Anyone against sending checks through the mail?

[Badger]

I only send out a few checks a year. Quarterly payments to the IRS are some of them. I refuse to let anyone have access to our bank account where they can withdraw money so I use Bill Pay so I can send the money. I haven't looked into sending money to the IRS using Bill Pay but has anyone done this?

I used to get mail delivered through a mail slot in the front door. Now I have a good size metal locking mail box next to the front door.

Cheers!

 

[fh2000]

I only send out a few checks a year. Quarterly payments to the IRS are some of them. I refuse to let anyone have access to our bank account where they can withdraw money so I use Bill Pay so I can send the money. I haven't looked into sending money to the IRS using Bill Pay but has anyone done this?

Cheers!

https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/estimated-taxes

How To Pay Estimated Taxes
You may send estimated tax payments with Form 1040-ES by mail, or you can pay online, by phone or from your mobile device using the IRS2Go app. You can also make your estimated tax payments through your online account, where you can see your payment history and other tax records. Go to IRS.gov/account. Visit IRS.gov/payments to view all the options. For additional information, refer to Publication 505, Tax Withholding and Estimated Tax.

Using the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS) is the easiest way for individuals as well as businesses to pay federal taxes. Make ALL of your federal tax payments including federal tax deposits (FTDs), installment agreement and estimated tax payments using EFTPS. If it’s easier to pay your estimated taxes weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, etc. you can, as long as you’ve paid enough in by the end of the quarter. Using EFTPS, you can access a history of your payments, so you know how much and when you made your estimated tax payments.

Corporations must deposit the payment using the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System. For additional information, refer to Publication 542, Corporations.

 

[Koolau]

Yes. I am not interested in being charged a fee to pay my bills/ taxes.

Heh, heh, and the IRS is not interested in paying your 2% cash back nor covering your CC fees which can reach a couple of more percent. IIRC you can pay directly from your checking account by putting the info on your 1040. We never pay, but, of course, we put the account info on the 1040 so IRS can direct pay our account.

I have noticed that some businesses which have large transactions (car dealership, dentist) limit CC transactions. Last car we bought, the dealer limited us to $5000 on our CC. My dentist gives a "discount" for paying by check (IOW, they "charge" a fee for using a CC but only do it via the back door.) YMMV

 

[pacergal]

I do send a few check a year, and majority of bills are paid online via bank.
The checks I do send (charities, estimated taxes) are taken into the post office and put in mailbox inside.
I will eventually get my est. taxes electronic, just haven't done it yet.
Property taxes are by check and I take those directly to the payment center.

 

[CRLLS]

I do pay most bills either by using my bank's Bill Pay or by the billing company's on-line service. I still write checks and mail them for a few places such quarterly taxes, vehicle registration, etc. When the billing party requires some form to be included, I send a check.

I put the stamped envelopes in our street front mailbox with the flag up. I have noticed that the USPS service to our rural area has significantly declined over the last few years. Some days, if we don't have incoming mail, the carrier does not pick up the outgoing mail. Some days, when they do pick up the mail, they leave the flag up. Driving to our local post office is out of the question as it is an 8-mile round trip. according to the IRS, that is a cost of $5.24 in vehicle costs plus a 25+ minute trip. A total cost of ~$6 for mailing a check.

We get most bills via US mail. We don't allow many to auto-withdraw from our bank accounts. 3 times this year, we have not received bills. They didn't even show up on our daily "Informed delivery". Fortunately, I thought "I haven't seen a bill this month from XYZ", checked their website, and found they were due that day, and paid it on their website. When bills are not received, remembering is not a sure-fire way to make a payment on time.

I don't know of a single method to make payments to all billing parties that is "secure". I guess I'll keep taking my chances doing what I'm doing and deal with an error if/when it occurs.

 

[harllee]

I try to avoid using USPS for anything. In my area the USPS is awful, I would say the chances of my actually getting a piece of mail or a package from sent by USPS is about 75%, 25% never shows up.

 

[gauss]

Just read that the U.S. Postal Service has a new warning to not send checks through the mail as more of them are getting stolen (cbsnews.com).


My DW manages the everyday bills and likes to pay the utility bills by writing out checks and sending through the mail.

I have always questioned this, as I would probably use Bill Pay (Apple Pay) to avoiding the mailing process, but is it any safer than mailing a check?

Is the e-r.o group sending your utility bills and checks through postal service mail?

No -- If the check is stolen and someone manages to fraudulently cash it, the cashing institution will ultimately be on the hook for it -- not you.

At least that is how I think it works the last time I looked into this.

-gauss

 

[MarieIG]

I try to avoid using USPS for anything. In my area the USPS is awful, I would say the chances of my actually getting a piece of mail or a package from sent by USPS is about 75%, 25% never shows up.

Oh, they show up all right. Where they show up is another story.

I recently found a brokerage statement in my mail with an apology scribbled on it - "sorry, misdelivered, opened by accident." If I get my neighbors' packages or mail, I just bring them over. If I don't know where the house is or it's too far, I mark up the envelope and put in back in the mail box.

Now, that reminds me, I have two envelopes from yesterday I have to mark up and put back in our mailbox if the postal carrier has not yet arrived. . .

 

[skyking1]

All the monthly bills are in bill pay with my bank. I still write checks for property taxes and the like.

 

[Koolau]

I had a neighbor (here at the homestead) tell me that she thought some homeless guy was looking in our mail box. I told her "That's our mail carrier." I guess they've relaxed their uniform code.

 

[athena53]

I have noticed that some businesses which have large transactions (car dealership, dentist) limit CC transactions. Last car we bought, the dealer limited us to $5000 on our CC.

I was EXTREMELY annoyed when the window replacement company I used accepted a credit card for my $1,000 deposit but after they completed the work, insisted on a check for the $9,000 balance. Maybe I should have raised a big stink (I just told them that I had NOT been informed of that beforehand) or pretended I didn't have that much money in my checking account, but in effect it increased the cost of the work by $180.

 

[MarieIG]

I had a neighbor (here at the homestead) tell me that she thought some homeless guy was looking in our mail box. I told her "That's our mail carrier." I guess they've relaxed their uniform code.

 

[Koolau]

I was EXTREMELY annoyed when the window replacement company I used accepted a credit card for my $1,000 deposit but after they completed the work, insisted on a check for the $9,000 balance. Maybe I should have raised a big stink (I just told them that I had NOT been informed of that beforehand) or pretended I didn't have that much money in my checking account, but in effect it increased the cost of the work by $180.

Yeah, I sometimes don't like the policies of various businesses. But if they disclose those policies up front, I can't complain when they enforce them. BUT not telling you of their payment policy is not acceptable. Probably not much you can do, but I agree, raising a stink would have been on my mind as well.

 

[meierlde]

I was EXTREMELY annoyed when the window replacement company I used accepted a credit card for my $1,000 deposit but after they completed the work, insisted on a check for the $9,000 balance. Maybe I should have raised a big stink (I just told them that I had NOT been informed of that beforehand) or pretended I didn't have that much money in my checking account, but in effect it increased the cost of the work by $180.

I have seen this at several shops where due to the credit card fees there

is a maximum value you can put on a credit card.One example was at a

body shop where the max credit card payment was 1k (note the fee is 2-4 percent so for 8k thats 160 to 320 which is a lot.



Now one way to disguise the check is to wrap it in another piece of paper. Best might be a newspaper or add .

 

[gauss]

I was EXTREMELY annoyed when the window replacement company I used accepted a credit card for my $1,000 deposit but after they completed the work, insisted on a check for the $9,000 balance. Maybe I should have raised a big stink (I just told them that I had NOT been informed of that beforehand) or pretended I didn't have that much money in my checking account, but in effect it increased the cost of the work by $180.

Surprises like that always stink, but please allow me to throw out some counter-arguments.

#1) I would think this would be explicitly addressed up front in the written contract if cash/check payments were the only acceptable form of final payment.

#2) The ~ 3% merchant fees for CC would have raised the roofers cos't by ~$250 if they did accept the CC, if there was no differential pricing between cash/CC.

-gauss

 

[scrabbler1]

I began shifting the monthly bills to ACH in the early 1990s, mainly the utilities and mortgage. When I obtained online banking about 10 years ago, I soon added my monthly co-op maintenance (a few times the check got lost in the mail; no late fee, thankfully).

In the last 10 years, I have been phasing out most checks for the non-monthly bills such as car/home insurance and estimated/April taxes, with CC for the former and the taxing agency's website for the latter.

This leaves me with about 12 checks for year, most of them in person such as doctor copays and my rarely-used back-up CC at a local branch walking distance from me. The only ones I mail are to charities. One doesn't take CC; the other one does but I don't feel comfy giving them my CC info. I suppose I can use my online bill-pay, but I worry a little about not being able to mail the form or card which goes with the check. It usually includes info the charity might need and might not fit in the "memo" part of the bill-pay's check.

My building has a locked, in-wall mailbox for outgoing mail only the mailman can open with his key, so I am fine with putting my mail in there. However, with or without checks, I mail tax returns from the post office; some need extra postage anyway.

 

[badatmath]

No reason you shouldn’t use checks if you wish, but there’s no way it’s “far faster” than autopay/bill pay or even online CC payments.

The local utilities don't take card or charge fees so I do not use CC there.

 

[Koolau]

The local utilities don't take card or charge fees so I do not use CC there.

Lots of people do their "computer stuff" (like paying bills) from their phones. I am NOT one of those people. I intentionally have chosen not to use my phone for anything but phone and text. YMMV

 

[badatmath]

Lots of people do their "computer stuff" (like paying bills) from their phones. I am NOT one of those people. I intentionally have chosen not to use my phone for anything but phone and text. YMMV

I almost said that. . . one reason it is faster not to do it that way! I don't even carry my phone 99% of the time.

 

[athena53]

Surprises like that always stink, but please allow me to throw out some counter-arguments.

#1) I would think this would be explicitly addressed up front in the written contract if cash/check payments were the only acceptable form of final payment.

#2) The ~ 3% merchant fees for CC would have raised the roofers cost by ~$250 if they did accept the CC, if there was no differential pricing between cash/CC.

-gauss

If it WAS in the written material I missed it and that's my fault, but I wonder how many other people miss it and then don't have the funds because they'd planned on putting it on a credit card. I think that for big-ticket work it should just be factored into the pricing and people who can pay cash/check can negotiate a discount and decide which way to pay.

I have seen this at several shops where due to the credit card fees there is a maximum value you can put on a credit card. One example was at a body shop where the max credit card payment was 1k (note the fee is 2-4 percent so for 8k that's 160 to 320 which is a lot.

So.. they do take cards for more than $1K but they impose a fee? I just don't see the average car owner being able to come up with $3,000-$4,000 cash for a transmission rebuild. Even a new set of tires for a truck can easily run over $1,000.

I noticed my repair shop has some sort of after-pay they can offer. I haven't looked into details; fortunately when I picked my car up yesterday it was only for an oil change.

 

[Koolau]

I almost said that. . . one reason it is faster not to do it that way! I don't even carry my phone 99% of the time.

Heh, heh, I have no excuse as I do carry my phone everywhere. I'm a proud Luddite when it comes to phones. I wish I could still get a flip phone instead of a "smart phone." My phone is like a brick. My old flip phone fit in a holster on my belt. Perfect.

 

[TrvlBug]

You can leave a lot of that personal information off the printed checks.

The only personal info my checks contain is first initial and last name. I had to have the bank create a special check with address to satisfy a company that was going to do monthly direct deposits into the account.

 

[badatmath]

Heh, heh, I have no excuse as I do carry my phone everywhere. I'm a proud Luddite when it comes to phones. I wish I could still get a flip phone instead of a "smart phone." My phone is like a brick. My old flip phone fit in a holster on my belt. Perfect.

++100%

 

[jazz4cash]

Seems overly dramatic. Here is specific quote from the link.

“The theft issues have prompted the USPS to advise that Americans avoid depositing mail in blue collection boxes or leaving it in their own mailboxes for a carrier to pick up. Instead, the agency is now recommending that patrons come inside their local post office to securely send mail.”

 

[badatmath]

I remember when banks suggested including your SSN on your checks. Yikes!

I did that in college to cash checks on campus. Didn't have a car, no way to get money easily. And the teachers posted test grades in the hall by SSN.