Ways to Cash A Check Without A Bank Account?

[james.hendrickson]

Hi Everyone,

I saw something over on yahoo answers a while back and it got me thinking a bit. In the post 9/11 era is gotten tougher to assign checks to others and check cashing places will charge a very high percentage of the check's value to cash it.

So, are there good, inexpensive ways to cash a check without a bank account?

[cooliemae]

Walmart only charges $3.00 for under a 1k or $6 for over 1k, but the checks have to be payroll, government, etc..

I'm not sure how one would go about cashing a personal check without having an account in a cheap fashion.

[lirpalynn]

If a personal check is drawn from a bank in your town, you can go to that bank to cash it for free. At least, that is how it worked a few years ago.

[greenskeeper]

go to the bank that the check is drawn on if possible

[kork13]

Slightly off topic, but I don't understand this... Why would anyone NOT have a bank account? I know that there's a huge population sector that doesn't (and an accompanying industry pandering to those people), but I just don't understand WHY anyone would not want a bank account. I know that some banks reject people for not having good credit, but there are still plenty of places that will give a simple savings account (albeit earning basically nothing) to anybody... They even advertise them that way.

Simply getting any basic bank account would give people free access to so many services for which, without accounts, they pay through the nose. Perfect examples: cashing a check, or using a pre-paid Visa card instead of a debit card. These simple services cost them $3-$5 (or more) every time! I just can't understand the mindset that thinks this is their best option.

[Outdoorsygal]

Slightly off topic, but I don't understand this... Why would anyone NOT have a bank account? I know that there's a huge population sector that doesn't (and an accompanying industry pandering to those people), but I just don't understand WHY anyone would not want a bank account. I know that some banks reject people for not having good credit, but there are still plenty of places that will give a simple savings account (albeit earning basically nothing) to anybody... They even advertise them that way.

Simply getting any basic bank account would give people free access to so many services for which, without accounts, they pay through the nose. Perfect examples: cashing a check, or using a pre-paid Visa card instead of a debit card. These simple services cost them $3-$5 (or more) every time! I just can't understand the mindset that thinks this is their best option.

What is there not to understand? Why would someone need a useless savings account that pays only a quarter of a percent interest? Do your Banks pay more than our banks here? because in our area, it's just isn't worth it. my time to drive to the bank, the gas costs, the risk in giving my $$ away for little to no return then hoping to get it back as I need it. ATM"s costs are $2+ dollars for one transaction. I do not wish to move to live near any bank, including my own. Nor would I want to spend time waiting in line for access to my own money. Nor do I need my personal private info ran in order to determine whether I am worthy to open an account which yields almost nothing but costs money instead. This world has gone mad. Everyone is so programmed nowadays. Tuck your $$ safely in your house in a fire proof box or purchase a safe. Unless you have your own good reasons for handing your money over, why do it? I haven't needed to write a check for over a year, otherwise we've used a few money orders/cashiers checks.

I have a secret door /space to store mine. I have it when I need it. And no one else, not Uncle Sam or anyone besides hubby, knows how much is there. Btw, there is a large company selling your purchasing history from where you shop such as grocery stores. It is sold to health care companies. Blue Shield/Blue Cross and Etna are three companies who purchase your buying habits. No one can go wrong in USING CASH when purchasing an item.

I have a Health Savings Account but only because it's free $$ contributed by my employer so in weighing the risk, I felt it was worth it despite having to give out my CDL and SS#. It yields only 1% interest, much less than a typical savings account.

We have a business so we need a business checking acct and ensured it was open at a Credit Union who wouldn't charge his employees money just to cash their checks. He has no employees right now. I have a personal checking acct which I keep very little money in ($500 or less) but use for the purpose of accepting Amazon deposits from my Amazon store. Since I sell on ebay also, if it is something we need, I use those stored up funds in paypal to purchase what I need. I wish I had no reason to have ANY checking accounts whatsoever but since in order to do business it is required, that is the ONLY reason we have the two we do. Someday we will not have ANY bank accounts, hopefully

.

[Singuy]

What is there not to understand? Why would someone need a useless savings account that pays only a quarter of a percent interest? Do your Banks pay more than our banks here? because in our area, it's just isn't worth it. my time to drive to the bank, the gas costs, the risk in giving my $$ away for little to no return then hoping to get it back as I need it. ATM"s costs are $2+ dollars for one transaction. I do not wish to move to live near any bank, including my own. Nor would I want to spend time waiting in line for access to my own money. Nor do I need my personal private info ran in order to determine whether I am worthy to open an account which yields almost nothing but costs money instead. This world has gone mad. Everyone is so programmed nowadays. Tuck your $$ safely in your house in a fire proof box or purchase a safe. Unless you have your own good reasons for handing your money over, why do it? I haven't needed to write a check for over a year, otherwise we've used a few money orders/cashiers checks.

I have a secret door /space to store mine. I have it when I need it. And no one else, not Uncle Sam or anyone besides hubby, knows how much is there. Btw, there is a large company selling your purchasing history from where you shop such as grocery stores. It is sold to health care companies. Blue Shield/Blue Cross and Etna are three companies who purchase your buying habits. No one can go wrong in USING CASH when purchasing an item.

I have a Health Savings Account but only because it's free $$ contributed by my employer so in weighing the risk, I felt it was worth it despite having to give out my CDL and SS#. It yields only 1% interest, much less than a typical savings account.

We have a business so we need a business checking acct and ensured it was open at a Credit Union who wouldn't charge his employees money just to cash their checks. He has no employees right now. I have a personal checking acct which I keep very little money in ($500 or less) but use for the purpose of accepting Amazon deposits from my Amazon store. Since I sell on ebay also, if it is something we need, I use those stored up funds in paypal to purchase what I need. I wish I had no reason to have ANY checking accounts whatsoever but since in order to do business it is required, that is the ONLY reason we have the two we do. Someday we will not have ANY bank accounts, hopefully

.

What you said is kind of valid...10 years ago.

Everything is digital nowadays. You can deposit checks right on your cellphone through the use of their apps. You can easily transfer money or make payments digitally online. I rarely step into a bank, but I do have a bunch of bank accounts and move around 20-30k worth of money around monthly behind a computer (pay bills, make investments, do my payroll, pay business taxes, etc etc.)

Cash is just terrible nowadays. Many large items cannot be purchased with just straight cash(so you'll have to go and transform your cash into a cashiers check first to buy a car for example)..also I have no idea how you can pay a credit card with cash....and if you don't have a credit card, that's 2% reward points you are missing out.

Also making investments usually require some sort of bank accounts..like buying index funds.

Honestly I wouldn't even know what to do with dead weight cash. I need my money in the bank so I can make investments and pay my bills. You are right that a savings account gives you at best 1% return..but without a bank, you are really limited in how you can utilize your money for growth. Sitting cash inside a safe will just weather it away at a -2.5% inflation.

[cooliemae]

.and if you don't have a credit card, that's 2% reward points you are missing out.

Sitting cash inside a safe will just weather it away at a -2.5% inflation.

I think that Outdoorsygal is saying that those things we call benefits come at a cost, which is the lack of anonymity. So Singuy, you and I are ok selling away our purchasing data for he rewards, and Outdoorsygal isn't...no big deal.

However, I agree with you that some interest is better than no interest and that going to a physical bank these days doesn't happen often for me. I do almost all of my business online and don't even carry that much cash with me.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Someday we will not have ANY bank accounts, hopefully

How do you pay bills such as rent or mortgage, taxes & public licenses, utilities, phone, insurances? Do you purchase via internet? Pay any school fees? Rent anything? Finance vehicles? Pay any membership fees? Reserve a hotel room or fly?

I know a lot of this can be done in cash, but for me, I'd have to do a lot more driving and set aside more time for errands if I did not use a bank account to pay (or to pay off the credit cards I paid bills with).

[disneysteve]

I think living cash-only is far more common among the poor since they don't have much of anything in the way of assets. They get hammered in fees if they open a bank account since they may struggle to meet minimum balances. They pay bills with money orders. And they lead pretty simple lives.

For everyone else, though, I can't imagine not having accounts. Our portfolio is in the 3/4 million dollar range. Are we supposed to keep all of that under our mattress (not to mention the fact that if not for our accounts and investments we wouldn't have anywhere near that much money)?

[Outdoorsygal]

What you said is kind of valid...10 years ago.

Everything is digital nowadays. You can deposit checks right on your cellphone through the use of their apps. You can easily transfer money or make payments digitally online. I rarely step into a bank, but I do have a bunch of bank accounts and move around 20-30k worth of money around monthly behind a computer (pay bills, make investments, do my payroll, pay business taxes, etc etc.)

Cash is just terrible nowadays. Many large items cannot be purchased with just straight cash(so you'll have to go and transform your cash into a cashiers check first to buy a car for example)..also I have no idea how you can pay a credit card with cash....and if you don't have a credit card, that's 2% reward points you are missing out.

Also making investments usually require some sort of bank accounts..like buying index funds.

Honestly I wouldn't even know what to do with dead weight cash. I need my money in the bank so I can make investments and pay my bills. You are right that a savings account gives you at best 1% return..but without a bank, you are really limited in how you can utilize your money for growth. Sitting cash inside a safe will just weather it away at a -2.5% inflation.

You are an example of a good reason to have a bank account. You are investing which is a form of business. Not everyone is. My point was we all don't blindly need bank accounts, necessarily. I live very simply but how I live has determined I need one, at least for a while. And maybe for life if I choose to continue in my job then I might as well continue to sell online.

The more privacy you can preserve the better. It's a weighing game of pro's versus cons. No right or wrong imho just something to think about. I honestly don't understand grabbing a card to swipe versus using cash BUT I have no large balances which would offer me any significant rewards either.
2% is not enough to risk my identity.

[Outdoorsygal]

t

How do you pay bills such as rent or mortgage, taxes & public licenses, utilities, phone, insurances? Do you purchase via internet? Pay any school fees? Rent anything? Finance vehicles? Pay any membership fees? Reserve a hotel room or fly?

I know a lot of this can be done in cash, but for me, I'd have to do a lot more driving and set aside more time for errands if I did not use a bank account to pay (or to pay off the credit cards I paid bills with).

Right now, we have no morgage. Sold our home to move here. We moved to this area almost 2 years ago to care for his elderly parents (in their 90's) and both recently passed away this last year. His Dad passed about 3 months ago so we chose to rent. Our rent is $1300 per month. It took a few years but we accepted a house where the Landlords are local and asked if it would be alright to pay in cash. She lives down the street and comes to pick it up under our front door mat once a month. We both grew up in this town so there was no background check nor running of our credit in order to obtain this house. To call around to folks they know is the best credit reference one can enact. I encouraged them to do so but they didn't care. Most individual people are honest, it's the companies I worry about.

The water company is located 2 miles away on my way to work. I stop & drop it in the slot. Taxes, I am not sure how it's paid my husband handles that. A money order maybe. Since i sell online, I am at the post office different times waiting in line so to get a money order once a month isn't alot of extra effort. To reserve a hotel room, I use my Amazon bank account which holds $500 or less. That is really the only time we need an account for pleasures sake, and even then, we stay at a hostel who is willing to accept a mailed money order if needed. I've done that in the past with a donation (It's a great cause). Before selling our home, we used a Money Order to pay the morgage my husband just said. We have no Credit Card debt.

Joan it may seem it may be more driving for you but think about how often you drive outside of your area. Is it once a month? Maybe you could use cash to pay for some of your bills Change your store cards into a fake name and info. You can even redeem the points when you shop using the fake name. The more you reduce your risk, the less risk there is at stake. We use Zenmate also, but not on this forum as it conflicts with it.

[DaveInPgh]

Right now, we have no morgage. But that will likely change. We moved to this area almost 2 years ago to care for his elderly parents (in their 90's) and both recently passed away this last year. His Dad passed about 3 months ago so we chose to rent. Our rent is $1300 per month. It took a few years but we accepted a house where the Landlords are local and asked if it would be alright to pay in cash. She lives down the street and comes to pick it up under our front door mat once a month. We both grew up in this town so there was no background check nor running of our credit in order to obtain this house. To call around to folks they know is the best credit reference one can enact. I encouraged them to do so but they didn't care. They get the rent once a month left under the front mat at $1350. Most individual people are honest, it's the companies I worry about.

The water company is located 2 miles away on my way to work. I stop drop it in the slot. Taxes, I am not sure how it's paid my husband handles that. A money order maybe. Since i sell online, I am at the post office different times waiting in line so to get a money order once a month isn't alot of extra effort. To reserve a hotel room, I use my Amazon bank account which holds $500 or less. That is really the only time we need an account, and even then, we stay at a hostel who is willing to accept a mailed money order if needed. I've done that in the past with a donation (It's a great cause). Before selling our home, we used a Money Order to pay the morgage my husband just said. We have no Credit Card debt.

Sometimes it may seem it may be more driving for you Joan but think about how often you drive outside of your area. Is it once a month? Maybe you could use cash and drop it into the slot to pay for some of your bills. Ordering a new rewards card when you shop helps, you can do that online. Even redeem the points when you shop using a fake name. The more you reduce your risk, the less risk there is.

Although I do not choose to live the way you do, I do understand where you are coming from regarding the trade off of privacy.

That being said, I would never handle cash transactions the way you do. What happens if a dispute arises to the sum the landlord received, or whether they received it at all? Or your water gets shut off because the clerk opening your payment envelope decides to just pocket the money?

I have done multiple cash deals for home improvements with contractors that offered a discount if I paid them that way. The most likely reason they made such an offer is so they can avoid reporting the income. Regardless of their reasons, every single one of them provided me with a receipt for the cash I handed them.

The way you are conducting business, you have absolutely no proof of payment if something happens to that cash.

[Outdoorsygal]

I think living cash-only is far more common among the poor since they don't have much of anything in the way of assets. They get hammered in fees if they open a bank account since they may struggle to meet minimum balances. They pay bills with money orders. And they lead pretty simple lives.

For everyone else, though, I can't imagine not having accounts. Our portfolio is in the 3/4 million dollar range. Are we supposed to keep all of that under our mattress (not to mention the fact that if not for our accounts and investments we wouldn't have anywhere near that much money)?

If you have that much money then you should be keeping at least a million dollars in a safe. What happens if the computers are hacked, or the internet is taken over? Another great thing is gold or silver. I haven't done that yet.

Watch this movie then come back and tell me why you need to keep the majority of your money in bank accounts. Do you remember when this happened? --> Google, Apple all of the tech companies got together to warn us within a mere 24 hrs prior. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpvcc9C8SbM If there is a catastrophe, you need to have something ready to barter with for food, etc...yes you're a physician so you have some leverage there to barter but why not be better prepared? history will repeat itself at some time. It always does.
.

[disneysteve]

If you have that much money then you should be keeping at least a million dollars under your mattress. What happens if the computers are hacked, or the internet is taken over?

If "the internet is taken over". What does that even mean?

Sure computers can be hacked, but so what? I've had several accounts that have been involved in security breaches. The worst that happens is they close the account or cancel the card and reopen it with a new account number. I've never lost a penny to fraud, nor would I. It is far more likely for someone to pocket your cash or claim the amount was wrong as there is no documentation of it.

My cousin was a bank officer and he told us repeatedly to only deposit cash at an ATM, never with a teller, because the chances of fraud/theft are far greater with a human teller.

Certainly you can choose to do business however you'd like, but if you think your way is somehow safer, you're probably mistaken.