Does Your Bank...Return Your Cancelled Checks???

[fordy]

..............For the last 25 years I have had my personal checking acct configured to start and stop with the beginning and end of the month. I always go thru each bank statement check by check. I get a feel for "how" I wasted my money. Anyway, I rece'd a flat envelope for my Dec-03 bank statement ....and NO cancelled checks......and the Fed. says for the banks to NOT return my checks...How Convenient!!.......The Bank says they are doing this on a nationwide basis.....I'm just wondering if other folks here on HT are experiencing the same situation?????.........fordy.. :waa:

[june02bug]

My bank stopped that a long time ago. BUT... they offered $5 if I'd let them send my statement electronically. I have to use my account number and a seperate pin to access it but as a side benefit that I didn't know about at the time... I can click on the check number and see front and back of the check the way they scanned it! I love it. Most banks around here stopped sending checks back around 2000.

[deberosa]

My bank won't send the cancelled checks either - I got the kind of checks that have carbons so I can use that to tell what I wrote the checks for.

[HermitJohn]

The world has changed. I gave up getting checks returned some years ago in return for a free checking account. If I wanted my checks then I would have had to pay big monthly service charge. When I was married, my wife subsidized the banks profits greatly by bouncing checks, didnt figure they needed monthly service charge also.

Anymore I write very few checks since its amazing what an identity thief can do just with info most people have on checks. Also local gas station got bought out by chain. Same people working there, but now they suddenly required my life history before taking a check. They not only lost me as a customer but are out of buisiness now because of new managerial attitude. So now I use a credit card for most things (more protection than check card) and I get a 30 day float, then pay it off completely so no interest charge. Can also keep track of spending via internet 24/7. I really only use check for taxes and some local auctions that arent set up for credit cards.

I love those gas stations where I can use card at pump and dont have to go in and wait in line.

[Aohtee]

Banks in my area stopped returning cancelled checks several years ago. They would then charge as much as $4.00 a check if you needed a copy. I now bank on-line and can print out cancelled checks,front and back,without charge. I like having immediate access to the history of my accounts .

[nostalgia]

Our bank stopped returning the checks about 2 yrs. ago also. Now they send us a statement each month along with photo copies of the checks written. I like it better this way, it's much easier to file 3 or 4 sheets of paper each month instead of a bunch of checks.

[Bob_W_in_NM]

My bank hasn't returned cancelled checks since 1994. They send a statement along with pages of "thumbnails" of checks and deposit items.

I didn't like the idea at first, but decided it was OK after a short period of time.
(I've got enough "paper" to hang on to as it is.)

The bank prints what they send me on three hole punched paper. I store all my statements in a large 3 ring binder.

It was real easy for me to come up with the 1994 date. I just picked up the binder and looked at the oldest statement in it. I can't imagine how many boxes it would take to store all that "stuff" back to 1994.

[Gary in ohio]

Many banks dropped returning checks years go due to cost of processing and mailing. Some larger banks do image statments and send photo copies of your check. ALL banks are required to keep your checks or a copy of your checks for 7 years for legal purposes. SO someone has your checks or copies and those should be available to you for a nominal fee.


Once the check21 law go into effect, paper checks will all but disapear once written.They will become images and passed around in digital form, not physical form.

[copperhead51]

Derry (sp?) Brown had an ex-president of a bank on the other day. This is not a law but the banks are having their arms twisted to do this. Also, the fedthugs now get to see every check you write. It's the law. Many provisions of the Patriot (what a laugh!) Act II were passed by Congress at the time Saddam was captured, no doubt because folks were distracted. Among other things, your pawn shop is now a "financial institution". Fedthugs need to see what you're pawning and if your buying metal boullion. The "for the children" mantra has been replaced by "fighting terrorism."

[almostthere]

I have a free account and I get my checks back. They havent mentioned anything about stopping that. I could opt to have them store my checks instead of mail them, but it wont save me any money. If they were to take away my copies I would probably stop using the checks, maybe go cash only and use my account as a holding place until I need to pay something. Its just so much easier having cancelled checks-to prove I paid something or for tax time.

[LaMom]

I still get my checks back. We always have from our bank, they are a local small bank.

[Ann-NWIowa]

My employer is a Trustee for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court. We are required to send canceled checks to the U.S. Trustee when we close a case. We've had to change banks twice when they quit returning checks. Recently we had a letter from our current bank that we might not receive all our checks back because some clearing houses are no longer returning them. My husband and I bank at a small locally owned bank and so far we're getting ours back. I did tell the bank that if they stop returning checks I want a photocopy of both back and front included with each statement. Usually only the front is copied for the statement which is of no use to prove who got the check. The IRS for instance will not accept that they received payment without seeing their endorsement.

[happycat]

Our credit union doesn't return checks, never has in the 5+ years we've been with them. However, if I need a copy (front & back) of the check, they will provide me with a copy at no cost.

I also have duplicate checks, so I can look back in my checkbook to see what I have paid to whom.

At first, I didn't like not getting my checks back, but now I think I have enough paperwork to keep track of anyhow, so it's fine just to get my statements.

[clovis]

I don't get my checks back either. I kind of like the image statements because they are so easy to store in a three ring binder. I had no choice in the matter; the bank switched all of their accounts to image statements.
My big complaint, however is that the state of Indiana's department of revenue would not accept my imaged check as proof of payment for taxes! This department said I would have to have written documentation from the bank stating that the check really did clear! What hogwash.
clove