elliott937 Loc: St. Louis

I'll bet many of you knew this already, but until a month ago, I did not. Never EVER put a personal check in the USPS mail. Never!

I've now learned what a "washed check" is. I wrote a check for $110 go a knee/ankle LLC business, put it into the mail box,and learned that it was never arrived. Shortly after that, I received a call from my bank asking if I wrote a check for $4,200 to XXXXX person. H7!! no, but that person took that amount of money from my check account. Totally fraud, and my bank did refund my money, but after my checking account had to be closed, new one opened, then new credit card, new debit card, and then the task of contacting everyone who made direct deposit to my account (as in retirement), and anyone who did direct withdrawal (as in my mortgage). However today I learned that the mortgage bank could do withdrawals for only 30 days. Tomorrow, I get to drive to the mortgage bank, complete a form for NEW withdrawal, and also to write a check for September, since the new form won't take kick in until October.

Moral of the story? Never ever put a personal check into an envelope with a stamp on it. Never. And before anyone might think "I'll tick "pay by credit card" and then write down your credit card number, et. al., and put THAT into an envelope with a stamp on it, think again, for you will have possibly given your credit card number over to a total scam person.

I know there are excellent USPS carriers out there. Very few in my zip code.

So there my fellow members. I share this so that you won't have to go through all of what I have had to do, and I'm not finished it.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Yea, some people go fishing in mailboxes to get payment envelopes.
I mostly try to take my bills to the post office (I'm in the suburbs), and hand them to the agent, or use the box right outside of the post office. I know when the box pickup times are.
Sometimes I put them out for the letter carrier.
I'll never drop them in a box after the last pickup for the day where they will sit overnight.

elliott937 Loc: St. Louis

You know how you can use a key to unlock something, and then must use the key to 'move the tongue' back into the locked position? My neighbors a block away, and in clear view of the major size mail box, have seen a USPS employee use his/her key to unlock the box to remove all mail to go "out", but then ... for whatever reason, would use his/her key to return the 'tongue' to his locked position, all the time while the box is -open-. Then he/she would simply push the door back up, leaving the mailbox 'open' for anyone, in the next 24 hours, to simply pull the ""locked"" door open and help themselves to whatever new mail is in there.

That is a sample of the USPS service we have here.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

It’s not just the USPS. Anytime you give anyone but the bank a check, you run the same risk. I had a similar thing happen, but not from a mailed check and it was a Royal PIA. The fact is that anyone who has your account number and routing number can pay anything via an ACH transfer and you have to go through the same thing to fix it. Now, I pay everything with a monthly bank draft (ACH transfer) online to a trusted site or via a credit card. Lesson learned…

MadMikeOne Loc: So. NJ Shore - a bit west of Atlantic City

Exactly correct. Hubby & I pay pretty much everything we can either via Credit Card or the online Bill Pay feature on our checking account. We write a check ONLY when there is no other way to pay the bill. To limit any potential losses due to fraud, we have a checking account in which we keep the bare minimum, and write those checks from that account. That account is not tied to any auto payments or deposits.

chrissybabe Loc: New Zealand

Or come and live in New Zealand where no bank will accept for deposit a check, no check books, nada, nothing. Nobody will accept a check because you cannot deposit it anywhere. I still have a check account but that is now a historic remnant. When using an EFTPOS card that you have to put in a pin number it asks which account you want the payment to come from - checking or savings. I suppose at some stage even this will disappear.
Checks are obsolete and historic only - and not wanting to miss this opportunity not quite as historic yet as the imperial system.

Ollieboy

I send personal checks in the mail regularly. However I always use a pen with permanent ink made specifically for check washing. Never had a problem in over 20 years. In my neighborhood the USPS has installed newer mailboxes with a slit instead of the older swinging door style.

DAN Phillips Loc: Graysville, GA

The USPS is a dinosaur; should be closed permanently. One of the most expensive drains on your pocketbook.
They lost a box of books for me; 28x28x32. Explain that. Fortunately they were insured.

traderjohn Loc: New York City

I'm glad everything worked out. Whenever I send a check or even my weekly donation to our church I always write out the amount and end the line with the word...only. Most companies have websites to pay on line.

BrianFlaherty Loc: Wilseyville, CA

I pay all bills via credit card; and, check the box that allows ONLY one single payment. Then, before closing the page, take a screen shot; and, e-mail that screen shot to myself!
That personal e-mail has saved me a number of times from exactly the situation where someone "steals" or "hacks" your payment. Because MY bank or VISA or Mastercard has a clear "paper trail" of MY transaction. And, no matter what, THEY are responsible for the "security" of THAT transaction; and, any others that may accrue in the future!

Canisdirus

What's a check?

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Yes, check washing is a thing, although I suspect it is on the decline these days. I've never had that misfortune, though.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

The Czech is in the mail.

Indi Loc: L. I., NY, Palm Beach Cty when it's cold.

I don’t think I write 5 checks a year if that much. Almost all of my bills are listed as payees in my bank accounts. When I have to pay a bill(s) I tick off the payees in my list, enter the amount and pay date, and then let my bank worry about it. Some of my payees are “recurring” so I never have a late charge.

Just my 2¢.

Indi Loc: L. I., NY, Palm Beach Cty when it's cold.

Quite right. I order from Amazon a lot. Lately they’ve been sending via USPS. In the last 2 or 3 months orders have been delayed, lost, sent all over the US before they get to me, or returned to Amazon and reshipped.