Random Thoughts

[kphoger]

... if people younger than us even write checks anymore.

I've had my current checking account for not quite 3 years and have written 5 paper checks.

I wrote three checks this weekend ...

Key context missing.

My wife and I were born in 1981-2.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

I wrote a check last spring/summer for passport renewal, since by mail was the only way to renew your passport at the time.

[JayhawkCO]

I don't remember the last time I wrote a check. I've done plenty of e-checks. But a physical check? Probably been maybe 3-4 years?

[kphoger]

I wrote a check last spring/summer for passport renewal, since by mail was the only way to renew your passport at the time.

I think the only time I write checks anymore is at the DMV, at the tag office, or doing passport applications/renewals.  I detect a theme...

[PColumbus73]

... if people younger than us even write checks anymore.

I've had my current checking account for not quite 3 years and have written 5 paper checks.

I wrote three checks this weekend ...

Key context missing.

My wife and I were born in 1981-2.

I pay my utilities by check. (I was born in 1990).

[gonealookin]

... if people younger than us even write checks anymore.

I've had my current checking account for not quite 3 years and have written 5 paper checks.

I wrote three checks this weekend ...

Key context missing.

My wife and I were born in 1981-2.

I'm 64.  As to the reluctance to allow companies to pull money from an account, I have a separate account that I only keep enough money in to cover that month's bills, so no overdraw could get that much.  The main CMA where I keep most of my cash, I do pay bills out of it but those are push payments via the bill pay, not pulls.

[formulanone]

... or copies of people's bad checks (which pre-dates you).

My wife mentioned the other day that we need to make sure our eldest son has a bank account and knows how to write a check before he leaves home.  I asked her if people younger than us even write checks anymore.

Bank account, yes;  checks, I'm guessing no.

We did that last year when my daughter was able to open a checking account.

...and don't forget this pointless and excessively long line, so the recipient doesn't scribble "and one million" between 42/100 and the pre-printed DOLLARS...

When I was a kid my parents let me play around with some old checkbooks, so I was able practice a bankbook balance and check writing.

[Rothman]

Just had to deal with a check where the number and written-out amounts differed and I had to go back to the check-writer for the missing $700...Good thing we were on good terms...

[kphoger]

Just had to deal with a check where the number and written-out amounts differed and I had to go back to the check-writer for the missing $700...Good thing we were on good terms...

I've heard that the numerals take precedence, and that the words are just there for kicks.  Is there any truth to that?

[1995hoo]

Just had to deal with a check where the number and written-out amounts differed and I had to go back to the check-writer for the missing $700...Good thing we were on good terms...

I've heard that the numerals take precedence, and that the words are just there for kicks.  Is there any truth to that?

I've always heard the opposite.

[kkt]

... or copies of people's bad checks (which pre-dates you).

My wife mentioned the other day that we need to make sure our eldest son has a bank account and knows how to write a check before he leaves home.  I asked her if people younger than us even write checks anymore.

Bank account, yes;  checks, I'm guessing no.

I taught my kid how to write a check a few years ago.  What was it for... Oh, yes, it was the first year the kid earned some wages in a summer job and I encouraged and helped to get a retirement account set up and max out her allowed contributions.  It'll have many years to grow before it's needed.

[Rothman]

Just had to deal with a check where the number and written-out amounts differed and I had to go back to the check-writer for the missing $700...Good thing we were on good terms...

I've heard that the numerals take precedence, and that the words are just there for kicks.  Is there any truth to that?

I've always heard the opposite.

^This.  The written word takes precedence over the numbers in the box.

[Scott5114]

Just had to deal with a check where the number and written-out amounts differed and I had to go back to the check-writer for the missing $700...Good thing we were on good terms...

I've heard that the numerals take precedence, and that the words are just there for kicks.  Is there any truth to that?

I experimented one time by depositing a check to myself (from an account at one bank to one at another, differing by some trivial amount like $1) and the words took precedence.

As for writing checks in general...I still have to do it from time to time because I still have a CU account in Oklahoma and their system doesn't agree with the CU in Nevada for some reason, so I can't just EFT from one to the other. But the last time I was writing checks on a regular basis was 2020, as I was still doing my utilities by mail up to then. What made me stop was USPS losing my electric bill payment, so I had to pay a late fee. Now I do everything electronically, meaning half the time I forget to do it because I don't have a physical piece of paper on my desk reminding me to do it, so I pay more late fees because of that. 

[1995hoo]

The main reason I write checks is to move money around between accounts we have at different banks. Writing a check and doing either a mobile deposit or an ATM deposit means the deposit posts, and the money is available for use, more quickly than it does with an electronic transfer. When I do an electronic transfer, often the deposit will post within a day or two but the bank will then put a hold on the money for several days (which is damn annoying if you're moving a small amount and your bank balance is significantly larger such that the bank faces no risk if the transfer bounces).

Regarding electronic bill payments, I first tried that out around 2003 or 2004 when the bank introduced it and offered $25 if you tried "e-bills" where the creditor sends an electronic bill, it shows up in your account, and you then program the payment (this is not the same as their withdrawing money automatically—with the e-bill, you have to authorize the amount and the payment date after the e-bill arrives). At the time, State Farm had introduced a $3 monthly fee for paper statements, so I decided to try the e-bills and the electronic payment. It was much faster and easier than mailing a check, so I quickly converted to that method for almost all creditors.

My mother took a lot longer. She took over managing their money after my father had a stroke in 2002. He recovered far better than the doctors expected, but she continued to manage the money. For some reason, though, she refused to try electronic bill payments because she knew he was deadly opposed to them (I still don't know why). He was opposed to ATMs as well and my mother has still never used one. Anyway, after he died, she kept doing things the way she always had until one check didn't reach a creditor. She stopped payment on it and made a payment over the phone. Then a month or two later, someone tried to present that check for payment—and the amount had been altered to $15,000. She asked me to come over that weekend and show her how to use the electronic bill payment. Instant convert.

[gonealookin]

The main reason I write checks is to move money around between accounts we have at different banks. Writing a check and doing either a mobile deposit or an ATM deposit means the deposit posts, and the money is available for use, more quickly than it does with an electronic transfer. When I do an electronic transfer, often the deposit will post within a day or two but the bank will then put a hold on the money for several days (which is damn annoying if you're moving a small amount and your bank balance is significantly larger such that the bank faces no risk if the transfer bounces).

In my experience, the availability of the cash depends on how you initiate the EFT transaction.

Say you want to move money from a Chase account to a Citi account.  If you put in the order on the Chase web site, the transaction should post the next day and the money is available immediately at Citi.  That's a "push" transfer.  If you didn't have sufficient funds in the Chase account, Chase would have rejected the transfer.

If you do it on the Citi web site and ask them to take the money out of your Chase account, it's a "pull" transfer and Citi may put a hold on the cash for a few days, because they don't know if you have enough money in the Chase account to cover the request.

[GaryV]

I just wrote a check to pay for my participation in a handbell choir. (It's considered a "class" at the city senior center.) Two check numbers before was my payment for last semester. In between we wrote one check for a graduation gift. Yeah, probably could have done an electronic transfer for that last one, but then you'd have to ask the recipient where to send it, and that's kind of gauche for a gift in my mind.

[kphoger]

handbell choir

Hey, by the way...

I've never been in a handbell choir outside of one specific church, and we all marked the sheet music with colored pencils.  (If my bells were E, F, F#, and G#, then I'd use four different colors and mark only those notes.)  But I've heard that such a practice is actively discouraged in "respectable" handbell choirs.  I assume this means it's considered something that only children or inexperienced players would ever do, whereas real musicians are able to just pick their notes out of the normal sheet music.

Is that true?  Is it discouraged or otherwise frowned upon?

[GaryV]

we all marked the sheet music with colored pencils

My wife actually uses highlighter markers for beginners at church. (Beginners being anyone from their first time playing to those who haven't advanced that far despite playing for a while, sometimes a long while.) A few mark their own music; a couple don't mark it at all except for some reminders (e.g. accidentals or time signature changes).

In the community choir she directs, they mark their own music however they like. PSA: don't try to play off Jodi's music because you'll be confused beyond hope.

In the choir I just paid for, we share one set of sheet music between two players (except in the bass, because the bells are so much larger and you have to be farther apart). So minimal marking.

Are we randomly far enough off topic now? (Is there a topic to be off topic from?)

[kphoger]

In the choir I just paid for, we share one set of sheet music between two players (except in the bass, because the bells are so much larger and you have to be farther apart). So minimal marking.

Growing up, that's what we did in church too.  So people just picked two different sets of colors and each only paid attention to his or her colors.

[vdeane]

I actually have had a check process with the wrong amount because my handwriting wasn't neat enough on the number and I didn't catch it in time on the screen at the ATM (I think I made a 9 look like a 7 or something like that).  Luckily these were both accounts I control and the difference was a matter of cents.

At the time, State Farm had introduced a $3 monthly fee for paper statements, so I decided to try the e-bills and the electronic payment. It was much faster and easier than mailing a check, so I quickly converted to that method for almost all creditors.

Lucky.  Paper statements are mandatory for insurance in NY, so I can't go electronic only.  I have to wait after I get the email for the mailed bill to come so I can easily keep track of them together.

Now I do everything electronically, meaning half the time I forget to do it because I don't have a physical piece of paper on my desk reminding me to do it, so I pay more late fees because of that

I use my email inbox to do that, but of course that requires keeping a clean inbox, and I'm the only person I know who does that.

[mgk920]

I hardly use email anymore due to the (many years long) lingering very bad signal to noise ratio.

Mike

[1995hoo]

I hardly use email anymore due to the (many years long) lingering very bad signal to noise ratio.

Mike

Text messages are starting to go down that road. I'm getting really tired of unsolicited political messages. If you want a way to get me to vote for your opponent, start sending me constant political spam.

[hotdogPi]

Text messages are starting to go down that road. I'm getting really tired of unsolicited political messages. If you want a way to get me to vote for your opponent, start sending me constant political spam.

Except sometimes it is the opposition pretending to be the side they claim to support. I remember it happening in Massachusetts for the 2012 Senate race. It wasn't spam but rather a 6:15 AM phone call claiming to be from the Elizabeth Warren campaign, actually made by the Scott Brown campaign.

[Roadgeekteen]

I hardly use email anymore due to the (many years long) lingering very bad signal to noise ratio.

Mike

Text messages are starting to go down that road. I'm getting really tired of unsolicited political messages. If you want a way to get me to vote for your opponent, start sending me constant political spam.

Well, after this November those should be far less frequent for you.

[1995hoo]

I hardly use email anymore due to the (many years long) lingering very bad signal to noise ratio.

Mike

Text messages are starting to go down that road. I'm getting really tired of unsolicited political messages. If you want a way to get me to vote for your opponent, start sending me constant political spam.

Well, after this November those should be far less frequent for you.

Not really. It'll just change which race it is (we have governor this year, then next year is Congress and one of two US Senate seats). Plus I seem to get year-round crap from out-of-state organizations or politicians. And it comes from both sides.