For those of you who don't know, "check 21" is a new law that allows banks to electronically clear checks in 1 day.........you can no longer "float" a check for a few days. What I don't like is that deposits are not treated the same way. That is unfair to those of us who live paycheck to paycheck. While in the bank this morning, I overheard a person arguing with a bank officer about being hit with a bounced check fee. This is not fair to people who have bad credit and can't get overdraft protection on their checking account. When I made my deposit this morning, I was surprised when the teller told me that the check I just deposited won't be available to my account as a deposit for a couple days :rant: ..........but any checks I write can clear the same day. One cleared yesterday OVER THE HOLIDAY! :rant: I guess the new laws only benefit the banks and are just another way to tack on more "fees". :spank: I'm glad I have overdraft, and pity those who don't. Banks are THEIVES. :af:
Don't get me started on my feelings about banks! The ******* Banks are the most anti-customer organizations! The check we mailed to our mortgage co. for Oct. never reached them. I issued them another check, and immediatly called Wells Fargo to put a stop payment on the first check in case it fell in to the wrong hands, and quess what the fee is to stop a check? $ 29.00 F'ing dollars!!!!! Some banks are now charging a service fee just to go to a teller and do business with a human being! And while at the teller, they will encourage you to get direct deposit, and do your banking over the internet. (We do both, but we like to have one of our paychecks as a real honest to goodness check.) I'm so sorry, did I interupt you? I guess I was under the assumption you wanted my business! How silly of me to come to such a conclusion! You know, with a little R & D, you may have a good product here! Yeah, you deposit your paycheck from a company you have worked for for nearly 10 years into an account you have had for an even longer amount of time, but they still treat you like you are trying to get away with something! Meanwhile, they are most likely earning interest on that money before they even let you touch it. And have you ever noticed that even if it's Friday, on the first of the month, the bank may have spaces for say... 8 tellers, but they will only have 3 or 4 of them staffed? So you stand in line just to make a deposit while other customers seem to be refinancing there life at the teller window. How about a window for just deposits? Brilliant! Stellar idea! And drive through is worse. Good customer service isn't rocket science, but you need to know what you are doing. I swear, if my mattress could match the pawltry interest the bank pays on my money, it would get my business! :rant:
Some things to consider. I am not a fan of corporations or Banks, though I do work for a credit union (not as bad as a bank as they are non-profit organizations and really help people). We have gotten stuck for big money over the last few months due to deposits being made available when an "official" bank check has been presented. It has to do with the scam of proper looking bank checks being accepted by sellers (ebay sometimes) for products sold. The checks look perfect and get deposited and available at once. The depositor then withdraws the money in cash and goes on their merry way. 5-10 days later, the check is returned as fraudulent and there is no money in the account and we are out the money. The depositor then plays dumb and says it is OUR fault for accepting the check in the first place and that they will file bankruptcy if we try to collect the funds from them. Just this week, we got stuck for $7200! Who pays for this loss? The good depositors who now have to pay increased fees on other services to cover this loss. What some may not know is that "floating" check is against the law and that they could technically be prosecuted. The law has always been that the funds must be in the account before the check is written. In practice, we all do it. The new law is to let checks clear more quickly against available funds and protect the depositor at the other bank (which could be you or me). I could go on more about some other scams people pull. If they worked as hard at a job as they do on cheating they would be rich. In the long run, we all pay for the fraud that gets done. Sorry if I seem like I am defending banks, but it really burns me up to pay for someones else taking money that is not theirs. Mark
Check 21 doesn't bug me as much as going to bank and being charged $3 to cash a check. :af: I have my own checking account at another bank, but I want the money from their bank, and for that, I have to pay a fee of $3 for what has always been a cost of business. I think checks will go away eventually and everyone will just go to Electronic Bank Draft or Debit/Credit Cards. The nobody will ever see green money, we'll all just see numbers fly around.
mark: i would think that your credit union would be smart enough place a hold on funds for any cheque that is not written against your credit union member acct . canadian banks place a several day hold on any cheque that is not written on their bank to be sure that the cheque will clear. sound business practice . what u.s. calls bank21 , we have had this concept in canada for years. it stops the "floats".
I think when he's reffering to bank check is more commonly known as a bank money order. Which is a form to mean the funds have been secured by the sending bank already. Generally speaking most every bank will give funds immediately when cashing one, except if it's from a foreign bank.
I don't have a single complaint about my bank. It's a regional bank, they don't even sell their home mortgages, keeping them in-house til paid off. I'll agree that bank fees seem to be out of line though... direct deposit paychecks? I did that a couple years ago, but since I didn't bank where my employer banks, the deposits to my account were always delayed a day or even 2 at times. Cancelled that mighty quick... when I take my paper local payroll check to my local bank, the funds are credited to my account and are available the same day. And since paydays are on Friday, I don't have to wait until Monday/Tuesday to use those funds with my checking card. I used to bank with Norwest, now part of Wells Fargo, and they were the worst people I've ever dealt with, of course that was 15 yrs ago.
A friend went to cash a check at a bank that he didn't have an account with. He showed them his Driver's license, as his ID, AND the check was in HIS name, anyway, and they made him give a FINGERPRINT! :shock: :af: Why should ANYONE have to give a FINGERPRINT, just to cash a check, even after showing proper ID!? :af: Save the "punishment" for the True CRIMINALS! :Smarty: :blast:
I sure love a good rant! I was happier when it was still Norwest. We have done a couple of loans through a credit union in Iowa that my wife has had a long relationship with. And I must say, they are quite pleasant and flexible. The first time I did a loan through them over the phone, I hung up thinking "That was way to easy!"
I went to cash a small expense check at our company's bank and after endorsing it and giving them a finger print they told me it would cost five dollars because I don't have an account. After getting the manager and explaining that my signature was on the check they agreed to forgo the fee but not without lots of attitude. What did Dale call them? anti-customer organizations? rrrrrgggghhhhhh
Our CU policy was to accept any "official" bank check. These are checks that have the bank name printed on them and are supposed to be drawn on accounts that have the funds set aside for that very check. It is different than a money order or certified check. They generally have the bank name on the check and only reference the check issuers name. With the new style pc printers and the like, the forgers have been able to make very good replicas of bank checks that appear to be valid when if fact there is no such account at that bank with the funds set aside. After getting burned a few times, it is now policy to to call the bank the check is drawn on to verify if the account does actually exist. One of the problems has been that when the depositor (usually not aware the check is forged) goes to deposit the check, they get annoyed that it is not deposited and funds immediately available as in the past. In many cases, the depositor has shipped product or released a vehicle to the purchaser and is not aware the check is bad. So, here they are without their sold item and we are not giving them immediate funds. They do get ver PO'd. The faster clearing of any check through the new policy mentioned helps to speed up the release of any held monies. It still won't help on the forged checks, but does prevent some of the insufficient funds on usual deposits. GEEZ, I took the day off and I am discussing work here..... ou: :laugh: Mark
You're right about that. some years back the govment changed the law on escrow money to be no more than two months worth of payments. Now this made sence for folks that had these huge reserves held in escrow but for ME it was not a happy thing. Just before the law went into effect Citibank bought my morgage and demanded more money for my escrow account. I called them up and explained that my escrow account would never reach $0 and therefore I shouldn't have to pay. When I asked why they were doing this I was told, because we can. I got a shiver. I found the law in the Federal Register and noticed that the review board was all banks and lending institutions and not one consumer watchdawg. I can't imagine that they would work it in their favor. If everyones account was adjusted up, Citibank did very very well.
Don't even get me started on that one.........the bank that holds my mortgage tried that one on me when I tried cashing a check there that was drawn from the same bank. I refused to do it on that basis, and when I told them I resent being treated like a common criminal just for cashing a check the bank manager came over and they cashed it. I won! :beer I think they just wanted to save face b/c I was holding up the line, and I also told them I would never open a checking account at a bank that treats their customers like that. :grin: :rant: :spank: Bank=0 Nailhead=1 :Brow:
This is another big corporate scheme to do away with "Human contact". They wanna force you to dirrect deposit. I like human contact. I think everything getting automated sucks! Plus look at all the tellers that will lose their jobs. We the people need to organize to boycott crap like this. But alas, big corporations know how to keep us divided.
Hee Hee... Funny story, Back in my younger days, (like around 16) I knew a guy that used to commit bank fraud time to time. What he'd do is deposit a check from himeslf to himself at an atm , it would hit the account that day, he d take the money out and by the time it all got figured out his pay check would hit the bank. He got in trouble big for that
When I moved here from the Uk I couldnt believe the banking system. We complain back home but here in US of A its like living in the stone age. I cant remember the last time I had a cheque book. I couldnt believe they were going to charge me for a cheque book, i couldnt believe i needed one. When they said there was no way of transferring money from one account at one bank to another account at another bank without writing a cheque or wiring the money I nearly fell over. What century are we living in? You mean you fly little pieces of paper all over the country when all the information is already stored electonically anyway. You mean I cant just transfer money electronically? You dare to have mortgage rates of 5% plus and give out onyl 0.1% interest on your accounts!!??? Back home I get 4.5%-5% INTEREST on my normal chequing account and pay about 5.2% on my mortgage... I thought america was about competition.. you need to shake this s*** up. The sad thing is people here dont even realise how badly they are being ripped off and what crap service they have to put up with. The banks dont want to move forward because they make so much money from you whilst your cheque 'clears'. They make millions just from those couple of days. There is no reason it cant all be done instantly electronically just that its not in their interest to serve the customer and update their infrastructure from 1950... Rant over
banks can check routing numbers to see if a check is fake Remember when atms first came out they were free!!!! It saved the bank money because they were open 24 7 and didnt have to pay people. Now they charge you to use one. I believe if somebody writes you a check you can go to that bank and cash it with a fee because its there check. You might need to leave a finger print but no fee. The banks want you to use the debit card because the retailer is charged the same as if it were a credit card. If the charge was 100 and you used your debit card the retailer only gets 94 -98 dollars and the bank keeps the rest. That is why you have a grace period on your credit cards. That funded the purchase if paid in full when you got the statement. Now the money comes right out of your account and the bank doesnt fund the purchase but still gets the discount. Talk about making money!!!!!!!Right to the bottom line. Some banks will now split the money with you up to 1 % a year. I have US bank and this month I will get my 1%.
