Cheques, please!
June 9, 2013 4:03 PM Subscribe
The time has come for me to order new cheques, and as I was incensed by the exorbitant charge my bank expected me to pay the last time I ordered cheques, I am looking for an alternative. Have any Canadian MeFites ordered cheques online, and if so, can they recommend a reliable site that does them for a reasonable price?
I now have an account that doesn't need cheques. I have a small stack of counter cheques should I absolutely have to use one, and my bank gives them out free. At least ⅓ of the cheques I've ever issued have been void, and used only for account identification. There are far better ways of sending account verification than voiding a cheque you've paid for.
posted by scruss at 5:17 PM on June 9, 2013
posted by scruss at 5:17 PM on June 9, 2013
Best answer: I've actually been looking for the same thing recently. Have you had a look at ASAP Cheques? They seem to be slightly cheaper than the ones the banks are offering. Haven't ordered anything from them myself, but I plan to when my current batch runs out!
posted by greatgefilte at 6:26 PM on June 9, 2013
posted by greatgefilte at 6:26 PM on June 9, 2013
I've ordered from ASAP cheques and have been happy with them.
posted by jeather at 6:50 PM on June 9, 2013
posted by jeather at 6:50 PM on June 9, 2013
I've also switched most of my daily banking over to ING which has reasonably priced cheques and much, much lower fees. (I did this after RBC restricted me to 5 free electronic transfers a month, which, as I pay my mortgage weekly, was not feasible.) Also more pleasant phone support. Opening an account is pretty painless, and you can link it to your current account so you can transfer money back and forth easily.
If you use a current customer's orange key, they'll give you both 25$ when you open your account, which is also nice.
posted by jeather at 6:57 PM on June 9, 2013
If you use a current customer's orange key, they'll give you both 25$ when you open your account, which is also nice.
posted by jeather at 6:57 PM on June 9, 2013
Disclaimer: I'm a Yank. YMMV.
Do you usually know ahead of time when you'll be needing a check? Back in the days when we all wrote more checks than we do today, I just printed my own. Most office supply stores should (or at least, did) carry a supply of blank security check paper. I found free templates online and just printed them on my inkjet. I could print blank ones if I planned on writing one that day, or fill in all the fields if I was paying a bill I would later mail.
When I would get my statements monthly, including all the cancelled checks I wrote, often they would have an extra strip of paper glued to the bottom, with the routing and account numbers on it - presumably because I didn't print the MICR line with magnetic ink. I don't know if it's still that way today or it's more optical, but either way it would certainly be wise to confirm their usage with your bank if possible.
posted by SquidLips at 7:47 PM on June 9, 2013
Do you usually know ahead of time when you'll be needing a check? Back in the days when we all wrote more checks than we do today, I just printed my own. Most office supply stores should (or at least, did) carry a supply of blank security check paper. I found free templates online and just printed them on my inkjet. I could print blank ones if I planned on writing one that day, or fill in all the fields if I was paying a bill I would later mail.
When I would get my statements monthly, including all the cancelled checks I wrote, often they would have an extra strip of paper glued to the bottom, with the routing and account numbers on it - presumably because I didn't print the MICR line with magnetic ink. I don't know if it's still that way today or it's more optical, but either way it would certainly be wise to confirm their usage with your bank if possible.
posted by SquidLips at 7:47 PM on June 9, 2013
I didn't print the MICR line with magnetic ink
This isn't permitted. Clearing of Canadian checks still requires the actual physical check to travel around, so an image of the check can't replace the check like it does in the U.S.
While you can print your own checks, it's probably worth it to pay someone else to do it in a way that definitely meets the specifications.
posted by one more dead town's last parade at 8:52 PM on June 9, 2013
This isn't permitted. Clearing of Canadian checks still requires the actual physical check to travel around, so an image of the check can't replace the check like it does in the U.S.
While you can print your own checks, it's probably worth it to pay someone else to do it in a way that definitely meets the specifications.
posted by one more dead town's last parade at 8:52 PM on June 9, 2013
That's not correct, omdtlp. My bank has Deposit Anywhere™ from a smartphone.
posted by scruss at 1:34 PM on June 11, 2013
posted by scruss at 1:34 PM on June 11, 2013
Response by poster: I ordered my cheques from ASAP, paid $35.03 for a lot of 200 (I probably would have paid about twice as much for them if I'd ordered them from my bank), and they arrived fairly promptly. Thanks all!
posted by orange swan at 12:43 PM on July 10, 2013
posted by orange swan at 12:43 PM on July 10, 2013
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