Anyone against sending checks through the mail?

[Richard4444]

Any check that I absolutely have to mail USPS, I usually go to the post office and pay the $9.95 priority mail fee to have 'some' peace of mind, and it's rare. I also have a separate checking account with a low balance for such checks without overdraw protection. Unfortunately, this has also reduced my donations to some charities as I don't like having my credit card details in print for all to see. Just getting more paranoid (or cautious) as time moves on.

Rich

 

[Murph]

IMHO, using "bill pay" (via online banking) is much safer and easier than mailing a written check.

And faster

 

[Lvus101]

Last month we paid our pool man his monthly service fee of $130 with a check we sent to his PO box. He contacted us about 10 days later and asked us if we had sent the check yet. Our answer was yes and then he proceeded to tell us that the PO Box was broken into, and all of the checks were stolen. We naturally called Wells Fargo and they told us you can't just cancel the check you have to shut down the entire account because they now have your checking number, your routing number and your address. I cannot begin to tell you what a hassle it was to shut down an account that I opened in 1982. I have been paying everyone and their brother through that account since then both through a check and electronically. This included having to redo Medicare and all the supplemental payments with a new account. We are avoiding checks like the plague from this point on. We will pay him with a money order every 6 months.

 

[athena53]

Unfortunately, this has also reduced my donations to some charities as I don't like having my credit card details in print for all to see. Just getting more paranoid (or cautious) as time moves on.
Rich

There are many threads here on donor-advised funds, which is something you should consider if you donate a lot. Mine is at Fidelity; I can put money or appreciated securities into it any time for an immediate tax deduction, and then have THEM send checks to charities. They can even be anonymous. That way they not only don't have sensitive financial information but they can't bombard you with e-mails and snail mail solicitations forever after.

 

[Tracer]

What's a check

 

[Koolau]

What's a check

We have an over achiever in our ranks!

 

[d.davis]

https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/a...lboxes-sundays-holidays-after-hours-heres-why

Sent from my moto g power using Early Retirement Forum mobile app

 

[Tracer]

We have an over achiever in our ranks!

I don't know about over achiever but maybe the consummate time saver! My bill paying is basically on auto-pilot. My idea of paying my monthly bills is adding them all up at the beginning of the month, making sure I have enough in my checking account to cover them and have them all pulled out by auto-pay. Any that can be paid by CC are on auto-charge.
I have a checkbook somewhere. I'd have to dig to find it.

 

[marion10]

A two post offices near me have discontinued curbside mail boxes because of theft. People hold up mail carriers and get the universal key- although for one there were some rumors it was an inside job. Since, we are in a condo, the postman picks up our mail directly, so it is pretty secure.

 

[Koolau]

A two post offices near me have discontinued curbside mail boxes because of theft. People hold up mail carriers and get the universal key- although for one there were some rumors it was an inside job. Since, we are in a condo, the postman picks up our mail directly, so it is pretty secure.

I do wonder about the security of the mail-carrier's truck sitting outside of our (or other) condo buildings.

 

[Sunset]

Last month we paid our pool man his monthly service fee of $130 with a check we sent to his PO box. .........We are avoiding checks like the plague from this point on. We will pay him with a money order every 6 months.

Since he is your pool guy, just pay him when he comes to the house to do the pool, you could even use cash to pay. Just have him sign a stub/receipt so nobody forgets.

If the money order is lost/stolen its as good as cash.

 

[marko]

Theft has never been our problem. The mail getting where it's supposed to is our problem!

Over the years, far, too many times we've had letters, cards, payments sent or sent to us that either never arrived or arrived sometimes months later. This April we got a Christmas card from a friend. We're not out in the boonies, we're in Metropolitan Boston.

Voting by mail? Who knows?

We pay 99% of our bills online but still foolishly send birthday and holiday greetings via mail. We're never sure if they arrive but we do get a few "address unknown" returns even when we know otherwise.

Anything important that must be mailed, we send via FedEx with a tracker.

 

[misanman]

Mailing a check inside the post office is a reasonable precaution but doesn't guarantee the check won't be stolen. An inlaw of ours is treasurer of her township. As treasurer, she collects the township property taxes and then in turn sends the school districts their "share" of what has been collected. The checks to the school districts are mailed inside the post office. Early this year, one of the school district checks was stolen and cashed in Florida (we are in Michigan). Apparently, they were able to change the "Pay to" information and found an institution that would cash the check. Not sure how this was finally resolved but the conclusion was that there was an employee somewhere between the local office and the routing center that was stealing checks. The small business that I sometimes work for had a similar situation but the amount was only a little over $3,000.

 

[brett]

Every expense we have is either paid on line, auto paid from our current account, or by credit card.

The only time I can recall writing cheques in the past five or six years is to include as a gift in a wedding card, etc.

We very seldom use the post. We check our mail box once every week-ten days to clear out the junk mail.

 

[pjigar]

There are always anecdotal stories about mail theft. Lot of smaller billpay payees receive checks in the mail anyway so billpay is not a silver bullet.

If it is a large check then I simply drop it at USPS counter.

 

[timbervest]

There are many threads here on donor-advised funds, which is something you should consider if you donate a lot. Mine is at Fidelity; I can put money or appreciated securities into it any time for an immediate tax deduction, and then have THEM send checks to charities. They can even be anonymous. That way they not only don't have sensitive financial information but they can't bombard you with e-mails and snail mail solicitations forever after.

Interestingly recently I have had several examples of Fidelity DAF checks getting "lost in the mail" and never cashed. Not a fraud problem but annoying since the funds are not getting to the intended charity recipient. After 90 days they void the check.

 

[CRLLS]

There are always anecdotal stories about mail theft. Lot of smaller billpay payees receive checks in the mail anyway so billpay is not a silver bullet.

If it is a large check then I simply drop it at USPS counter.

I was thinking about that this morning. My bank will sometimes send checks if they don't link a payee to some ACH(?) account. When I pay a bill online, sometimes the earliest pay date that they show paid is over a week out. It would be faster if I just pay by check and mail it. BillPay is not all it is cracked up to be IMO. Is BillPay really any more secure than other methods? Every thief has got some way of getting your money and screwing up your day.

 

[athena53]

It would be faster if I just pay by check and mail it. BillPay is not all it is cracked up to be IMO. Is BillPay really any more secure than other methods? Every thief has got some way of getting your money and screwing up your day.

Faster in the sense of getting the $$ to the payee faster, but not in terms of your time, IMO. The other thing is that the check is sent from some Fidelity-owned checking account, not yours, so no one can steal your own bank information.

I've been using on-line bill pay ever since it became available. I've had ONE issue- a check to my dentist that I sent just recently (April of this year) that was never cashed. Since Fidelity deducts the $$ from my account only when it's cashed, the $$ is still in my account. It's entirely possible that the dentist's office misplaced it. I just sent them another (which HAS been cashed) and told them that if the other turns up they should apply it to my account.

And I save a ton on postage stamps.

 

[Gearhead Jim]

...
If we as a society can no longer cost effectively secure the mail, what happens when the same happens to UPS, FedEx, etc. when package delivery is targeted like freight trains in LA?

Years ago, UPS started requiring that handguns be sent via overnight, because so many were being stolen in normal UPS shipping. Presumably by UPS employees.

 

[Gearhead Jim]

We pay most of our bill automatically by having them charged to a credit card. That's easy to handle if the payment is mis-directed, the card companies seem pretty good about reimbursement.

A few companies will only accept direct debit from our checking account, and I do my very best to avoid that.

 

[scrabbler1]

Faster in the sense of getting the $$ to the payee faster, but not in terms of your time, IMO. The other thing is that the check is sent from some Fidelity-owned checking account, not yours, so no one can steal your own bank information.

I've been using on-line bill pay ever since it became available. I've had ONE issue- a check to my dentist that I sent just recently (April of this year) that was never cashed. Since Fidelity deducts the $$ from my account only when it's cashed, the $$ is still in my account. It's entirely possible that the dentist's office misplaced it. I just sent them another (which HAS been cashed) and told them that if the other turns up they should apply it to my account.

And I save a ton on postage stamps.

My ladyfriend uses online bill pay for most of her bills. Sometimes, the bank mails a check. Sometimes, it pays via ACH. I'm not sure how her bank figures out which method to use. This system has helped her out a few times she had glitches, twice with her landlord.

The first time was when her landlord claimed she paid her rent check late, which she hadn't. She had proof, thanks to the online bill pay. With the aid of a bank manager at a local branch, he told the LL the check had been cashed and was able to fax an image to him of the cashed check along with a date stamp. The LL quickly backed down. The second time, he failed to cash a rent check within 90 days so it became void, and the bank credited the money back to her account. She went back into her bill pay and sent out a replacement check, although the LL has often gotten close to the 90-day period to cash her other rent checks.

 

[pjigar]

Years ago, UPS started requiring that handguns be sent via overnight, because so many were being stolen in normal UPS shipping. Presumably by UPS employees.

Don't get me started on firearms shipments. I have a firearm which needs warranty service but I can find economical shipper to make the repair worthwhile. It is a cheap handgun so not worth spending a ton of money on the warranty service.

I would like to sell a couple of firearms but I have been shy to list them simply due to the shipping hassles.

 

[audreyh1]

For property taxes I go to the bank that accepts deposits on behalf of the county tax assessor/collector. Fortunately a branch is reasonably close by.

 

[euro]

Is the USPS really suggesting people not mail checks? I’m skeptical. There are many recent news reports, but no actual quotes that are attributed to USPS.

I did read 2 media reports that suggest payment apps are safer. Given the reported difficulty people are having recovering funds sent by Zelle, I think that’s a poor alternative.

Yeah, that strikes me as odd too. Seems like sawing off the branch they are sitting on....
I don't write more than one or two checks per year anymore, but that is mostly because doing it online is more convenient. The only place where mailing a check is subject ot considerable risk is if you place the envelope in your own mailbox and set the "flag" to indicate you have outgoing mail. Then, a crook drives by and grabs all the outgoing mail. On the other hand, I believe that the process is quite safe if you drop off the envelope at the post office or hand it to the carrier in person.

 

[mickeyd]