Fuck American banks. I got two cheques from some online service. Cheques? WTF? I took them to my bank, and they literally didn't know what to do with them. In the end they said it would cost 20 euro to process each one. One of them was for just 30 dollars, so after fees and exchange rates I get no money at all.
Fuck American banks. I got two cheques from some online service. Cheques? WTF? I took them to my bank, and they literally didn't know what to do with them. In the end they said it would cost 20 euro to process each one. One of them was for just 30 dollars, so after fees and exchange rates I get no money at all.
Didn't we solve this problem years ago?
Luke. I want you to realize something.
The other day, I had someone pay for clothes with a check rather than using the debit card I saw in their wallet.
People in America intentionally choose to use checks at times, rather than the alternative.
I think I've talked about this on a GeekChat, but not on the forums. I don't think that I've ever seen a check in real life. They are just another thing like fire hydrants that I know just from reading Donald Duck comics.
Fuck American banks. I got two cheques from some online service. Cheques? WTF? I took them to my bank, and they literally didn't know what to do with them. In the end they said it would cost 20 euro to process each one. One of them was for just 30 dollars, so after fees and exchange rates I get no money at all.
Didn't we solve this problem years ago?
Luke. I want you to realize something.
The other day, I had someone pay for clothes with a check rather than using the debit card I saw in their wallet.
People in America intentionally choose to use checks at times, rather than the alternative.
And you didn't punch them? How old was this preson?
I think I've talked about this on a GeekChat, but not on the forums. I don't think that I've ever seen a check in real life. They are just another thing like fire hydrants that I know just from reading Donald Duck comics.
... are fire hydrants an anachronism, or do you just live in a cave? They just installed a fresh batch of hydrants in my neighborhood.
If I am not mistaken he does not live in America. Though that does make me curious as to what your fire departments process is to get water to put out fires.
I think I've talked about this on a GeekChat, but not on the forums. I don't think that I've ever seen a check in real life. They are just another thing like fire hydrants that I know just from reading Donald Duck comics.
... are fire hydrants an anachronism, or do you just live in a cave? They just installed a fresh batch of hydrants in my neighborhood.
I mean those bright red things you Americans have. That you are not supposed to park next to. Don't have them here.
I think I've talked about this on a GeekChat, but not on the forums. I don't think that I've ever seen a check in real life. They are just another thing like fire hydrants that I know just from reading Donald Duck comics.
If it were not for some corporate work and my parent's business back in the day, I'd probably have never seen a cheque in my life either.
If I am not mistaken he does not live in America. Though that does make me curious as to what your fire departments process is to get water to put out fires.
Usually, the hydrant outlet is underground, behind a steel access hatch - similar, but more compact, and more protected from damage. Cheaper, too. Occasionally, you might see one on the side of a building, if you're in the city.
I think I've talked about this on a GeekChat, but not on the forums. I don't think that I've ever seen a check in real life. They are just another thing like fire hydrants that I know just from reading Donald Duck comics.
If it were not for some corporate work and my parent's business back in the day, I'd probably have never seen a cheque in my life either.
If I am not mistaken he does not live in America. Though that does make me curious as to what your fire departments process is to get water to put out fires.
Usually, the hydrant outlet is underground, behind a steel access hatch - similar, but more compact, and more protected from damage. Cheaper, too. Occasionally, you might see one on the side of a building, if you're in the city.
More protected from damage but less conspicuous, both to fire personnel and the public who might obstruct it unwittingly.
I'm not sure that's an improvement but the statistics would bear that out, I guess?
More protected from damage but less conspicuous, both to fire personnel and the public who might obstruct it unwittingly.
I'm not sure that's an improvement but the statistics would bear that out, I guess?
Anyway I like fire hydrants. They're traditional.
Nah, they're placed at regular intervals, and have a very particular look about them. On top of that, they're signed in two different ways, here - a H on the road, and a sign on the nearest in-line object - be that a fence, a light pole, a power pole, or just a small pole for the hydrant sign itself.
And plus, not only are they at regular intervals, if one is obstructed, then there is hell to pay - not that they're easy to obstruct, as long as nothing is directly over it, you're fine - you don't need the extra room like you do plugging onto the side of a traditional hydrant. And even then, there usually others close enough that it shouldn't be an issue.
I only write checks for rent because the building management company is low tech. I used checks back in the day as well. I had a checking account since forever, but didn't have a credit card until college. I bought many things online during the '90s by sending checks in the mail. If someone gives me a check these days, I deposit it by taking a picture with my phone.
The question I have is why is every property company still so low-tech? Shit, it's not that hard to set up an automated direct deposit at the very least. I have to buy exactly twelve stamps a year. >_<
The question I have is why is every property company still so low-tech? Shit, it's not that hard to set up an automated direct deposit at the very least. I have to buy exactly twelve stamps a year. >_<</p>
That's exactly how it is here and in England. I don't think I've ever in my life paid rent by cheque.
The question I have is why is every property company still so low-tech? Shit, it's not that hard to set up an automated direct deposit at the very least. I have to buy exactly twelve stamps a year. >_<</p>
That's exactly how it is here and in England. I don't think I've ever in my life paid rent by cheque.
The problem is, from what I've been lead to believe, in Europe and the UK, you can do free (or nearly free) transfers between accounts owned by different people with little trouble. So, I could tell my bank "Take 10 bucks out of my account and give it to Churba", and it'd happen. In the US, no such thing exists. You either have to take out cash, walk over to the person, give it to them, and they have to deposit the cash (risky for large amounts of cash), do a PayPal/Square/LevelUp thing (and pay their fees, as well as maybe a credit card fee), or write a check.
I guess my question is, why all the butthurt and pseudo-agony over buying 12 stamps and mailing 12 checks? Is it REALLY that bad? Sure, electronic payment is more convenient, but so what? Does everything always have to be optimized?
I guess my question is, why all the butthurt and pseudo-agony over buying 12 stamps and mailing 12 checks? Is it REALLY that bad? Sure, electronic payment is more convenient, but so what? Does everything always have to be optimized?
If it can be, then why shouldn't it be? If something can easily be made to take one minute instead of five, that's four minutes I have now to do something I want to do.
If I didn't have to pay stupid rent by cheque, I wouldn't have to even own stamps, let alone cheques. Hell, rent would just be automatic and I wouldn't have to even think about it.
My primary goal with all technology is to remove from me trivial burdens so I can load up on the non-trivial ones.
I guess my question is, why all the butthurt and pseudo-agony over buying 12 stamps and mailing 12 checks? Is it REALLY that bad? Sure, electronic payment is more convenient, but so what? Does everything always have to be optimized?
If it can be, then why shouldn't it be? If something can easily be made to take one minute instead of five, that's four minutes I have now to do something I want to do.
Unless you never in your life have even 5 minutes of downtime where you are simply not doing anything, not counting sleep, then I'm sad for you. I think this type of argument is patently silly.
I love the hand scanner at my local supermarket, can't live without it. It saves me waiting in line when I'm done and I can hustle my toddler right out the door, more or less. But trusting in the bank to handle my monthly bill transactions electronically just to save licking a stamp? Seems.. overkill and unnecessarily trusting.
The problem is, from what I've been lead to believe, in Europe and the UK, you can do free (or nearly free) transfers between accounts owned by different people with little trouble. So, I could tell my bank "Take 10 bucks out of my account and give it to Churba", and it'd happen. In the US, no such thing exists. You either have to take out cash, walk over to the person, give it to them, and they have to deposit the cash (risky for large amounts of cash), do a PayPal/Square/LevelUp thing (and pay their fees, as well as maybe a credit card fee), or write a check.
As far as I know, yeah, though it does take a little bit of time depending on the bank - for example, if John and Barry are with Westpac and ANZ respectively, and I'm with Westpac too, then my transfers to John are practically instant, but my transfers to Barry only occur on the next business day.
Oh, and for most banks, I can make those payments directly from my phone - I just go into the app, input the proper credentials, and I can instantly transfer money around anywhere I have 3G or other internet access(so, basically everywhere except underground carparks, but if I'm doing deals in underground carparks, I probably don't want a bank record of it anyway), and someone's account and BSB number.
Hell, there is even one or two banks that allow you to do a transfer with nothing more than a phone number - when you send the cash through to that person, they call them, and then get their details for the deposit.
The only thing is that some banks will charge a percentage fee for using other banks cards in their ATMs - they've all done away with the foreign ATM fee, as far as I know, but they just made up for it by charging customers of other banks instead.
But seriously, that sucks, why the hell would they do that to y'all? Fuckin' US banks, get your shit together.
But trusting in the bank to handle my monthly bill transactions electronically just to save licking a stamp? Seems.. overkill and unnecessarily trusting.
To be fair, you're already trusting them with your money, if you can't trust them to manage something that simple, then it's probably a bad idea giving them your money in the first place.
If you distrust banks to that extent, then I've got some prime land in Michigan to sell ya.
Rym basically said what my lack-of-caffeine'd brain was trying to say, but better. If there's something that bothers me or is a burden, even a small one, and that burden can trivially be lightened by an application of technology, then I want to apply that technology as thick and heavy as I can.
Plus, most banks give you incentives to use their online bill pay. It's cheaper for them, and cheaper for you.
The only thing is that some banks will charge a percentage fee for using other banks cards in their ATMs - they've all done away with the foreign ATM fee, as far as I know, but they just made up for it by charging customers of other banks instead.
But seriously, that sucks, why the hell would they do that to y'all? Fuckin' US banks, get your shit together.
American banks charge fucking both. If I use a non Eastern Bank ATM, I get a foreign ATM withdrawl fee from my bank, and a foreign card fee from the other bank. Some banks are starting to do away with the first fee, and refund the second, but it's basically free money for the banks, so they're reluctant to get rid of it. Fucking Bank of America charges like.... $3, $4 to use their ATMs if you're not a BoA customer.
Also, it's in their interest to not have a "Pay my pal from my phone" system, so that they can charge all these fees. Plus, if they tried to make such a system, I'll put $5 on PayPal and other such places lobbying against it for being "anti-competative" and digging in to their business model.
but my transfers to Barry only occur on the next business day.
Oh the agony. :-)
If we ever had easy transfers like that in the US, they'd have hefty fees attached. No way we'd get that for free or even cheap.
As for trusting the bank, I'm being dragged along kicking and screaming. You can't function with just a shoebox anymore. :-)
Some banks are starting to do away with the first fee, and refund the second, but it's basically free money for the banks, so they're reluctant to get rid of it.
This is cyclical and has to do with marketing. The abolishment of these fees is always a temporary promotion, even if it lasts years. TD Banknorth recently REINSTATED these fees for us after 4 years of no ATM fees.
Stamps and rent checks require mind-space. I have to always be conscious that ~25th of the month, I need to verify the current location and quantity of my checks, stamp book, and envelopes. If any are in short supply, I need to remedy this with a trip to the relevant location for acquisition for such things. If I'm out of town (as I will be for PAX) I need to somehow plan around this thing. It's not a fucking pet, it's a twelve month agreement I signed a year ago.
Or, I can give them consistent money on a set date that is agreeable to both parties and not have to fuck with any of that.
The question I have is why is every property company still so low-tech? Shit, it's not that hard to set up an automated direct deposit at the very least. I have to buy exactly twelve stamps a year. >_<</p>
That's exactly how it is here and in England. I don't think I've ever in my life paid rent by cheque.
Most of the landlords, for students at least, require this as a standard. That said you can transfer money between accounts with the same bank for free. You try doing it to another account then they fuck you over. That is unless you do it online, then all is free.
Oh god instant, automatic, recurring debits are a nightmare for me. I balance my account registers daily. There is almost never any notice of the debit from the bank for the few things that I do have automatically deducted except for a line item buried in my online statement.
No thank you, I have as few of those as humanly possible.
Oh god instant, automatic, recurring debits are a nightmare for me. I balance my account registers daily. There is almost never any notice of the debit from the bank for the few things that I do have automatically deducted except for a line item buried in my online statement.
No thank you, I have as few of those as humanly possible.
I have as many of those as possible. You can't fail to pay a bill if it's automatic. The savings on stamps and checks is not very significant, although it is non-zero. The savings on time is tremendous. I only think about bills once a month when I login to my bank's web site, verify there was no fraud, and double-check the accounting.
Oh god instant, automatic, recurring debits are a nightmare for me. I balance my account registers daily. There is almost never any notice of the debit from the bank for the few things that I do have automatically deducted except for a line item buried in my online statement.
No thank you, I have as few of those as humanly possible.
I have as many of those as possible. You can't fail to pay a bill if it's automatic. The savings on stamps and checks is not very significant, although it is non-zero. The savings on time is tremendous. I only think about bills once a month when I login to my bank's web site, verify there was no fraud, and double-check the accounting.
This is where I'd like to be in the future, probably, but right now my expense/income ratio is too high and I like to manage that gap very aggressively.
Oh god instant, automatic, recurring debits are a nightmare for me. I balance my account registers daily. There is almost never any notice of the debit from the bank for the few things that I do have automatically deducted except for a line item buried in my online statement.
No thank you, I have as few of those as humanly possible.
I have as many of those as possible. You can't fail to pay a bill if it's automatic. The savings on stamps and checks is not very significant, although it is non-zero. The savings on time is tremendous. I only think about bills once a month when I login to my bank's web site, verify there was no fraud, and double-check the accounting.
This is where I'd like to be in the future, probably, but right now my expense/income ratio is too high and I like to manage that gap very aggressively.
Even if the gap is small, I don't see how it can be a problem. If your bills exceed your income, then you need to cancel some shit ASAP. If they don't, then having them paid automatically should not make any difference. Are you really going to not pay all the bills on time? No? Then why not have them paid with the least effort possible? If you are going to leave some bills unpaid, then you've got bigger problems.
Comments
Didn't we solve this problem years ago?
The other day, I had someone pay for clothes with a check rather than using the debit card I saw in their wallet.
People in America intentionally choose to use checks at times, rather than the alternative.
I'm not sure that's an improvement but the statistics would bear that out, I guess?
Anyway I like fire hydrants. They're traditional.
And plus, not only are they at regular intervals, if one is obstructed, then there is hell to pay - not that they're easy to obstruct, as long as nothing is directly over it, you're fine - you don't need the extra room like you do plugging onto the side of a traditional hydrant. And even then, there usually others close enough that it shouldn't be an issue.
My primary goal with all technology is to remove from me trivial burdens so I can load up on the non-trivial ones.
I love the hand scanner at my local supermarket, can't live without it. It saves me waiting in line when I'm done and I can hustle my toddler right out the door, more or less. But trusting in the bank to handle my monthly bill transactions electronically just to save licking a stamp? Seems.. overkill and unnecessarily trusting.
Oh, and for most banks, I can make those payments directly from my phone - I just go into the app, input the proper credentials, and I can instantly transfer money around anywhere I have 3G or other internet access(so, basically everywhere except underground carparks, but if I'm doing deals in underground carparks, I probably don't want a bank record of it anyway), and someone's account and BSB number.
Hell, there is even one or two banks that allow you to do a transfer with nothing more than a phone number - when you send the cash through to that person, they call them, and then get their details for the deposit.
The only thing is that some banks will charge a percentage fee for using other banks cards in their ATMs - they've all done away with the foreign ATM fee, as far as I know, but they just made up for it by charging customers of other banks instead.
But seriously, that sucks, why the hell would they do that to y'all? Fuckin' US banks, get your shit together. To be fair, you're already trusting them with your money, if you can't trust them to manage something that simple, then it's probably a bad idea giving them your money in the first place.
Rym basically said what my lack-of-caffeine'd brain was trying to say, but better. If there's something that bothers me or is a burden, even a small one, and that burden can trivially be lightened by an application of technology, then I want to apply that technology as thick and heavy as I can.
Plus, most banks give you incentives to use their online bill pay. It's cheaper for them, and cheaper for you.
Also, it's in their interest to not have a "Pay my pal from my phone" system, so that they can charge all these fees. Plus, if they tried to make such a system, I'll put $5 on PayPal and other such places lobbying against it for being "anti-competative" and digging in to their business model.
If we ever had easy transfers like that in the US, they'd have hefty fees attached. No way we'd get that for free or even cheap.
As for trusting the bank, I'm being dragged along kicking and screaming. You can't function with just a shoebox anymore. :-) This is cyclical and has to do with marketing. The abolishment of these fees is always a temporary promotion, even if it lasts years. TD Banknorth recently REINSTATED these fees for us after 4 years of no ATM fees.
Or, I can give them consistent money on a set date that is agreeable to both parties and not have to fuck with any of that.
No thank you, I have as few of those as humanly possible.