The Cost of Cheques
Cheques Cost $40
I may have a free chequing account, in that I am not charged for the use of cheques on my bank account (even though I am charged $13.95 a month in service fees, but let’s not quite go there today), however to get cheques to write for this very account, I must pay about $40.
I had a long ranting post about this topic, which I am sure by now will sound very hum drum to my loyal readers, so I decided to draw you a picture (yes I am branching out to MultiMedia), to show you just how silly the process is (yes that is my handwriting):
Cheque Ordering Flow Chart
Note the helpful screaming wild face I added into the process, but it does seem that every time I order cheques, I end up paying $10 more each time, and thus very soon it will cost $1 per cheque to order (in my estimation).
For those who don’t understand my scratchings it is:
- Use 150 cheques over a calendar year (approximately) (I even added an example cheque, hence the “Pay to you $2 box” it is supposed to be a real cheque).
- Run out of cheques at the most inopportune time possible (hence the graphic of the screaming face)
- Order new cheques on line
- Note that cheques have just increased by $10 over the last time you ordered cheques
No, I am still not happy about this whole process.
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November 2nd, 2010 at 3:06 AM
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by bigcajunman and Mortgages Canada, Loans Canada. Loans Canada said: The Cost of Cheques: Cheques Cost $40 I may have a free chequing account, in that I am not charged for the… http://bit.ly/dn8aVe #canada [...]
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November 2nd, 2010 at 4:49 AM
Canadian Personal Finance Blog » Blog Archive » The Cost of Cheques…
I may have a free chequing account, in that I am not charged for the use of cheques on my bank account (even though I am charged $13.95 a month in service fees, but let’s not quite go there today), however to get cheques to write for this very account,…
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November 2nd, 2010 at 4:50 AM
The Cost of Cheques…
I may have a free chequing account, in that I am not charged for the use of cheques on my bank account (even though I am charged $13.95 a month in service fees, but let’s not quite go there today), however to get cheques to write for this very account,…
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November 2nd, 2010 at 8:13 AM
Hmm… I am surprised that you use 150 cheques a year. Aren’t all of your bills paid via online bill payment and the rest paid using a credit/debit card?
I haven’t order cheques since I opened my account with TD; it’s been 4 years now.
Considering your flow chart, $1 a cheque seems a steep price to pay.
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November 2nd, 2010 at 8:30 AM
I have weekly cheques I write to my Church, and then my kids school asks for money bi-weekly and then a few more folks and there you have it 150!
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November 2nd, 2010 at 11:11 AM
Here is my solution:
Walk into the bank,
Me: Hi I need some more cheques
Teller: Sure, here are our options blah blah blah $40
Me: I don’t feel I should pay for them, may I speak to a manager?
Manager: Sorry sir, but everyone pays for cheques
Me: Ok, well if I open a new account with another bank, they will gladly give me new cheques, so I guess I’ll just do that, thanks
Manager: Oh wait, look here, there is a free cheques option, those should be here in a week and a half
Me: A week eh……
Manager: We’ll rush them for you
Me: Thanks!
Presto!
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November 2nd, 2010 at 12:23 PM
I keep forgetting that EVERYTHING in banking is negotiable, good point!
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November 2nd, 2010 at 2:01 PM
All this price you are paying for using old style of payments. I hardly hear anybody using cheques. I have everything done through ECS – Electronic Credit System where in I sign a receipt only once for continuous deductions every month.
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November 2nd, 2010 at 6:48 PM
I’m in the same both since the day cares only accept payment with cheques. I order my cheques through http://www.asap-cheques.com. Much cheaper than the bank and they work just fine!
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November 2nd, 2010 at 9:04 PM
Eh? I thought everybody gets free checking nowadays mate?!
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November 2nd, 2010 at 11:26 PM
I admit we use PC Financial for our day-to-day banking….free cheques, free banking. We still have an account with RBC, for the days in which we need to deal with a *real* bank (had to get US$ last month, then convert back.) Automatic payroll deposit lets us split hubbies paycheck into 2 different accounts — at 2 different banks (prearranged chunk at RBC, everything else to PCF). RBC is for long term savings (used to have mortgage as well), PCF is for day to day (& short term projects)…..if there’s extra in PCF, we write ourselves a cheque (hey, it’s free!) to move it over to RBC (where it will sit for a *very* long time….at least that’s our plan!). And if we screw up and need to borrow from RBC, we just pay the VISA online from that account instead of PCF.
It may seem odd, but it works for us! (and I think last year I wrote 4 cheques in total…)
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November 3rd, 2010 at 4:58 AM
Nope, not everyone, a few of us are lucky enough to pay through the nose!
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November 3rd, 2010 at 12:48 PM
I actually have never paid for checks at my bank. Once my free checks ran out, I would go after those $3.95 deals in the Sunday paper.
Now, I hardly ever write checks. Even for church offerings, I use online billpay. I just have the bank mail a check to the church on each payday! Same thing with my rent.
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November 4th, 2010 at 1:45 AM
[...] is the discussion that arose after my odd rant about the cost of cheques from my bank. I had a few comments from folks who were astounded that I wrote that many cheques [...]
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November 5th, 2010 at 1:20 AM
[...] Big Cajun Man rants about the cost of cheques [...]
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November 19th, 2010 at 4:31 PM
[...] A post over at Canadian Personal Finance Blog was published just as I was running out of cheques in one of my accounts, and the comments contained a link to something very interesting: an alternative to buying cheques from your bank! Yes it is possible! For some time now cheques have a standard, that is published and publicly available, so technically anyone could print their own standardized cheques. And if you’re a company that issues a lot of cheques this isn’t a bad idea. But if you’re an individual who just needs personal cheques then the investment in magnetic ink and special paper would be excessive. [...]
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November 19th, 2010 at 4:35 PM
Well, I did it, I order from asap-cheques.com and it really was quite a bit cheaper than buying from my bank.
Full write-ups on my blog!
Thanks a lot for the tip.
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April 8th, 2011 at 12:33 PM
I stopped buying cheques from my bank years ago when I found out their supplier Davis & Henderson pays the bank on my cheque orders. http: // www. chequesnow. ca
I order cheques for my business and personal accounts from them since I use Quicken I use the Laser Cheques instead of the small personal cheques the bank used to give me. I find it reduces my time in writting cheques.
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June 14th, 2011 at 3:41 AM
[...] have ranted about the cost of me buying cheques before, and this is another cheque which I must write (the cheque alone seems to cost 50 cents to me [...]
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June 14th, 2011 at 1:08 PM
The Cost of Cheques…
Cheques Cost $40 I may have a free chequing account, in that I am not charged for the use of cheques on my bank account (even though I am charged $13.95 a…
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June 19th, 2011 at 4:07 AM
[...] went back to one of my favorite rants with The Cost of Cheques, where I actually include a hand written flowchart, very [...]
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