out and mail them than me :D

I have to say the only one our bank does have to write out now is the gardener's check. All the others are done electronically. Maybe, if your bank are still doing more handwritten checks than not, they need to check to make sure that some places haven't changed over to electronic transfer. I have noticed in the last 18 months that the number of checks having to be written by the banks has slowly gone down and transferred over to electronic.

I find that little 'for' bit on the checks quite handy for the children's stuff. We have 3 children and if they need a check for a trip or lunch money then I just put which child it is for so I know what I have paid for incase anything gets lost.

Re: US Checks
 

Like your prescription for Viagra, for example? :D



NC Penguin

Re: US Checks
 

Prescription ... I need the delivery truck...

Re: US Checks
 

I thought they just added it to the water down there for the benefit of all the retirees.

Re: US Checks
 

And I though it was just Chlorine

Re: US Checks
 

Thought it tasted funny....the missus doesnt mind though.

Re: US Checks
 

[QUOTE=Angry White Pyjamas]Thought it tasted funnyQUOTE]

Better have your eyes checked constantly then.. :D

Re: US Checks
 

Apparently we are still a couple of years away from a "fully integrated" banking system in the US - where the banks, or customers, can send electronic payments (wires) for next day settlement to any other US bank. .... It bugs the he11 out of me that my bank can place a "hold" on a check I deposit for upto a week(!) to ensure that it doesn't bounce when the bank that the money is coming from is in the same city, and place a hold for longer if it is an out of state check. How do you think they send checks for processing here? in packs carried by lame mules? :confused:

Re: US Checks
 

the only time our bank has ever put a hold on a check was when it was over a set amount (I think it is $1,000) and then it is only for 2 days if it was in-state. And out of state checks which take 10 days to clear. All other checks are cleared almost instantly. I know one of the reasons is because they don't have a central clearing house like you do in the UK. I wondered if the banks here are like the old building societies in the UK where they had to have a bank account to deposit all checks. It would explain why we have to sign the back of the checks here, just as we had to do with a building society back home.