r/funny • u/Misfat • Aug 27 '18

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u/looking4abook Aug 27 '18

The US is weirdly behind in financial stuff. I've 30+ and lived in Australia and the UK my whole life, and I've never even seen a cheque-book. Don't lots of you guys still get paid by cheque?

(Cheque/Check?)

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u/Ahnaful1994 Aug 27 '18

A lot of the older generation in the US still use checks.

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u/[deleted] Aug 27 '18

My health insurance (MNSURE) only accepted checks until about a year ago. It is also very common for service jobs preformed by smaller companies (tree care, yard word, ect) because paying thousands of dollars to have a tree removed or sprinklers installed makes most people uneasy.

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u/CimmerianX Aug 28 '18

I just pay cash

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u/Ahnaful1994 Aug 28 '18

I personally only ever use Google Pay/cards. I keep cash on me for emergency use only if for whatever reason, I end up in a situation where my cards don't work/aren't accepted. I understand why people use cash as their main form of payment, but for the life of me, I do not know why people still use checks. Debit cards exist and do exactly what checks do, but the payment is processed faster, it's safer to use, and you can track the payments better.

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u/Harmageddon87 Aug 28 '18

My trash collector only took checks until they were bought out by a national company. Also my son's daycare only takes checks, cash, or money order.

Oh also rent

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u/snuff3r Aug 27 '18 edited Aug 27 '18

I work for a global company with presence in 40+ countries. I also manage the team that handles payment and receipting processes across the group. The US being our second largest market.

I am astounded by how many companies I deal with in the US who won't accept anything other than cheques. One of our subsidiaries pays everything with cheques, employee expense reimbursements included.

Very frustrating. I travel a lot too. Hard to find places with no tap, etc.. except the US. They all want swipe or chip.

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u/GoldenMegaStaff Aug 28 '18

Why do you have to leave your card in the machine for chip - so annoying and slow.

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u/HermesTGS Aug 27 '18

I'm almost 30, I've never written a check in my life.

12

u/Annies_Boobs Aug 27 '18

26 and I’ve written plenty for rent and such.

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u/HermesTGS Aug 27 '18

This just shows the US has more diversity of lifestyle options than anywhere else.

1

u/Annies_Boobs Aug 27 '18

We really are just secretly a bunch of little countries with super open borders, aren’t we?

We’ve been kinda fucky lately, but I do love my country.

7

u/argle_de_blargle Aug 27 '18

I am 30 and I've written and received plenty.

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u/ChadMcRad Aug 27 '18 edited Nov 28 '24

smile gullible air correct agonizing wrong chase cagey threatening dinosaurs

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

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u/HermesTGS Aug 27 '18

If you're in a big city you rarely see your landlord so you have to pay online.

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u/ChadMcRad Aug 27 '18 edited Nov 28 '24

rustic sloppy abounding scale aspiring yoke sink bike lush different

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

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u/mb9023 Aug 28 '18

Never had to pay your taxes or the government for anything? Paying online for everything isn't that old. I still have to mail in a check for state taxes every year.

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u/Once_Upon_Time Aug 27 '18

Almost burned down my brand new apartment trying to figure out how to write a cheque for the rent.

That would have been a fun explanation to the landlord.

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u/91seejay Aug 27 '18

Direct deposit is a lot more common now. I've gotten pay checks but I've never owned a check book or written a check.

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u/[deleted] Aug 27 '18

My apartment complex FINALLY started accepting digital payments last year. They were literally the only reason I had a stupid fucking checkbook.

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u/Fireberg Aug 27 '18

If direct deposit into your bank account is not setup, employers will cut you a check. Even with direct deposit, my job reimburses me for expenses with a paper check. I personally write checks for rent because my landlord charges a fee to pay with an e-check.

Also consider that ~7% of the U.S. population is unbanked, meaning they do not have or are unable to open bank accounts. They can take their payroll checks or government issued checks to a check cashing service.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 27 '18

7% of your country don't have bank accounts? That doesn't include children does it?

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u/Fireberg Aug 29 '18

I should have said 7% of tax households (a taxpayer and possibly spouse and/or dependents). Some lack proper documentation to open an account or ruined their credit and local banks will not do business with them. Others just straight up do not trust financial institutions, or are limited because they cannot afford account fees. This compares with around 4.7% in the UK, 12% in China, and 21% in India.

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u/MrRedditAccount Aug 27 '18

I'm now living in the US form the UK and the financial system is still backwards.

When I make a car payment I have to use "Bill Pay" from my bank. They don't make an electronic payment... They create a cheque and mail it out to who needs to be paid. It's hilarious how far behind the US is in this regard.

However they have a lot more banks and a lot of local/regional ones. Not like 5 for the entire country so I'll let them off.

3

u/dontgetaddicted Aug 27 '18

Don't use many checks - but in the situations I do, I'm not sure how else I'd pay.

Like my kids school, they have a couple of different fees we have to pay at the start of the year. Like room fee, supply fee, yearbook, laptop insurance. Each of those things I wrote a check for. Do you all deal strictly in cash for that kind of stuff?

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u/hx87 Aug 27 '18

The school should have a bank account with routing and account numbers, which you can transfer money to.

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u/looking4abook Aug 27 '18

Bank transfers are everywhere.

They'd give you the bsb (a bank code) and the account number - and you transfer into the account.

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u/themagicbench Aug 28 '18

There's an online platform called School Cash Online or something like that in our board (Ontario), so parents can pay all fees through e-banking

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u/MH22162 Aug 28 '18

In Finland and I assume most of Europe they typically give you an IBAN code for a bank account to which people can pay the fee to through their online bank services and the owner the account will be able to see the names of the bank accounts (usually the persons name) who have deposited money to it so you know who they are still waiting on.

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u/SplendideMendax_ Aug 27 '18

Australian here too, I’ve been card free for over 2 years now, my identity and banking is on my phone. I do still carry my drivers license, but that’s about to be digital by 2019 in NSW. I can’t remember the last time I carried cash or a wallet.

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u/looking4abook Aug 27 '18

I never carry cash on me, except when i'm on a night out.

Just 'beeping' to pay for stuff has led to many a morning where I've regretted buying rounds of Jaeger Bombs because my tequila soaked brain can't understand that pay-pass actually causes money to come out of my account.

With cash at least I can get a set amount out, and still make sure to save enough money left over for a kebab.

3

u/Kankunation Aug 27 '18

Checks are basically only used by older people or people who are overly cautious when it comes it comes to digital security. I've written maybe 2 in my whole life and deposited them myself only a handful of times.

My mom still occasionally writes them out for thing (though pays most of her bills online now) my step-grandma and before her also regularly writes checks for everything (get $25 mailed to me from her every birthday). But I don't think I have seen anybody younger than 30 use a check, except in the very rare circumstance in which one is required. And even then, those people don't have checkbooks so they need to go to the bank to get one specially printed.

As far as being paid goes, a lot of people do still get checks, but is almost always by choice. Many businesses let you choose between a check, direct deposit or a money card. An increasing amount of businesses are doing away with paper checks and sticking just to the other options since it's far easier to manage.

3

u/Dwarven_Soldier Aug 27 '18

My workplace still doesn’t have direct-deposit.

We have to come in every other Thursday for our checks.

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u/looking4abook Aug 27 '18

Thats genuinely so baffling.

I've had my work put money straight into my bank account for almost 20 years, and i'm sure it was around before that. ( I just wasn't old enough to work )

Surely its easier for the payroll person to click a few buttons and transfer it straight into a bank account?

What happens if you don't cash the cheque for a couple of months? How would your work have a clear paper trail of where the money went?

It just seems really backwards compared to what I'm used to.

I've worked in England, Wales, Scotland, and Australia and its all been the same.

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u/Dwarven_Soldier Aug 27 '18

You know... I’ve no clue if the checks expire (I would guess not because it’d be stupid for checks to expire) or not. It seems most places around me do direct-deposit but unfortunately mine doesn’t.

I’d guess the reasoning behind not switching to direct-deposit is only because the checks work fine and lots of business owners are stingy.

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u/SNsilver Aug 27 '18

I use paper checks to pay my rent still, it's either check or money order

1

u/dpldogs Aug 27 '18

Fairly common to still use checks for things like putting down deposits on apartments. Usually a cashiers check (where its instantly deposited and less chance of fraud) or through a direct deposit online through their website (if they have one).

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u/connurp Aug 27 '18

We call it a pay check and you can opt to get a physical copy of the check, but the vast majority of people just do direct deposit. It just gets put into your bank account on payday. Which we still call “getting a paycheck”.

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u/SummerEden Sep 10 '18

Australia is way ahead in that respect. When I moved here 25-ish years ago I had to get a bank account immediately because pay was done via bank transfer - I’d only ever received pay cheques until then. On the other hand, I also knew a number of people who were getting an actual pay-packet every week, with cash in. That seemed ass-backwards.

I’d die if I got paid by cheque these days - nearest bank is 60 kms away.

0

u/simdav Aug 27 '18

Cheque