The Daily Peeve / Rant

[Tradd]

We are old people who don’t even have debit cards because I still get the impression they’re hard to control. We don’t need them anyway because the credit card works just fine.


I don’t store any passwords on Icloud for websites where I am able to purchase things such as Amazon, ebay, etc. and certainly don’t store passwords for financial institutions.

I don’t know what check washing is. It sounds like a way badnicks get into someone’s bank account.

Check washing is when someone alters the pay to and dollar amount on an already written check and then deposit it to their own account.

I first had an ATM card in 1987 when I went off to college. Can’t remember when I got first debit card. Sometime in early 90s I guess. They’re fine.

[Simone]

During my tenure as an accounting manager for a county government, we found check washing and the attempted electronic misuse of routing and account numbers was a particularly big problem
.

What is the risk, if any, in paying for something using my routing and account number? I've often chosen that option, when it's available, to avoid paying a credit card fee. Example:
I do it monthly for a utility payment.

Would you suggest just paying the fee?

[sweetana3]

The risk is that if they are hacked, the hacker has all the info needed to drain your checking account. It is much harder to work with a bank to resolve such issues than it is with a credit card. Depends on the fee of course.

[Tradd]

What is the risk, if any, in paying for something using my routing and account number? I've often chosen that option, when it's available, to avoid paying a credit card fee. Example:
I do it monthly for a utility payment.

Would you suggest just paying the fee?

Have you tried paying the bill from your bank’s online bill pay? I’m astonished at the number of people who don’t even consider this as an option.

[Tradd]

The risk is that if they are hacked, the hacker has all the info needed to drain your checking account. It is much harder to work with a bank to resolve such issues than it is with a credit card. Depends on the fee of course.

Interestingly, in Europe, utilities direct debiting bank accounts is extremely common. Checks have disappeared in many places there, if not all.

[LDAHL]

Interestingly, in Europe, utilities direct debiting bank accounts is extremely common. Checks have disappeared in many places there, if not all.

Where I live, that’s true of almost anyone who bills regularly. But I prefer making online payments directly from my checking account. That way I have more control over the outflows and don’t need to contact multiple entities if I change banks. It also provides a bit more leverage if I want to dispute a bill. My bank makes it ridiculously easy.

[LDAHL]

The risk is that if they are hacked, the hacker has all the info needed to drain your checking account. It is much harder to work with a bank to resolve such issues than it is with a credit card. Depends on the fee of course.

I try to limit that risk by limiting the balance in what I think of as my “transactional account”.

[JaneV2.0]

Unbeknownst to me, my credit union recently initiated a service wherein they email a notice "You have incurred a large expense..." when, apparently, you debit anything over $100. Way to get one's heart started in the morning.

[Alan]

I try to limit that risk by limiting the balance in what I think of as my “transactional account”.

I do the same, I use one account for electronic payments only, it is only funded as needed.

[LDAHL]

I do the same, I use one account for electronic payments only, it is only funded as needed.

A finance guy would refer to that as a “zero balance account”. Like many professions, they delight in applying jargon-speak to common sense ideas.