budget busters....checks

[Sagginit]

how long do you think is a reasonable amount of time to hold on to a check for? the reason i'm asking is i had a wedding the third weekend of july. i wrote a sizeable check (well not huge but its the size of a bill) and it has not been cashed. i know they are back from their honeymoon and have been for two weeks at least. this is going on week four now and nothing has shown up in my account yet. its a big headache b/c i have a vacation im in the middle of booking/paying for and then plan on shopping next week for fall clothes. everytime i check my account balance i have to subtract that amount. i also noticed my new landlady doesn't cash the check for a week or so after i give it to her. that is another headache b/c i get a check from the roomie and deposit it so my account goes up and then down. my old landlord had i cashed in 3 days or less. if i had to balance a checkbook i would be in real trouble.

also another odd thing. i thought a relative was holding on to their high school graduation check as i never saw the amount pop up as a check in my account. so i searched by check only b/c i was told the student cashed all his checks and bought a computer. well ill be darned, their bank cashed it for $20 more! i called and my bank rep was like well that 7 looks a bit like a 9....and i was like yes but the written part is crystal clear. she gave it back and said the person who cashed it won't owe the money which is good......but i kinda feel that would have been lesson learned b/c they took an extra $20 from me that was not theirs! maybe they thought it was a bank error in their favor but if i had not caught it i would have been scammed out of $20.

 

[Princesca]

You could always give the recipient a call and warmly say, "I was balancing my checkbook the other day, and I noticed my gift to you hadn't been cashed. I got a little worried that you maybe hadn't received it... is everything okay with it?"

 

[Jeff_G]

Ok my suggestion is to stop looking at your online balance to determine what is in your checking account. You need to either use the check register and keep a running total or better yet invest in a financial software package and record EVERY check / debit / ATM transaction. This way you will know the current running balance as if everything you have debited / written has cleared., you can then plan / budget accordingly.

Right now you are playing with fire and you are going to get burned! When you write a check you have signed a legal contract treat it as such and consider that money gone from the account the instant you sign your name…

 

[SandrA9810]

Exactly why I used money orders. The recipient uses it just like a regular check, and the money is already out of the account.

We were never good at balancing a check book, and mental notes of checks written didn't work either. We were always checking the balance in the account, over the phone or internet, and told us the available balance which was minus any credit swipes that were pending. It's also why we prepaid for gas inside the store rather than at the pump, that transaction could take up 2 to 3 days to post, but only pinged the account for a $1, not the $45 it took the fill the tank.

I know some grocery stores allow you to pay for a money order with your debit card, which is what Publix does. So I didn't have to worry about pulling cash out. Best 79 cents a month spent.

My aunt is queen at balancing a check book register... but I just don't have the patience for it. Plus when there's more than one card tied to the bank account, it's easy for both to assume there's a $100 available to spend. During the day, while they're out and about, both spend $20, thinking $20 isn't gonna hurt anything. Only to find out later, $40 was spent in total.

 

[dd50]

I always go by the balance in my check book. My brother in law was good at calling and finding out his balance. We had a few checks that he sent the kids for Christmas because of that. Always go by the check register after you deduct all your payments.

 

[rhiansmom]

Gosh I have a check that my grandpa wrote to my DD back in April or May that I still haven't cashed. I don't often go to the bank as it is out of the way and I'm not making a special trip for a $25 check. Never thought of anyone using the balance in the account as a way to judge their finances.

 

[smokeyblue]

I stopped writing checks for this very reason. Every time I would write a check for fund raisers or gifts they wouldn't get cashed for weeks and weeks.

I will only pay cash for fund raisers and I give visa gift cards for presents I used to write checks for.

 

[prncess674]

Ok my suggestion is to stop looking at your online balance to determine what is in your checking account. You need to either use the check register and keep a running total or better yet invest in a financial software package and record EVERY check / debit / ATM transaction. This way you will know the current running balance as if everything you have debited / written has cleared., you can then plan / budget accordingly.

Right now you are playing with fire and you are going to get burned! When you write a check you have signed a legal contract treat it as such and consider that money gone from the account the instant you sign your name…

I agree with this advice. The OP is playing with fire. If the OP doesn't like people holding checks then only give gifts of gift cards or cold hard cash.

 

[msmayor]

I don't understand why one would consider this a 'budget buster' item. You're not spending money you don't have.

I still do things the 'old school' way, even though I pay bills electronically. I keep a register and balance my checkbook every 2-3 weeks. I NEVER use the bank's balance as the benchmark for how much money I have...I use the register balance.

This is especially important because many of the bills I pay get set up 2-3 weeks before they are actually paid. I subtract it out of my register balance upon set-up, so the money could be sitting there for weeks before it gets paid.

 

[LauraLea]

but i kinda feel that would have been lesson learned b/c they took an extra $20 from me that was not theirs! maybe they thought it was a bank error in their favor but if i had not caught it i would have been scammed out of $20.

I would not just assume the graduate was aware what happened. Most likely they deposited several checks at one time and the teller calculated the total. Even if the graduate was aware there was $20 more, they probably were not aware of which check was counted incorrectly. The graduate may have even assumed he/she had made an error in their own calculations of how much they were cashing.

Laura

 

[RitaE]

Yeah, I really can't understand this as a "budget buster."

Isn't a budget buster supposed to be things that are unexpected and unplanned expenses. You wrote those checks so the money is gone. Planning for it to come back to you because of check-float times is unreasonable.

As for being unable to balance a checkbook - it takes about 3 clicks of a mouse with Financial Software such as Quicken or others. If you can post on the DIS boards, then you can certainly balance a checking account.

 

[Sarahlovy]

Checks are "good" for 6 months after they are written. I wouldn't even think about it until someone took more than 6 weeks to cash it. I agree that I wouldn't consider this to be a budget buster- once I write the check, I consider the money to be gone. If I were in your position, I would give it a full 6 weeks from when I gave the check, then a polite "I have seen the check did not clear. Was it lost/misplaced, because if so, I would like to rewrite it for you."

 

[Gigi22]

My sympathies are with the OP--it can be difficult when gift recipients hang on to cheques until they are nearly stale before cashing them--or call you to say they lost the cheque, and ask you to re-issue it. My DSis' kids (both in their 20s) have both done that with cheques, so I stopped giving them cheques. They get gift cards instead. The point of giving a cheque is to maximize the usefulness for the receiver, while making it easy on the giver. If the receiver is unable to cash a cheque in a timely fashion, then it is up to the giver to make a decision as to what kind of a gift card might be useful.
Just saw the PP's post about stale cheques. I live in Canada, a cheque becomes stale here after 3 months.

 

[ccgirl]

how long do you think is a reasonable amount of time to hold on to a check for? the reason i'm asking is i had a wedding the third weekend of july. i wrote a sizeable check (well not huge but its the size of a bill) and it has not been cashed. i know they are back from their honeymoon and have been for two weeks at least. this is going on week four now and nothing has shown up in my account yet. its a big headache b/c i have a vacation im in the middle of booking/paying for and then plan on shopping next week for fall clothes. everytime i check my account balance i have to subtract that amount. i also noticed my new landlady doesn't cash the check for a week or so after i give it to her. that is another headache b/c i get a check from the roomie and deposit it so my account goes up and then down. my old landlord had i cashed in 3 days or less. if i had to balance a checkbook i would be in real trouble.

also another odd thing. i thought a relative was holding on to their high school graduation check as i never saw the amount pop up as a check in my account. so i searched by check only b/c i was told the student cashed all his checks and bought a computer. well ill be darned, their bank cashed it for $20 more! i called and my bank rep was like well that 7 looks a bit like a 9....and i was like yes but the written part is crystal clear. she gave it back and said the person who cashed it won't owe the money which is good......but i kinda feel that would have been lesson learned b/c they took an extra $20 from me that was not theirs! maybe they thought it was a bank error in their favor but if i had not caught it i would have been scammed out of $20.

If you use a check register to balance your checkbook, please don't look online. YOu know how much money you have by looking at your checkbook then it doesn't matter how much someone holds on to it for. I someone had a wedding the third weekend in July that is only a couple of weeks ago and leaving room for a honeymoon that's not a lot of time. Bottom line, people are busy. Just use your check register and let them take the time the need to go to the bank. Some people only go once a week as they don't have a debit card and may be working and the bank closes before they are out of work.

 

[ancestry]

Technically they can cash the check for six months from the date it is written.

I often go through this with checks written to my kids schools, etc. I wrote a check for my son's summer football camp back in May and they still haven't cashed it. I'm guessing they probably won't until the fall when school starts up again.

However I have to say I'm not sure what the big deal is. You write the check, you deduct it from your check book register or accounting program, etc. so the fact that they haven't cashed it shouldn't interfere with your current balance. I'm not understanding your concern.

 

[malibuconlee]

I don't understand people who don't balance a check book. How do you *really* know how much is in your account? We balance every two weeks when DH gets paid and we pay bills.

We also don't like having to write down every time we get gas or go buy something at the store. That's why we use our credit card for most transactions and pay it off with the other bills. Just easier that way. Started back when we were both working and I was saving most of my check towards a house downpayment, but was the one to do the grocery shopping (we have separate joint accounts for many reasons). It was easier for me to go and use the credit card and for hubby to just pay it off.

 

[ccgirl]

I don't understand people who don't balance a check book. How do you *really* know how much is in your account? We balance every two weeks when DH gets paid and we pay bills.

We also don't like having to write down every time we get gas or go buy something at the store. That's why we use our credit card for most transactions and pay it off with the other bills. Just easier that way. Started back when we were both working and I was saving most of my check towards a house downpayment, but was the one to do the grocery shopping (we have separate joint accounts for many reasons). It was easier for me to go and use the credit card and for hubby to just pay it off.

I don't write checks. I only use a debit/credit card and, 99% of the time, the "charge" is deducted the same day. I find this easier because, if I forgot to write something down in my check register, a debit, a check I wrote etc then I was out of luck and might overdraw my account. However, all bills get paid online and most of them are automatically deducted from my Debit card so I know the date they are going to be deducted and how much. In addition, I am on balanced billing for my natural gas and electric so that deduction is the same every month too. Otherwise, I use cash.

 

[Styx Fan]

I worked for several years as a bank teller. Folks like OP used to give us lots of . Once you write a check the money is gone! Subtract it and get on with it. Balance your checkbook at least once a month. The way OP is using her check book is a disaster waiting to happen. Overdraft fees and bounced check fees are killers and put you further in the hole. Sometimes people would get so messed up they would pay the bank the unravel their check book.

Balancing a check book is easy. If you get a paper statement, the back side has a great little fill in the blanks chart to walk you through it.

Once you write someone a check they are under no obligation to cash it asap. But it's not a bad idea since there are people who are not good at using their checking account responsibly and if you delay the check may end up bouncing!

 

[disneyofcourse]

You should just use a little notebook/ bank booklet to track your checks. Stop checking online and wondering when people cash their checks. Just note it down in the booklet and then compare it to your online account every week or two.

Once you write a check consider the money gone at that point in time. Maybe you should just give cash??

 

[jenny105]

Why don't you record transactions in your check register? I write it down almost as soon as I write a check so I always know what I have in my account. It only takes a minute and it's less of a headache than relying solely on online banking.