Bank Check Aviation

On Thu, 13 Jan 2005 16:56:32 GMT, "Colin W Kingsbury"
wrote:

Until pretty recently I could not pay my gas or electric bills by non-check
means, and I live in Boston, which is anything but a technological
backwater.

Evidently it is! PSNH has offered this option for several years. So
has Verizon, tho perhaps not as long.

I almost never write checks any longer (save for personal
transactions, as you mention). Indeed, I sometimes think of announcing
a 50-cent fee, to pay for the check and the stamp.


-- all the best, Dan Ford

email (put Cubdriver in subject line)

Warbird's Forum: www.warbirdforum.com
Piper Cub Forum: www.pipercubforum.com
the blog: www.danford.net

On Thu, 13 Jan 2005 15:13:51 -0700, "Matt Barrow"
wrote:

Wal-Mart scans your check at the checkout counter, records the info and
makes an EFT transmission, then destroys the check...while you stand there.

Wal-Mart will take over the world!

-- all the best, Dan Ford

email (put Cubdriver in subject line)

Warbird's Forum: www.warbirdforum.com
Piper Cub Forum: www.pipercubforum.com
the blog: www.danford.net

How would you pay someone electronically for, say, doing your yard service
or a baby sitter?

We have a guy crewing on a boat for enough to cover his insurance etc.
I pay him through PayPal.

As for the yard guy, well, for some reason I don't fully understand he
really appreciates it if I pay him cash, and I want to keep him happy
because he's cheaper than the previous guy


-- all the best, Dan Ford

email (put Cubdriver in subject line)

Warbird's Forum: www.warbirdforum.com
Piper Cub Forum: www.pipercubforum.com
the blog: www.danford.net

On Thu, 13 Jan 2005 20:29:57 -0700, Newps wrote:

The problem with paypal for just a transaction every now and then, is
it's kind of a pita to get your money back into your checking account.

Huh? You log on to Pay Pal and download to your checking account.
Takes less than a minute.

A whole lot easier than depositing a check!


-- all the best, Dan Ford

email (put Cubdriver in subject line)

Warbird's Forum: www.warbirdforum.com
Piper Cub Forum: www.pipercubforum.com
the blog: www.danford.net

with credit cards and checks. If someone gets your debit card info and
pin by nefarious means (which can be easily done), they can clean out
your bank accounts.

How do they get your pin number? Then how do they get your card to use it?

Most banks now issue "Master Money" or some other such card. You don't
need a pin to swipe such cards, and you don't need the physical card
if you're shopping by phone or internet.

I believe that there are limits on how much you can lose in this
fashion, but that limit is generally much higher than with credit
cards. My bank for instance has a $500 limit. But it's $50 for a
credit card, and almost always the card company will stand behind you
and not enforce that.

I insisted that my bank replace the Master Money card with an ATM
card, which does indeed require a pin and the physical card for every
withdrawal. They looked at me as if I were a dinosaur.


-- all the best, Dan Ford

email (put Cubdriver in subject line)

Warbird's Forum: www.warbirdforum.com
Piper Cub Forum: www.pipercubforum.com
the blog: www.danford.net

On Thu, 13 Jan 2005 21:57:52 -0700, "Jay Beckman"
wrote:

Except for the fact that from an ATM those few hundred dollars can only be
withdrawn every 24 hours.

$400 at my bank. That's $2,000 in five days. No thanks!

And of course that limit doesn't apply when you're using it as a POS
debit card.


-- all the best, Dan Ford

email (put Cubdriver in subject line)

Warbird's Forum: www.warbirdforum.com
Piper Cub Forum: www.pipercubforum.com
the blog: www.danford.net

In article ,
Cub Driver wrote:

Except for the fact that from an ATM those few hundred dollars can only be
withdrawn every 24 hours.

$400 at my bank. That's $2,000 in five days. No thanks!

And of course that limit doesn't apply when you're using it as a POS
debit card.

It applies for my debit card,

--
Bob Noel
looking for a sig the lawyers will like

In a previous article, said:
As for the yard guy, well, for some reason I don't fully understand he
really appreciates it if I pay him cash, and I want to keep him happy
because he's cheaper than the previous guy

You'd better not run for public office, then. That's tax evasion. :-)


--
Paul Tomblin http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
"The day Microsoft makes something that doesn't suck is probably the day they
start making vacuum cleaners" - Ernst Jan Plugge

In article , Cub Driver wrote:
As for the yard guy, well, for some reason I don't fully understand he
really appreciates it if I pay him cash, and I want to keep him happy
because he's cheaper than the previous guy

In my experience, tradesmen who appreciate being paid in cash are
cheaper by almost exactly the marginal rate of income tax...

--
Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net
"Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee"

Mr. Exner:

After a statement I think you made about how backward the USofA banking
is (words to that effect), you have just described one of the reasons
that cash works quite handily. Also, while traveling in Austria, they
didn't like me using my credit cards, they really wanted Euros. Come to
think of it, so did the Swiss (but they wanted Swiss Franks more than
they wanted Euros).

One of the problems with a cashless society, if you stop and think
about it, is that should there be some "glitch" in the system, you are
screwed. If, here in the USofA, they were to put a hold on your bank
accounts (don't even start with this isn't possible, just what do you
think happens when you are charged under RICO) and the whole world is
operating cashless, you become an instant pauper.

And if you think about it, this would put a stop to beggers. "Will work
for food / shelter" is the only "barter" these people would have
because you can't just drop some change in their cup (as it were).

Somethings that scifi writers have toyed with over the years are
starting to hit home, yes?

While I don't fly checks, I have done quite a bit of item processing
work as a computer programmer. I am appalled at things that some banks
get away with.

Later,
Steve.T
PP ASEL/Instrument