A brief rant about my sheer stupidity

"Float" is quickly becoming a relic as more and more banks switch over to the Check 21 system of electronically clearing checks. Even if you write a check out of state now, you can often expect it to clear the next day.

 

Stupid technology </homersimpson)

 

In relation to the above quote:
*The best way to not learn is to find a competent Sugar Mommy/Daddy who handles all financial stuff.

Unrelated to the above quote:
It's not reasonable to expect the bank to check dates on every check that rolls through. Post-dating is a bad idea.

 

They have the Internet on computers now. </homersimpson)

 

Your stupidity was not finding a way to charge for this thread - over 300 hits is 2 hours - a buck a read could have been your car payment and dinner>

 

Perhaps American banking laws are different but here, you cannot cash a cheque before the date it's written for.  With big companies this is a problem because, as was pointed out earlier, nobody has time to check.  It's more cost effective to process everything and correct your mistakes afterwards.  Your bank should have returned the cheque to the payee as "post dated" and they redeposit it on the correct date.  As has also been pointed out, online banking solves a lot of this.  You can setup your payment to come out on July 2nd if you know there'll be money there and it will be done automatically on that day.

If a cheque by mail is the only way to pay your bills though, attaching a large note to your cheque pointing out the date would help.

I have a day job as an office manager and write all our cheques and payroll.  I had a pay cheque go out that my boss forgot to sign.  The employee didn't notice, neither did the bank.  Cheque cleared all the way back to me unsigned.  Go figure.  :-\

It's the same kind of logic that has you sign your credit card and then nobody checks it.  I used to check signatures when I worked retail and a few people were insulted.  I asked them "What if you had lost your credit card today and hadn't noticed yet.  Wouldn't you like me to check the signature and catch the person trying to use it?".

 

You're right. It's different.

 

What's the point of putting dates on your cheques then? ???

 

Guess there's a difference between checks and cheques.

I got a paycheck earlier this year dated 3-25-2007. Had no problem cashing it.

 

I'm glad I haven't had to deal with a bank in about six years. My money market account is my Visa/checking account, so everything goes through there.

 

I would think it could come in handy for record-keeping.

If someone claims they didn't receive December payment, you can go back and tell them, "Well, I have the canceled check dated Dec. 2 . . . "

 

Just be careful with all the new GOP-sponsored banking laws.
Now, if you're a day late with your electric bill, the interest rate can suddenly go up on your Visa. Sometimes up to 30 percent.
And if you're late on that Visa bill, even by a day, look out!