Why I Prefer to Pay Cash

[Raineyrocks]

Last year after Liberty Forum, I took all the cash receipts to my bank to deposit into my account (then mailed a check to the FSP to be deposited into its account).  It was definitely over $1000, maybe over $2K, I can't remember.  Anyway, as I was walking away from the counter afterwards, I glanced at the receipt the teller had given me and realized there was someone else's name printed on it!!!!  I brought this to the attention of the bank teller and he acted very nonchalant about it and reprocessed my transaction.  He had credited my cash to someone else's account and almost lost/stole a ton of money from me right in front of my face.  Maybe I should have got that guy fired. 

Wow, it's a good thing you looked at the transaction slip!  I always check out stuff like that and I watch the prices of my groceries as they scan them too.   

I have always signed Rick's paychecks when I deposited them so the 1st time I did that up here they accused me of forgery after the bank teller compared our signatures on file.   I was so pissed especially because I was depositing the whole thing.

[KBCraig]

I have always signed Rick's paychecks when I deposited them so the 1st time I did that up here they accused me of forgery after the bank teller compared our signatures on file.   I was so pissed especially because I was depositing the whole thing.

That's crazy. You don't even have to sign a check to deposit it to an account that shares the same name.

[Raineyrocks]

I have always signed Rick's paychecks when I deposited them so the 1st time I did that up here they accused me of forgery after the bank teller compared our signatures on file.   I was so pissed especially because I was depositing the whole thing.

That's crazy. You don't even have to sign a check to deposit it to an account that shares the same name.

Really?  Well then your right it is crazy!  I just got upset being accused of forgery, geesh I wish I knew you didn't even have to sign a check that was being deposited.  That's weird because they still have us sign everything.

[Pat McCotter]

I was always taught to write "For Deposit Only Acct #12345 Xxxxx Bank" on checks made out to me or my wife and then it could then not be endorsed by anyone else. (your own accct# and bank name. ) I never did ask anyone at a bank, though.

[toowm]

My wife worked as a bank teller through HS and college, and she really stood out because she almost always had a balanced cash drawer at the end of each day. None of the other tellers were even close. With computerization, I expect the errors are less frequent, but much larger, because everyone thinks it must be right.

Not to hijack a thread, but doctors are just as bad as banks. We just waited an hour and a half to be told that the labwork wasn't done and we'll have to reschedule. 

[grasshopper]

AL did this to my buddy, his mom and an other buddys kid, all in 1 month.  I hope "they" (aol owners) all rot in hell.

[Raineyrocks]

My wife worked as a bank teller through HS and college, and she really stood out because she almost always had a balanced cash drawer at the end of each day. None of the other tellers were even close. With computerization, I expect the errors are less frequent, but much larger, because everyone thinks it must be right.

Not to hijack a thread, but doctors are just as bad as banks. We just waited an hour and a half to be told that the labwork wasn't done and we'll have to reschedule. 

You must have been irritated to say the least.  I think it's so unfair that doctors have "must cancel your appointment within 24 hours or pay" signs up yet when you  go to the doctors, gee sometimes they're not there or you get stuck waiting for over an hour to be seen.  I actually argued with a doctor about the unfairness of her sign and my wait, she just ignored me.

Eeeer, I have a doctor's appointment today that reminds me.

[K. Darien Freeheart]

I was always taught to write "For Deposit Only Acct #12345 Xxxxx Bank" on checks made out to me or my wife

Banks, being essentially government organizations, follow really strict rules, often to stupid extremes. In the late 90's or the early 2000's they "deregulated" a lot of things. One of them is "written instruction".

I lived in Kentucky at the time, and there was this one gas station that had a really bad habit of holding checks for anywhere between 30 to 90 days before cashing them. I also write check so infrequently that I never record them (I'm a digital age child, balancing checkbooks is as archaic to me as math with an abacus). After this happened a few times, I began writing (as you often see on payroll checks) "Void after 30 days of issue" and bitched even more when, 90 days later, my bank cashed them.

They explained to me that from a legal standpoint, the physical paper check is now meaningless. In most places now a days, they run your check through a scanner that then does the funds withdrawl like a debit card. To do this, they ONLY need your account number. No ID, no signature even. For all intents and purposes, the act of writing a check is merely a formality and tradition, writing your ABA routing number and account number of a sheet of toilet paper is just as valid as anything else.

The crux of this - anything you write on a check is essentially ignored.

This "deregulation" is, incidentally, why identity theft increased so rapidly. It isn't that things are "more technology based" it's that basic things like "your consent" are no longer needed to conduct financial transactions from your accounts.