Brave New World,...at the bank.
 

Check 21 is the name of new banking rules going into effect on Oct 28th,...like it or not.

The core of these changes is that the bank doesn’t have to move your check from the butcher’s bank, to your bank, before they take your money. No float, so don’t write that check until the money is there.

Write those checks carefully because there will be no more "stop payment".

Once this is up to speed (and it won’t take long) you won’t get your cancelled check back. You’ll get a “substitute check” and the bank where your check was cashed/deposited is supposed to destroy the original.

Since the checks you deposit are cashed almost instantly, you’re deposits should be credited to your account right away,.........BUT NOOOOOO. That’s up to the bank’s "check hold times" which are not affected by this law.

Your bank may ask you to sign a voluntary Check Truncation form. DON’T DO IT! If you sign it, you’ll lose some of the protections afforded you in this law. The biggest one is, if your check is converted to a “substitute check” more than once, (by *cough* accident), they have to credit the money back within 10 days. Unless you sign the form, in which case you’re looking at 45 days or more.

So check (pun) out the Federal Reserve link about and question your bank before you get burnt. :eyebrow:

I think some places are already doing that kind of thing. I know that at Old Navy and Minit Mart stores the funds are automatically deducted from your account. Then, they give you back your check with all the receipt info printed on it.

I miss the days when checks bought you a little extra time on your bills.

Vindwyn, thats Electronic Check Conversion which is another can 'o worms and covered by a different set of laws. It is the same as using a debit card, in that you're giving them your account number to snatch the money directly from your account. If the clerck says you don't have enough to cover it, look for a bounced check fee from the bank. ;)

I have gotten repeatedly burnt by my credit union's 7 day hold on certain checks... including checks written from my business, to myself, from a bank across the street.

J said I shold go in, CASH it, and deposit the cash... would that work?

Except that until your check written to cash clears, you are actually receiving a temporary loan from your bank ... some banks also have a clearance hold on all deposits, including cash.

I am seriously considering going back to the old fashioned kind of direct deposit. Right into the mattress.

I actually do know someone who has no bank accounts. He gets his paycheck, and on payday goes to the bank upon which said check is drawn, cashes it, and then distributes the cash to budgeted purposes including things like the mortgage, food allotment, etc.

He's pretty unique in that he doesn't have any outstanding debt.

I work my payroll checks that way Toad. I cash them at the issuing bank then take the cash to my bank and deposit THAT. I get the credit in 24 hours rather than five working days. Makes a few auto-payments I have go smoother.

Brian

I fear the notion of autopay. I individually authorize any withdrawals from my account.

And have an overdraft line of credit, just in case.

direct deposit. auto billpay. automatic wire transfer to savings every monday. auto payment of credit card balance.

I used to get burned everytime I left town for a gig. now the finances are bulletproof. love it.

Yah, we're pretty much full auto now (maybe you like the idea better expressed that way Wolf?) I really need to dig up a cash gig for discretionary income though.

Every payday a modified armored car parks in front of Boeing and cashes checks for a very reasonable fee. They do a big business from people that don't have bank accounts, don't want their spouses to know what they make, or have bookies/loan sharks that want their money,TODAY! :smashfrea

I chose to use the same bank that my longtime employer uses. That way, direct deposits from their account into my account are posted the same day.

all direct deposits are posted the same day ... I get them from 3 different sources, and they always post the same day they go in.

I think it's irrelevant where it comes from, it only matters where it's going in; i.e. what your bank's policy is (unless you're saying you have accounts at three different banks.) My bank, a local credit union, always posts deposits of any kind within an hour or two. My best friend's bank, on the other hand (Bank of America) has a standard five-day waiting period before deposits are posted.

My paychecks are direct deposited from some bank out west to my local bank, on Thursdays. The money is there at 12:01 AM, everytime. :)

Most banks charge a fee and many require a fingerprint even to cash a check drawn on themselves, if the check is cashed by a non-accountholder. That's obnoxious.

Perhaps, but I'm sure the inconvenience helps to deter some fraud. Years ago, my mom sent me to her bank to get some checks cashed and they gave me the hardest time. I was 17 at the time and I don't know if that had anything to do with it, but they eventually ended up calling the phone number on the account on the check, asking if she had a daughter and me providing ID to check with what my mom told them. Pain in the kiester at the time, but it showed her bank didn't play around when it came to people wanting cash off checks.

For some reason, I'm having the feeling that the bank walls are closing in on me.

An endorsed check is supposed to be a negotiable bearer instrument. You're not supposed to have to prove who you are to cash one on the bank it's drawn on. As long as the endorsement matches the signature on record, the bank should honor the check.

If you have a valid check drawn on that bank made out to John Jones, and you have ID that proves you're John Jones, they should cash the check even though they don't know if you're THE John Jones the check was made out to.
And you should not pay any fee. :yelgreedy

I have had an account at the same bank for an extremely long time.

My signature on my signature card is that of a ... much younger person.

Also one who did not need to have an extraordinarily illegible signature for business purposes (My mental health warrants can be identified by my supervisor, and other coworkers as being mine, but patients, who receive a copy of their petitions, would be hard pressed to figure out my first name, much less my last.)

A graphologist would likely be able to find simliarities in the first and last initials, and the ending flourish on the terminal letter of my last name, but one of these things does not look like the other ...

I have never been questioned as to either endorsements on any checks I have presented at the bank for cashing, or with respect to any personal checks I have written and signed.

Oh, and Slang, that's what the mattress is for.

No bank. Bank bad. Get green, buy precious metals, firearms, ammo, and whiskey. Bury in yard for a (black) rainy day.

My first bank statement under this law.
I wrote check 707 to AT&T. The statement show a sequence break between 706 and 708. Listed under “other withdrawals” is AT&T Consumer Checkpaymt 0707, but no cancelled check and no “substitute check”.

At the bank, the woman starts to explain “Check21” but I convinced her I was familiar with it......chapter and verse. She agreed I should have gotten something with the statement and called the bank’s central brain trust. They told her in order to issue a “substitute check” they need a facsimile from AT&T but they've not returned my, or anybody else’s info. Zip, nada, nothing.

Even so the bank is required by law to honor the demand from AT&T for payment. :eek:
I’m no longer with AT&T.

So now businesses can take your money and leave no record?

Well, heck, Dubya. That ought to be good for the economy!

I think Citibank does the same thing ... converts paperchecks into data.

If the bank has enough information to charge your account, they should have enough information to create a substitute check. I think it might be your bank rather than AT&T that is screwing up. What's happened is the check has been "truncated":

(18) TRUNCATE.—The term ‘‘truncate’’ means to remove
an original paper check from the check collection or return
process and send to a recipient, in lieu of such original paper
check, a substitute check or, by agreement, information relating
to the original check (including data taken from the MICR
line of the original check or an electronic image of the original
check), whether with or without subsequent delivery of the
original paper check.

(note the "by agreement")

If the bank can't produce the original check or a substitute and you dispute the charge, they're going to have a hard time of it (under older law, not Check 21-- Check 21 would only help them if they DID have the substitute)

What is a substitute check?
A substitute check is a special paper copy of the front and back of an original check. The substitute check may be slightly larger than the original check. Substitute checks are specially formatted so they can be processed as if they were original checks. The front of a substitute check should state: "This is a legal copy of your check. You can use it the same way you would use the original check." The following sample shows what a substitute check looks like.

Not all copies of a check are substitute checks. For example, pictures of multiple checks printed on a page (also known as an image statement) that is returned to you with your monthly statement are not substitute checks. Online check images and photocopies of original checks are not substitute checks either. You can use image statements and other copies of checks to verify that your bank has paid a check.


16. Can I still get my canceled checks back?
If you get your canceled checks back with your account statements today, you will continue to receive canceled checks unless your bank notifies you otherwise. The only difference will be that some of the canceled checks that you receive may be substitute checks. You can use a substitute check the same way you would use an original check, such as for recordkeeping and proof-of-payment purposes. :eyebrow: