Red6

I try to pay by credit card but I have started seeing companies, organizations, and local governments charging "fees" for using credit and debit cards. I have a PayPal account but they also charge a fee for their services. Why should I be forced to pay a fee when I can write you a check for no cost to me?

After all, are these people coming to your organization CUSTOMERS? Should you not adjust to their needs and wants?

ad9mac

Probably, but I wouldn't do that.

khalidikram

My wife had exactly the same experience, and the bank refunded the money. However, when the bank showed us the canceled check I saw that the original payee's name and amount had been whited over, and a new name and a huge amount substituted. The alteration was so blatant that I wondered how a teller could even think of cashing the check without making some inquiries. I wanted to know which bank had cashed the check. My bank told me that they could give this information only to the police.

I duly went to the police and reported the matter. To my amazement, their response was only a shrug and the remark that why was I bothering? I had been refunded the money. I told them that the case looked like a slamdunk. After all, when you cash a check for more than $5000 one has to show some identification; there are also security cameras in the paying-out bank which would have covered the transaction; and the bank would know which teller had been involved. The response was another shrug and the rather strange remark that a detective would visit the paying-out bank in due course. When I asked what "due course" meant, I was told that it could take three or four weeks. Of course by that time the content of the security cameras would likely to have been erased.

Am I being unduly cynical when I think that this type of incident would require the involvement of at least a bank teller in the paying-out bank, or even someone higher up in the chain? As for the police-response, I am completely baffled. To add to my disappointment, I was told by the manager of my bank (different from my wife's) that in the last six months he had dealt with two such incidents in his branch (involving the removal from the home's letterbox of an envelope containing a check.) In neither case had the police taken any action. Our mailman advised us to (a) not put checks or cash in home letterboxes for collection by the mailman; and (b) not even to put up the metal flag attached to the mailbox that tells the mailman that there is outgoing mail to be collected.

chrissybabe Loc: New Zealand

There are several lots of people involved in all this - and because of all this inaction the problem continues to grow, will only get worse, until draconian measures have to be taken.
1. Banks/credit card companies. A few refunds is cheaper than all the hassle involved in tracking down and prosecuting the baddies. Don't worry about the customers there aren't that many getting stung.
2. Police. Easier to shrug their shoulders, and cheaper. A few thousand now but millions later but hey that is next week not today.
3. Internet/phone companies. They are not the ones loosing money so easier to do not much. If they tracked where the calls come from and banned that country you would soon find they would sort out a resolution.
Is this too simplistic ? Pretty factual ? Have I got it all wrong ?

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

I’ve had exactly the same response from the police on several occasions when theft was involved and the bank had video of the perpetrator. Are there really so many violent crimes and are they so understaffed that they can’t help with/investigate a >5K$ theft? Also, while my bank refunded the money, the CFO of the company that initiated the ACH transfer seemed uninterested in finding their internal thief, and my bank couldn’t/wouldn’t share any information with me that might help in tracking down the thief. All this leaves me puzzled. It appears that to everyone involved, this is the expected cost of doing business and is ignored.

Red6

There may be several reasons for this behavior by the banks and other financial businesses. First, while $5000 is a lot of money for many of us, it is probably a rounding error for most large financial institutions. Second, in most cases, the person originating the check got their money back from the bank. But the bank is not really seeing it as a loss since they will most likely take a write-off on their taxes. So it is the US taxpayers that takes the loss.

As far as the police, most police departments really do not understand or have the manpower to investigate or pursue these types of criminals. In fact, they really do not want to pursue any non-violent crimes that they see as petty theft. I had a good friend that was a handyman, so he had a lot of tools - carpentry, plumbing, electrical etc. Most of his tools he kept in his van or a storage shed next to his house. While he was at church one day, someone broke into his shed and van and stole most of his tools. Losses were several thousand dollars. Police came out, looked at the damage to his shed and van, took a few photos, wrote a report and that was it. The police said the tools may show up at one of the local flea markets. If he wanted to watch for them they would investigate the person selling them if he turned them in. But most likely the tools would be sold at flea markets in other cities.

I think insurance also plays a role. If the police or authorities know that you had insurance and have been compensated for your loss, there is less motivation for them to pursue the thieves. After all, why spend thousands of dollars of their budget to find something you have already replaced with new items with your insurance money.

BebuLamar

As I said I send checks via USPS every year to pay my taxes both federal income tax and property tax. If I pay by credit card they would charge a fee basically pass on whatever the credit card company charge them. The 3% or so fee is very high when the payments are in the thousands. I wouldn't pay that.

mikee

I pay most bills by check. Permanent gel ink pen made to prevent fraud.