ordered checks

[redbird]

I have ordered checks, after wanting to write a check for something yesterday and realizing that I had used up my current book of checks, looking for the next book, and not finding it

The process was more annoying than it should have been, involving error messages from 3 different browsers saying that I had pop-ups blocked, even after I specifically enabled them for that site. I called my credit union, which connected me to the order line for the check printing company, at which point I learned that since I hadn't ordered in a few years, they had purged my record, and that I should contact my credit union.

Fortunately, the credit union has a text chat helpline, which first told me that if I hadn't ordered in "a few years" I would have to get a human employee to do it for me. After a few minutes, Ashley came on the line, and was quite helpful, and now I will have checks.

I have been paying almost everything through online banking and credit cards, which is how I could not notice being out of checks, and also why I hadn't bothered ordering new checks any of the times I moved after opening this account.

Comments

[dewline]

I often think of credit unions. And my parents' upbringing re: bank dependency...

[athenais]

I have had a book of checks for over a year and haven't used them yet. I rarely pay for anything that way. I also made all my clients switch to using Venmo or PayPal, though two begged me to let them pay with checks still as they don't "trust" online payments. Insert visual of me rolling my eyes as I answer their emails.

[pameladean]

I just used up my last book of checks. I had downsized my check order considerably and gotten the smallest number they'd let me order, three books of checks. It still took more than a year to use them up. David and I have a joint account, and he was actually still using the book or two of checks I had provided him with from the previous order, but coincidentally he ran out of checks the same day that I did, which amused us.

The website provided by the packaging of the checks themselves did not work, and I was told to order through my bank. This was a bit concerning, since the bank has just merged with another one, but fortunately the days when online anything won't be available are yet to come, in mid-October, so I was able in fact to order through my bank.

The main reason I need to use checks is that said bank has broken more and more stuff every time they acquire or merge with another bank, and we were told that the only remedy for this was for everybody who is a signatory on our household account (four people) to come in in person and start the whole process over. This was difficult before the pandemic and then just unthinkable. So we have to pass checks around and deposit them on our phones rather than just transferring money electronically. I wonder what the new merger will break. There's not much left, really.

P.

[otter]

I still pay bills with checks and talk to humans at my credit union regularly. My sewing clients are asked to pay with cash or check. Ever since my ex started working in banking IT 30 years ago, I have developed a deep-seated dislike of electronic banking and cash machines and the fees. I have a couple friends that I allow to send me work payments through my personal paypal account.

[replyhazy]

my check carbons go:

Four massage set at massage therapist

Hair

Hair

Four massage set...

And yet I STILL carry my checkbook everywhere! Why? I do not know.

[kareina]

I haven't had checks since I left the US in 2003, and don't miss them one bit.

Several years ago I was sent a check from the UK, so I went in to the bank here in Sweden with it and asked if I could deposit it (most of my friends here under 35 years of age have never even seen a check). After some time I found a human who said they could process it, but the fee for that was so high I went home, emailed the university that had sent it, and asked if they could do a bank transfer. They could. Problem solved.

[coth]

This is a bemusing thing for us Brits. I wrote my first cheque (check) for four years on my personal account last week. They have almost entirely been superseded by various forms of electronic payment. The only remaining use I have for either cheques (or cash either for that matter) is to make personal payments to a small number of elderly and conservative folk who don't like giving me their bank account details.

[cmcmck]

I'm trying to recall the last time I wrote a cheque!