Now's The Time To Start Direct Deposit?

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I can't believe I wake up to find the childish games from yesterday are still ongoing. My 12 yo has better sense, but then again my 18 yo doesn't, but he's going through that totally selfish phase of his life where if it doesn't involve him then it's not worth discussing or dealing with.

Anyway, my husband brings home his check last evening and included is a memo "Direct Deposit Now Available -- Beginning in December, we will be using a a payroll service. One of the benefits of this new service is we are able to offer direct deposit to our employees. If you choose the direct deposit option -- Your payroll funds will be deposited into your account at 11:59pm on Thursday night. They will be available to you at 12:10am Friday morning. If you choose to remain with the traditional paycheck, they will be delivered to the office on Fridays to be distributed at 2pm as the policy has been for some time....."

This is a small company of AC techs and installers. Long long time ago this was one of the first things that I had heard you should opt out of prior to the turnover, yet this company is just getting it started. Way too many people that truly believe that life as we know it will not be affected in any way, just believe and things won't happen. I still say, what's happened to common sense?

-- claurann (claurann@aol.com), November 20, 1999

Answers

claurann, if you carefully examine even the most sophisticated argument put forth by those who "don't get it" regarding Y2K, the common denominator is always THE COMPLETE LACK OF COMMON SENSE when it comes to undertanding ODDS VERSUS RISK.

Just for the record, here are the two best reasons that I know of as to why you should NOT be having your paychecks DIRECTLY DEPOSITED:

1) If things get messy with Y2K, the last thing you want to be involved in is a finger-pointing crossfire between your bank and your employer, with each claiming that it's the other's fault as to why your money is not available. (Gawd, this can take weeks to resolve even in the best of times!) By having a paper check from your employer IN HAND, you now become the middle-man, and can oversee that it gets taken care of.

2) If you want to get CASH without muss, fuss or Cash Transaction Reports by your bank due to what they consider to be "structured" cash withdrawals (regs that were put into place supposedly as part of the "drug war"), simply take your paycheck to the bank on which it is drawn and CASH IT. This is NOT a withdrawal from your account (even if you coincidentially happen to have an account there), and you now have COMPLETE control of your money.

-- King of Spain (madrid@aol.cum), November 20, 1999.

"simply take your paycheck to the bank on which it is drawn and CASH IT. This is NOT a withdrawal from your account (even if you coincidentially happen to have an account there), and you now have COMPLETE control of your money."

KOS,

Can you verify this somehow? I have a large check coming and have been wondering about this...

jw

-- j werner (jwerner15@hotmail.com), November 20, 1999.


JW-

I am not sure about this, but couldn't they just refuse to cash your check on the grounds that it is "too big", and they're afraid they will run out of cash? How would this be any different from limiting the size of withdrawals? Wouldn't they just cash out up to a limit, say $500, and then give you back a check or money order for the remainder, or require you to leave the balance in your account at least for the rest of that banking day? Doesn't seem to be any difference to me.... perhaps just require the remainder be left in your account.

-- cavscout (cash@hoard.er), November 20, 1999.


I just signed up for direct deposit, as my last (once a month) paycheck is going to be issued early because the school district is concerned about Y2K --no problem, certainly, but just in case?- and that last check will be direct deposited on Dec. 30. I intend to be first in line at the bank to take out the cash.

After January, well, right now I don't really expect to be working. I really don't see any reason the power will stay up (we're north of Sacramento, CA, rural, so we may be sacrificed for the good of SF or Oakland); I don't really believe the officials who say the school district/county computers are okay... check out http://www.buttecounty.com and search for their Survey of Business Machines. Tested 291 PCs, only about 4 or 5 passed all 4 date rollover tests, and at least 1/3 of these machines were Pentiums, supposed to be Y2K OK....

Nope. Your paper check, too, has to get into your hand. US POst office? Don't count on them. Written by a company across town? Will they haveelectricity, a means of delivering their payroll checks? Will anybody be working?

Hoo boy! Hang on. Then again, maybe be bumpinnaroad, eh?

-- johno (jobriy2k@yahoo.com), November 20, 1999.


j:

I suppose you could ASK the bank for verification, but if you think about it, that is the whole concept behind a check that is drawn on a PARTICULAR bank. If you write me out a check drawn on whatever bank you have an account with, using funds from that account, surely I can take it directly to your bank and demand cash for it. I surely don't have to have an account with the bank, and even if I did, cashing your check surely does not count as a withdrawal on my account, since the funds were deposited in my account in the first place.

As far as WHAT TO DO if a bank says, "Sorry, we just don't have the cash to give you", I would insist on getting as much cash as they CAN give, then getting a CASHIERS CHECK (in my name) for the rest. Then go to another branch of that bank and cash the cashiers check. (And, if they say, "Well, we can only give you this much in cash", take it, have them give you a cashiers check for the balance, go to another branch, yada-yada-yada.)

-- King of Spain (madrid@aol.cum), November 20, 1999.


Correction to my post, meant to say: "since the funds were NEVER deposited in my account in the first place"

-- King of Spain (madrid@aol.cum), November 20, 1999.

KoS-

I suppose that's one way to get around the problem, but what a pain. Also, a waste of potentially very valuable gasoline. Oh well, guess we'd better get used to the idea....

-- cavscout (what a w@st.e), November 20, 1999.


JW,

That is a big affirmative. I do not have a bank account and I go to the bank where my checks are printed and cash them every week, no problem. I had been saving up checks for several weeks because I didn't need the money right away. But last Monday I decided it was getting a bit too close to trouble time so I cashed 6 checks all at once. THEY printed the check, so THEY must pay you. In some ways I think this is better than cashing it at the bank where you hold an account.

-- Hawk (flyin@high.again), November 20, 1999.


Thanks everyone for the input.

The check will be drawn on the same bank I have an account with. Hope the KOS scenario doesn't play out where I get just a cashier's check for a chunk of it. The nearest bank branch is about a four hour drive away!

BTW, does anyone wonder why bankers never caution people to not withdraw cash to take to casinos and racetracks for fear they might get robbed before the casino or racetrack robs them? Answer: bankers love casinos and racetracks.

jw

-- j werner (jwerner15@hotmail.com), November 20, 1999.


Re casinos and other places of ill repute: These places are awash in cash, and I have read some accounts of where people have written a check to get their chips to play with, did a little gambling, then cashed out receiving CASH back. And generally it's no problem getting small denominations, either. (Unlike banks: "Did you want it all in $100s, or some of it in $50s???")

-- King of Spain (madrid@aol.cum), November 20, 1999.


i stopped my direct deposit. i actually wrote a letter to my company to encourage them to pay us twice that one month (december) since we only get paid once a month and it is friday the 31st. i suggested they do it this once to ensure that folks actually got their checks and at least have access to half their salary in case things are bad at the end of the month.

gee, did they listen??? sure, they moved it up a DAY!!!!!!!! great move. they assured me they talked to the bank and deposits would go through. duh. so, i have decided i am going to hold on to that check until i see who is solvent on the 4th. is that wise?

-- tt (cuddluppy@nowhere.com), November 20, 1999.


Hey, I thought that there would be no power?? How is the bank supposed to open its vaults without power? If there's no power how is the bank suppoed to run the worksatations at the teller windows? Without power how is the bank supposed to operate all the adding machines, coin counters, security cameras, etc. ??? Are we getting the picture??? If you believe in TEOTWAWKI then you'd better not plan on visiting a bank after 12/31/99 with direct deposit or without.

-- gary (gary@dirdepo.com), November 20, 1999.

Dunno how it works in the USA, but most cheques in the UK now come printed with "Account Payee Only" and have to be deposited into an account. When I worked in a bank (about 5 years back) we regularly refused to cash cheques drawn on our bank, even on our branch. In special cases, for business cheques drawn on our branch, we'd phone the account holder and get their permission, but there's no way we could have done this on a large scale.

Sure, a cheque is just a "promisary note", and you could - technically - present a handwritten note saying "Pay the bearer XXX pounds/dollars from my account number 00XXXXXX, signed Joe Blow" and a bank would have to honour it. But they wouldn't, unless they knew everyone involved.

-- Colin MacDonald (roborogerborg@yahoo.com), November 22, 1999.


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