Could you go check free for 14 days?
Have online banking and automated credit card payments obsoleted paper checks? I'm about to find out.
About a month ago, I ordered replacement checks from my bank because I was running low. I never gave it another thought. Unfortunately, neither did my bank.
I realized this when I wrote my last check in my book of 25 checks and went to add a new one and discovered I didn't have any. Back to the bank.
It didn't take long for the teller at the bank to confirm that a check order was never placed for my account. My only choice was to place a new order right then and there, which I did.
But it takes 2-3 business days for the new check order to process and another 5-7 business days for the checks to arrive. I'm staring down roughly two weeks without paper checks.
In an attempt to make amends, my bank offered to cut me cashier's checks at no charge if I really get pressed to write a check but something tells me this is a bit of overkill to pay the babysitter or make a deposit into my son's school lunch account.
Personally, I think I am going to struggle. Despite the advances in technology, I still write a lot of paper checks. I admit it. Sometimes it's just quicker and easier.
What about you? Could you go 14 days without writing a paper check? Leave me a comment and let me know.
14 comments for this blog post so far...
May 11, 2009 at 7:54 am
Kayjo
I can go 3 months without writing a check! I use my bank’s bill pay system and the only thing I need to write a check for is to pay the USTreasury my estimated tax payments. If there were a way to pay that electronically I would never write a check.
May 11, 2009 at 7:57 am
Patric Welch
@Kayjo: That’s awesome. I’m not quite there yet but I would like to be. If I could pay our babysitter with a credit card, I would :)
May 11, 2009 at 1:06 pm
Colin Clark
Would you believe that I haven’t had checks for over 2 years!? It’s true! I ran out of checks a few years ago and thought to myself “I don’t really write that many checks, lets see how long I can go without them.” I honestly don’t think I’ll ever use paper checks again. On the rare occasion that I can’t process a payment online I just go to the bank and get a money order, but really that’s only happened 2-3 times that I can think of.
May 12, 2009 at 8:49 am
Stephanie
Close, but not yet. Daycare and the house cleaner don’t take anything but checks. And, yes, those darn estimated tax payments. Everything else is online bill pay, automated payments or credit cards--gotta rack up the rewards points!
May 12, 2009 at 11:01 am
Patric Welch
@Colin: That’s absolutely incredible! You’ve inspired me to see how I can cut down on the number of paper checks I still use.
May 12, 2009 at 11:02 am
Patric Welch
@Stephanie: You have a house cleaner?!? Now, I’m jealous.
May 12, 2009 at 11:11 am
Suz
Try paypal for your sitter - I bet he/she has a card they’d love to use for spending purposes. I haven’t had a check in my book in about 6 weeks. I rarely carry cash either. It makes my husband nuts.
May 12, 2009 at 11:44 am
Patric Welch
@Suz: I’ve always thought it would be cool to have a Babysitter Central web site where babysitters could log on and create an account. Then I could create a parent account and issue funds off my credit card to my babysitter’s account. Then the babysitter could request funds whenever he/she needed. Could get some companies on board to offer trade-ups to restaurant or clothing store gift cards like Discover card does with their cash-back bonus program. So a babysitter could take $45 cash (or Paypal) or trade-up to a $50 Old Navy gift card. Whadya think? Maybe I should do a Technology I’d Like to See (TILTS) blog about this.
May 13, 2009 at 10:08 am
Jean
Almost no checks and almost no stamps for me too! I write a check for church monthly and charity donations or memorials occasionally. My online banking saves me lots in postage. My daughter drove my vehicle through a toll plaza in Denver last month (the booths are no longer manned in a cost cutting move by CDOT). So I received a bill for $2.50 payable by check or money order. A book of checks lasts a long time.
May 14, 2009 at 10:32 am
Brian
No checks here either, although sometimes I borrow my wife’s :)
May 19, 2009 at 10:55 am
Suz
@Patric: I think the trade-up thing could work wonders in the sitters’ favor—check with Regina’s oldest daughter—I’m sure she’d have some input for you.
I used to insist on paying a friend with Kroger gift cards when she watched my kids. I’d get a portion for my kids’ tuition fund, she insisted she would *not* take payment, but would accept the gift cards to use for gas & food. Win/win. KWIM?
May 20, 2009 at 8:10 am
Patric Welch
@Suz: Tell me more about how you got money for your kids’ tuition fund buying Kroger cards? Was that through UPromise?
May 20, 2009 at 8:16 am
Suz
@Patric: Our school uses the scrip program http://glscrip.com You can buy one gift card through the school & then keep reloading it OR buy individual cards through the school for your preferred $ amount. If you reload the card AND use your Kroger shopping card on the specified products, you get a % in the tuition account PLUS the $ in your UPromise acct. Hopefully that wasn’t too concise a description.
May 20, 2009 at 8:17 am
Patric Welch
@Suz: Thanks for the tip. Our church uses scrip but I’m not sure our school does. I’ll have to check into that!
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