This brings up an embarrassment I have, being an american that's moved to Europe. I've had colleagues that have worked short-term in the u.s. and when they receive a 'check' from their workplace they think it's the most fascinating, interesting thing. A check! It's almost like they're holding the money in their hands... (their words, not mine)
I don't think my bank even has checks - at least they're not a standard enough feature that they mention them.
Thinking about it though, they did let me deposit a check from the u.s. once. It took about three works for it to go through. Wire transfers to anywhere in the world (I regularly send money to the u.s. and India) go through in two or three days.
In fact, the check I deposited was about $50K, so it's understandable it took awhile, but a wire transfer I received from the u.s. for the same exact amount only took two days.
So, why use checks?
We have a system where every bill is payable by bank transfer, and the bill you receive only contains the bank transfer information.
We're phasing out checks in the US as well. I have probably written 5 checks in my life.
I think the advantage is similar to cash, which is that you don't need to know anything about someone (except their name) to write and give them a check in person.
OTOH, that kind of delay on check cashing is only for very large amounts like you mentioned. I receive reimbursement checks from work because I never told them my bank account number for direct deposit, and I can take a picture of the check with my phone and have the whole quantity deposited in my account available for use immediately. Of course you also have to consider the time it takes for me to receive the physical check, so it's still much slower than a direct deposit.
I had a similar experience when I moved out to Australia (from the Netherlands). At one place I worked for a while I was paid with a check! Can you believe it. They'd give me an envelope that opened on the side and it had a piece of paper in it that "I" had to bring to the bank. I think my head almost exploded. Mostly because I wasn't expecting it and a little because of the retarded way of paying people. This was in 2007 and I was working for a digital ad agency, not on a construction side or something. Fascinating. I think my mother was the last person in the Netherlands to use a check. It must have been 1976 or something. :)
I think the main charm of checks are a certain untraceability.
E.g. I was once in the states and received a check. As I was not a customer of any bank there, there was no easy way for me to cash it in. Solution: go to a friend's bank with him in tow so that he'd essentially cash it in but giving me all the money.
This could easily get your friend in tax trouble. If you need to cash a check and you don't have a bank account you typically go to the bank that issued the check and cash it there.
Comments
This brings up an embarrassment I have, being an american that's moved to Europe. I've had colleagues that have worked short-term in the u.s. and when they receive a 'check' from their workplace they think it's the most fascinating, interesting thing. A check! It's almost like they're holding the money in their hands... (their words, not mine)
I don't think my bank even has checks - at least they're not a standard enough feature that they mention them.
Thinking about it though, they did let me deposit a check from the u.s. once. It took about three works for it to go through. Wire transfers to anywhere in the world (I regularly send money to the u.s. and India) go through in two or three days.
In fact, the check I deposited was about $50K, so it's understandable it took awhile, but a wire transfer I received from the u.s. for the same exact amount only took two days.
So, why use checks?
We have a system where every bill is payable by bank transfer, and the bill you receive only contains the bank transfer information.
We're phasing out checks in the US as well. I have probably written 5 checks in my life.
I think the advantage is similar to cash, which is that you don't need to know anything about someone (except their name) to write and give them a check in person.
OTOH, that kind of delay on check cashing is only for very large amounts like you mentioned. I receive reimbursement checks from work because I never told them my bank account number for direct deposit, and I can take a picture of the check with my phone and have the whole quantity deposited in my account available for use immediately. Of course you also have to consider the time it takes for me to receive the physical check, so it's still much slower than a direct deposit.
I had a similar experience when I moved out to Australia (from the Netherlands). At one place I worked for a while I was paid with a check! Can you believe it. They'd give me an envelope that opened on the side and it had a piece of paper in it that "I" had to bring to the bank. I think my head almost exploded. Mostly because I wasn't expecting it and a little because of the retarded way of paying people. This was in 2007 and I was working for a digital ad agency, not on a construction side or something. Fascinating. I think my mother was the last person in the Netherlands to use a check. It must have been 1976 or something. :)
I think the main charm of checks are a certain untraceability. E.g. I was once in the states and received a check. As I was not a customer of any bank there, there was no easy way for me to cash it in. Solution: go to a friend's bank with him in tow so that he'd essentially cash it in but giving me all the money.
This could easily get your friend in tax trouble. If you need to cash a check and you don't have a bank account you typically go to the bank that issued the check and cash it there.