Do you balance your checkbook?

[Time2]

I no longer balance my check book. Most of my bills are paid online, and we write very few checks.
Oh! this sent me down an hour long rabbit hole, I looked at my check book, the last three checks were not logged.
I started searching online bank records, I found two of the checks in the bank records, but one probably written in late 2022 or 2023, has never been withdrawn, and I'm not finding it as a voided check. Also found 3 other items I have no recollection of in 22 and 23, totaling $80,000, I'll visit the bank today or Monday, and see if they can give clarity. I most likely did it, but...
My last paper check was 14 months ago.

 

[ArmchairMillionaire]

I no longer balance my check book. Most of my bills are paid online, and we write very few checks.
Oh! this sent me down an hour long rabbit hole, I looked at my check book, the last three checks were not logged.
I started searching online bank records, I found two of the checks in the bank records, but one probably written in late 2022 or 2023, has never been withdrawn, and I'm not finding it as a voided check. Also found 3 other items I have no recollection of in 22 and 23, totaling $80,000, I'll visit the bank today or Monday, and see if they can give clarity. I most likely did it, but...
My last paper check was 14 months ago.

I just had a similar rabbit hole. I was viewing our credit card statement and noticed a charge from a grocery store chain whose nearest location is around 100 miles away. I hadn't been to one of those stores in years. I then looked at my February statement and there were 5 more purchases from that same chain... But then I noticed there were no charges from our local IGA supermarket since February 2nd, even though we shopped there every week.
So I guess our little store is getting swallowed up by a supermarket chain. I'll ask next time I'm there. (tomorrow) At least these were just $10-$20 charges and not $80K
We still write a paper check every other month for our water bill.

 

[audreyh1]

Do you keep your credit card receipts and match them to the statements? Your credit card receipt would show who the charger was.

 

[Gumby]

I auto pay all but two of my regular monthly bills via credit card, and the last two I auto pay direct from the bank, so I write very few checks. But I still keep my checkbook balanced and I reconcile my credit card statement every month when the bill arrives (it's actually just an email notice, but you get the idea). I do both of those things to avoid financial surprises, for while I have plenty of money, it's not enough to be lackadaisical about keeping track of it.

 

[engineernerd]

I still balance my checking account against the snail-mailed bank statement each month.

I keep track of my transactions (now mostly online bill paying with an occasional written check here and there) in an Excel spreadsheet, and for each transaction I match I put a pen check mark on the statement and enter the statement date in the spreadsheet. I verify the statement starting and ending balances after adding the few cents of interest they give me each month.

I should add that I never keep much money in the account since a lot of entities have access to the account number and my paper checks could be stolen and used to create fake checks. So balancing this account is necessary, to avoid overdrawing it.

I have caught the bank in an error or two over the years, but doing this has also flagged for me a couple of instances where a check was lost either in the mail or by the recipient, or took an unusually long time to be delivered (one recent check mailed to the IRS was delivered 27 days after I mailed it - good thing I used certified mail!).

 

[CaptTom]

Hehehe, I found myself recording a $0.01 interest transaction this morning. I keep a small amount in a local credit union, and I ended up moving most of it to a CD they offered when rates were good. The $350 or whatever it was I had left to maintain the savings account earns one cent interest per month.

I was tempted to ignore it and just adjust the total when I review the quarterly statement, but I couldn't resist making my total match the bank's. Yeah. It's a sickness.

 

[Car-Guy]

We had a lunch discussion about balancing checkbooks at work back in the day and I commented, I never balance mine. One guy thought that was an arrogant statement. Hey, I didn't bring it up. Just can't please everyone.

 

[mystang52]

Notwithstanding we have automatic alerts for every credit card charge, and banking transactions over $50, I go online every day to scan credit card activity ( we generally use just 2 cards) and my banking. It takes all of 3 minutes or so, and is worth the peace of mind. Admittedly, if a scammer charges something on one of my open-but-rarely-used cards I won't catch that, but the alerts should.

 

[Car-Guy]

Notwithstanding we have automatic alerts for every credit card charge, and banking transactions over $50, I go online every day to scan credit card activity ( we generally use just 2 cards) and my banking. It takes all of 3 minutes or so, and is worth the peace of mind. Admittedly, if a scammer charges something on one of my open-but-rarely-used cards I won't catch that, but the alerts should.

I scan my CC changes when I get my monthly statement but rarely check it on-line between statements. Why? Well I'm not held responsible for any fraudulent CC charges, so why should I check all the time? In 50+ years of handling CC's, I've had maybe 3 or 4 fraudulent charges. In every case, one phone call reporting it and I was done and I'd get a new CC (and number) in the mail with-in a week. I can't speak to checking account fraud since it's never happen to me but I only check/scan it once a month too.

The way I protect myself is by keeping lower limits on my CC's (not greater than 10k each) and I keep my checking account balance pretty low too. So I sleep well and don't worry about it. If it does happen, I just deal with it but not in crisis mode.

 

[dixonge]

Following on the check register thread (Another Boomer Thing that (Apparently) has Died Off), how many of you still balance your checking account monthly? For those who don't, what steps do you take to ensure that all transaction have been properly recorded, no incorrect entries were made due to bank error, and how do you keep track of your current balance including outstanding transactions?

Needless to say, I still take my monthly statement and use it to balance the account. It only takes about 10 minutes once a month so it's certainly not a big ordeal and I've caught errors numerous times.

haven't balanced a checkbook in *YEARS* - just quickly scan transactions in credit cards and bank transactions every now and then. Each month I put total account balances into a spreadsheet to do a quick/dirty Net Worth calculation. That's it.

 

[Fermion]

I do log on to checking to make sure there are no scam withdrawals but I have not written a physical check in 2 years.

 

[SnowballCamper]

It's been over two decades since I balanced a checkbook....basically no need to since I've had internet access to my bank accounts. I do write a check to local businesses to avoid the interchange fee for larger purchases. I find they're willing to give me the equivalent to my cash back reward as a discount, and they pocket the other half of the interchange fee.

 

[Koolau]

It's been over two decades since I balanced a checkbook....basically no need to since I've had internet access to my bank accounts. I do write a check to local businesses to avoid the interchange fee for larger purchases. I find they're willing to give me the equivalent to my cash back reward as a discount, and they pocket the other half of the interchange fee.

Well, it's been years since we've agreed with the bank, though we've tried to balance the check book.

 

[MinnUser]

I balance my checkbook religiously, I look at my accounts as much as once a day in the morning to see if there are any irregularities. I wrote a check for just over $300 to pay a medical bill about 15 years ago, and they never cashed it. I called after 3 years, and they said it probably has already been written off. I still expect that thing to go through some day lol.

 

[Koolau]

I balance my checkbook religiously, I look at my accounts as much as once a day in the morning to see if there are any irregularities. I wrote a check for just over $300 to pay a medical bill about 15 years ago, and they never cashed it. I called after 3 years, and they said it probably has already been written off. I still expect that thing to go through some day lol.

Yeah, we had an account that the bank had never debited for over $800 though the vendor had credited us with the payment. We must have called 5 times over the years. Eventually, we wanted to close that account (change banks). Never, ever heard a word. Still feel kinda bad about that but we really tried. Whadryagonnado?

 

[frank05]

Yeah, we had an account that the bank had never debited for over $800 though the vendor had credited us with the payment. We must have called 5 times over the years. Eventually, we wanted to close that account (change banks). Never, ever heard a word. Still feel kinda bad about that but we really tried. Whadryagonnado?

Banks do not have to honor personal and business checks that are over a 180 days old.

 

[gayl]

21 yrs ago I changed banks & got 25 "starter" checks. Never ordered checks. Down to my last 8. Think I've only used them to pay property taxes before auto-pay and remodeling. Heck even paid the last 2 contractors through zelle or venmo

 

[scrabbler1]

21 yrs ago I changed banks & got 25 "starter" checks. Never ordered checks. Down to my last 8. Think I've only used them to pay property taxes before auto-pay and remodeling. Heck even paid the last 2 contractors through zelle or venmo

I remember those starter checks. Back in 1989, I got some of those for a new savings account linked to a new checking account I had just opened when I changed banks. All my daily banking activity went through my checking account, so I very rarely had a need to write any checks from the savings account. I kept the starter checks for 8 years (until another bank gobbled up my bank, a commonplace in the late 1990s, and I merged the savings into the checking account) and used maybe 3 of the 10 I got when I needed to write a check without revealing my actual home address.

 

[CaptTom]

I remember when some stores wouldn't take the "starter checks" for payment. I guess those were more likely to bounce.

 

[John Galt III]

Balance check book every month. Had two significant bank errors NOT in my favor over the years that they would not have noticed, probably.