Anyone against sending checks through the mail?

[BruinBones]

I may never write a check again

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 still write checks, however, drop them off either at the main post office (inside, not the blue boxes outside) or the local UPS store where our main mail comes.

I am resurrecting this thread because my mother-in-law was just victimized by check washing. She wrote a check to pay her utility bill and dropped the envelope IN THE MAIL SLOT INSIDE THE POST OFFICE. Someone obtained her check, washed it, and re-wrote it paid to "cash" for $3000.

Apparently, if you’re a victim of check washing, you are not liable for the withdrawn funds. You should report it to your bank as soon as possible, within 30 days of discovering it or receiving your bank statement. The banks must investigate reported fraud and sort out which institution is liable for the loss, but due to the high volume of cases, it may take time to refund your money. According to the American Bankers Association, you may request a “provisional credit” while you wait.

I've heard that Sharpie Gel Pens are the hardest to wash off.

 

[pb4uski]

Perhaps a good reason to use your bank's bill pay rather than write a check?

 

[statsman]

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.

I need to check to see if our county in Texas allows that. Credit card or bank debit payments all have fees. I've been mailing in the check for our property tax bill for the last four years.

 

[audreyh1]

Our county had a list of where to go to pay the bill. This bank was one of them.

For a while I’d go to the tax office - not far away but always busy and a pain. This bank has a branch even closer and is not busy. You can even use the drive through window.

 

[badatmath]

I need to check to see if our county in Texas allows that. Credit card or bank debit payments all have fees. I've been mailing in the check for our property tax bill for the last four years.

Yeah I just wrote a check for mine the other day. . . I actually remembered this thread and took it to the post office but I send all my other bills via the mailbox at my place. Hmm. I guess I better check if it got credited yet. *Yep, all good.

 

[rk911]

we pay as many bills as possible online or thru ACH debit set up with the various vendors. we pay via check only as a last resort, not out of fear that the check will be stolen but online and auto ACH debit...especially the ACH debits...are so much easier and convenient. only one problem in 20+ years and that was a vendor that failed to initiate payment with my bank. the online fees associated with some payments are pennies on the dollar and worth the convenience to us. our bi-weekly housekeeper is paid by check, one insurance company requires a check and some churches prefer checks. we write less than 40-checks per year.

 

[Act2]

I use the 207 gel pens for this reason, hard to alter.

 

[Alex The Great]

For more than 10 years, I'm using checks to pay contractors who work on my house. Everything else went through electronic payment.
But lately contractors started to accept electronic payments and this is really a pain. One guy I hired lately for some paining work asked for Apple cash payment. I do have Apple Pay set up and use it all the way but not Apple Cash. He didn't have any other way to accept payment such as Paypal, etc. Finally I've been able to send money to his friend through Zelle. This is one example when I cannot appreciate tech progress

 

[Koolau]

Of the various ways to pay for things (cash, check, online, etc.) does anyone know the % of fraud involved? I'm guessing (with no data) that more fraud happens on line than with mailed checks - but, again, that's really just a guess.

I've told the story before that the very first time I did an on-line purchase, my CC was compromised! Not a good start. So far (knock on wood) I've never had a check defrauded.

I'd say once every other year, we get a CC charge that is bogus.

Cash - not so big a deal and I either trust or get a receipt.

Don't use Paypal or similar.

 

[Aerides]

Perhaps a good reason to use your bank's bill pay rather than write a check?

This. Most any decent bank these days allows you to have them send a check - they basically automatically generate and mail it to the recipient.

It's super handy for places that don't have a simple online payment thing, which is the type of thing where most people figure they still have to write checks.

I use it for my lawn service.

 

[badatmath]

I still don't understand why a bank sending a check is better. It is going to have the account number on it and go through the mail. Isn't it?

Just isn't something I really care to worry about I guess.

 

[brett]

I seldom write a cheque. Perhaps one or two per year at most.

But, when I do I write 'For Deposit Only to the Account of the Payee" in block letters on the endorsement side of the cheque.

 

[jim584672]

I am finally checkless! Its all done online and no more paper statements.

 

[Aerides]

I still don't understand why a bank sending a check is better. It is going to have the account number on it and go through the mail. Isn't it?

Just isn't something I really care to worry about I guess.

It's not a pen so presumably a printed check is harder to wash? Either way, if the bank issues and sends it, and it gets washed, far easier to prove it's fraud vs. one I sent myself.

 

[ivinsfan]

I am resurrecting this thread because my mother-in-law was just victimized by check washing. She wrote a check to pay her utility bill and dropped the envelope IN THE MAIL SLOT INSIDE THE POST OFFICE. Someone obtained her check, washed it, and re-wrote it paid to "cash" for $3000.

Apparently, if you’re a victim of check washing, you are not liable for the withdrawn funds. You should report it to your bank as soon as possible, within 30 days of discovering it or receiving your bank statement. The banks must investigate reported fraud and sort out which institution is liable for the loss, but due to the high volume of cases, it may take time to refund your money. According to the American Bankers Association, you may request a “provisional credit” while you wait.

I've heard that Sharpie Gel Pens are the hardest to wash off.

I don't understand how this even happens. If you went my local bank and wanted cash for a check if you don't have an account at the bank you have to show photo ID and leave a thumbprint. If you are an account dead you're dead to rights. Actually if you are an account holder and don't have that much cash in your account I believe the bank can hold the check for like 3 or 4 days. In theory it gives the check a chance to charge to your bank account.



How do these checks even get cashed...

 

[jazz4cash]

I still don't understand why a bank sending a check is better. It is going to have the account number on it and go through the mail. Isn't it?

Just isn't something I really care to worry about I guess.

The checks issued by the bank use paper with various features that make it resistent to tampering.

 

[Gumby]

I sent a check in the mail to my baby sister just last week for her oldest grandson's elementary school PTA fundraiser (he just started kindergarten).

 

[Koolau]

The checks issued by the bank use paper with various features that make it resistent to tampering.

I would assume the bank issued check is secure before it hits the mail - unlike my check I leave for the postman to pick up.

 

[Markola]

If the goal is to send your last check to the undertaker, and it should bounce, well, now he’s really gonna be SOL.

 

[badatmath]

But yeah I suppose it is more secure if the bank does it but I still am not likely to change my ways unless it becomes convenient to do so or inconvenient not to.

It just isn't in my top 10 list of things to worry about. That list is already full, rightly or wrongly!

I'm certain an argument could be made it SHOULD be in the top 10 if you saw the rest of the list. But we aren't making a post on that.

 

[athena53]

The checks issued by the bank use paper with various features that make it resistent to tampering.

I also figure that if it gets stolen the bank will ultimately have to eat the costs!

A timely topic; my friend who answers calls from Medicare beneficiaries got a call from someone who mailed a personal check to Medicare and it was stolen, washed and made out to someone else. Nothing Medicare could do, of course, but my friend is a retired prosecuting attorney and could tell him to report it to the police and the bank since he'd done neither.

I gotta buy some gel pens.

 

[badatmath]

I do use gel pens because I like they way they write but they seem to dry out quicker (or I get the wrong kind).

 

[Morgan22]

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How do these checks even get cashed...

Check cashing places, like Walmart. My old w*rk used to print thousands of checks a year. It seems that many of the washed checks were cashed at Walmart. It got so bad at one point at one particular Walmart very close by to our headquarters that they refused to cash checks from our company anymore. Don't blame them since they were out the funds, not us.

This actually encouraged some of our employees that were receiving paper checks to switch over to ACH.

[We had "Positive Pay" on our accounts. Every check run had a file automatically sent to the bank electronically. If a check that was presented to the bank didn't match our file, then the bank would ask if we would like to allow it to clear.]

 

[Andre1969]

I don't know if it's been rectified, but there was a pretty major check-washing (or whatever they call it) operation going on at the USPS processing facility in Waldorf, Maryland. My Mom got hit, sometime last year. She had written a check to her old church, and it never made it. But, somewhere along the line it got turned into a check for $10,000, and the "pay to the order of" got changed from the church, to one of their employees.

Needless to say, the bank flagged it pretty quickly, and put a stop to it.

 

[marko]

We've had far, far too many bad experiences with the mail. For anything beyond a greeting card, we send UPS.

Just two weeks ago DWs car leasing company sent her documents via Certified Mail along with a tracking number. The package had to only travel 60 miles. So far the tracking number comes up "waiting to be entered into the system"....two weeks and still no package. Went to the post office twice, hoping they had better tracking information. Nobody knows where it is.

Sad but once again meeting our (low) expectations.

A few months ago (June time frame), we received a Christmas card, postmarked November.