Ask Mike: Checks gone wild
Hey Guys,
With income taxes just around the corner, many Americans will be cutting a check to Uncle Sam. But do folks really have to use an actual check? According to an old urban legend, official checks aren’t technically necessary for taxes or anything else for that matter. The story goes that a person can actually write a check on any old piece of scrap paper, provided it has the correct information on it. Is this true or just a vicious rumor designed to put the mighty check industry out of business? Here’s the scoop…
Cecil Adams of the always entertaining “Straight Dope” column writes that this is one urban legend that is largely true. A person can, in fact, write a check (aka a “negotiable instrument”) on nearly anything you can imagine. Cocktail napkins? Sure. A t-shirt? Yep. A concrete block? Amazingly, yes. But that doesn’t mean it’ll be accepted. As Mr. Adams points out, the trick is getting the other person to take the check.
You see, in order for a check to be legal, it has to have your name, signature, the amount it’s for, the name of your bank, the payee, and your address. I had always thought it needed to have your account number as well, but apparently not. So long as your DIY check has all that, it’s legal. But just because it’s legal doesn’t mean a store keeper is going to accept it as payment. You may have a hard time convincing your corner market that the “check” you wrote on the back of an old pizza box is legit.
And, it’s worth noting that just because it’s possible to write a check on a paper towel or a pair of old undies doesn’t mean it’s advised. As Bankrate.com points out, folks who send such comedic checks to the IRS “might as well request an annual audit for life.” Nobody wants that.
These days, I find myself using checks less and less and online billpay more and more. Do you guys still write checks on a regular basis? Do you think they’ll eventually become totally extinct? What about cash? Are we really moving toward a completely plastic economy? Please leave a comment below.
Thanks for reading,
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As much as I like the idea of a paperless society and I am a DP person since the age of 16 (I am now 59, I program, information and such), I do not like the idea of a cashless society. I can see drawbacks for going paperless and coin less. For one thing and sometimes you don’t want to be found, with a debit card you can be traced. If the government; that is the IRS wanted to really hurt they could just freeze your assets (those digits in the bank’s vast computer system). Now your family suffers you have no income to feed family, to keep a roof over your head or pay bills. With a cashless society how can you do this? With cash being a legal tender for now at least you have a way to work, so to say under the table? Also too legal contracts and other legal documents should be written on paper and filed. These items should never be with out some form of paper trail. That is my take on doing things on paper. Computers fail, it is up to the consumer at all times to prove that he does or does not owe this or that, that is up to the consumer to prove he owns or does not own this or that.
I only write one check a month…and if I could figure out how to pay my landlord online, I wouldn’t write any. Twice my rent checks have been lost in snail mail – that never happens with online payments. I don’t even carry cash – just my debit card.
I do not write any checks anymore, only when I start a new job and they require a blank check, I borrow one from my friend and use that. everything else is done in cash with a receipt, maybe not the best idea, but I hate wasting paper for nothing
Richard there has some interesting points. I still use checks for bills, that way there is documentation that it was paid but cash for everything else. I think it makes it so much easier to have your identity stolen if you rely on plastic too much. How many places do you know that don’t check ID? On rare occassion we use a debit card and the clerk almost never asks for ID. I would rather the risk of losing a couple hundred at worst if my purse or wallet were stolen, but if our debit card were stolen we could be down thousands or even be in debt.
I would never be in support of all plastic. It is too dangerous to lose what you have.
Richard raises a number of excellent points, especially in regard to caring for one’s family. If you don’t think a paperless society couldn’t threaten this, think again.
Also…after working in several environments and industries that were supposedly designed to be “paperless” I can honestly say I believe that now there is more opportunity to produce paper, not less. Although in these times many documents are accessible on a server or shared by other means, folks tend to use their office or desktop printer to produce individual copies that in the past were shared among a group.
Mike,
With all respect, your blogs are getting boring and redundant. Maybe you and your staff could spend more time cracking down on the morons in the site who leave answers like “I don’t know” or “yeah” instead of citing a source and giving some sort of logical answer.
I joined this site almost 3 years ago to help people out, but it is just becoming a big farce. People are now too lazy to Google information. Instead they comes to Answers – which isn’t bad for ‘you’, but it makes us as a society look like idiots when people ask simple questions like “is there a McDonald’s in my town?” Yes, I’ve seen that question before.
Basically what I’m trying to say is I didn’t go through 10 years of med school to be out answered by a 13-year old who just happens to be friends with the person who is asking the question.
Here is a spin on that one
I don’t want to piss the IRS off but the collectors is a totally different thing
I will do some research on it
If they refuse a payment they nullify there rite to collect.
having said that I think I will document via photo and video with signed and documented witnesses of me smoothing out a concrete block with mortar and stencil spray painting check information to it and ups it to them with a delivery conformation.
Lets see how that works out
Thats funny this should pop up right now, my mother in law was just commenting on this subject the other day. It seems that it is true, you don’t have to have a regular check in order to make a check payment for something. You can write it on any kind of paper. Even toilet paper if the need be. As long as you have the correct information and it is signed and dated.
I use all forms of payments. But I still prefer Cash, it is easier for everyday purchases, and I can keep track of my spending.
I find the check card very convenient as long as I always record it. As far as credit cards go, I like the convenience & the grace time but I don’t like that some cards don’t post purchases with their bills. Cash is always accepted; no questions asked.
i think paperless is scary.i am a victem of identity theft and it has taken years to get it all worked out.such a nightmare!