My last msg in this thread, comments below as required. Thursday, September 18, 2008, 7:36:43 AM, you wrote:
>> Most US banks put it on by default. > Fair enough. We don't get that in the UK. My phone number is private > and not the bank's or the payee's business unless I decide otherwise. Of course for most of us, it is public in the phone book anyway, unless we pay them the fee to keep it private. >> In the past, at least, stores would always ask for it when you wrote >> the check and they checked your drivers license. > If they accepted cheques larger than your cheque guarantee limit they > would often ask for your address over here, rarely phone number. One > bank I know of used to print the customer's address on their cheques > but had to stop this nearly 20 years ago. Most in US don't have check guarantees, though they do have overdraft protection (i.e. the bank will automatically lend you the money in hundred dollar increments, up to some predefined limit). >> As noted, these days the checks are generally scanned and confirmed >> electronically, much like your credit/debit card is. > To me, that would defeat the object of paying by cheque. If the money > is in your account today, it is quicker and easier to pay by card. If > it will be there in a day or two, the cheque used today will hit your > account after the money gets there. Basically, they're eliminating the float, which makes sense to them. But in most grocery stores and such, there is not float. But you can always pay by credit card if you need to float it. >> I'm sure the checks in question had been ordered several years >> before they were used. > I used to be like that - the banks automatically send a new chequebook > from time to time and you end up with lots of them. Checks here are never free. You can buy them from the bank, but many companies will sell them to you at a much lower rate per check. >> I'm not sure if our current ones have phone or not. > If people change mobile phone numbers as frequently there as here, it > would never be up to date. I'm sure few people would give the bank a new > phone number to harrass them on. True enough. And those aren't listed in phone book. One of the nice things now is the ability to keep the same phone number forever, whether cell, wired, changing cell companies, etc. I recently changed cell providers and kept the same number. Would have been a major problem if I didn't keep it, due to so many business records being keyed to it. As noted, my final public reply on this getting-off-topic thread, but will be happy to discuss with anyone who cares by private email. -- The road goes on forever and the party never ends. REK, Jr. Dan Lester, Boise, ID ________________________________________________ Current version is 4.0.24.0 | 'Using TBUDL' information: http://www.silverstones.com/thebat/TBUDLInfo.html
