But I'm an accountant!!!

[MoonCat]

American banks do have online banking and ATM's that don't require teller interaction. Some people just like to deal with a real, live person.

I do everything by ATM because the bank's hours are the same as my work hours, so I can't get to the bank when the tellers are there anyway.

I get my bank statement by email and I rarely use checks anymore. Some thing I pay by phone, some online and some in person with cash. I check my bank account frequently to make sure everything matches up.

[taxguykarl]

At which point he tells me that he IS an accountant.

I hope he doesn't do his own taxes...the IRS will have some fun with him.

Best part: as he leaves, he threatens to take his business to Chase.

Yes, I'm sure they'll be beating down the door for his biz.

FWIW, a Mrs. TGK has a Chase account--or at least it became one when they bought out First Chicago. A lot of my tax clients also use Chase--so many that I memorized the routing number: zero seven one, double o, double 0, thirteen.

[Andara Bledin]

Oh yeah, Citibank also had branches in both cities, but they weren't linked; they told me that if I made a deposit in New York, they'd have to FedEx the money and deposit slip to Buffalo, and I wouldn't be credited until it got there. Hell with that noise.

My workplace uses Citibank, and it took them forever to get with the times... though nowadays, they seem pretty up to date with the tech and shinies.

^-.-^

[teh_blumchenkinder]

Isn't the point of having stuff in your ledger having stuff in your ledger? Just in case it's a screw-up up and down all the bank line?
I do love the idea of having 'hey, money I didn't 'know' about! SCHWING."
Granted, I make sure my checkbooks are all clearly written in the carbon paper, and don't actually keep a "ledger." Just the checkbooks. Secreted away.
Yes, I know. I want a debit desperately. My parents think it's a bad bad idea. Since I am living off their money currently, I will obey them and respect this particular wish.
Yes, I would still respect and try to obey them when I'm independent... but... yeah. (love you mommy and daddy! ) (... uh... I'm over 23, why? )

[Sapphire Silk]

I was thinking the same thing. My grandfather on my dad's side had it as well. My dad lived just down the street from him, so he checked in on him often, and just about every week he was telling me yet another story of Grandpa's misadventures, such as him almost burning the house down trying to cook some eggs, getting in his truck and getting lost in someone's driveway, or wandering around town searching for his wife, who had passed away almost ten years prior.

One of the stories my dad told me was when Grandpa claimed his bank was "ripping him off." My dad looked at his checkbook, and found quite a few huge mistakes. One entry was supposed to take the balance to $11,000 and he wrote it down at $17,000. Then later on, he mistakenly wrote it down as $27,000.

My mom probably has Alzheimers. We've been dealing with it for a couple of years now. She had a screaming fit at me one day, telling me she was poor and couldn't afford this or that. She's actually quite well off, well off enough that she's paying her bills several times over

Chase is pretty good about removing fees that you can make a case for being undeserved, anyway.

I wish I could say the same about them. I've had some arguments with their reps over their practices, many of which are now illegal. I never had those problems before they took over my actual bank, WaMu.

I'm often confused by American banking practices. I was shocked, for instance, to discover that you guys still fill out deposit and withdrawal slips when using the tellers... That's so totally foreign to me that I wouldn't even have a clue where to start.

Then you'll be really confused by this. My primary account is with a credit union. When I make a deposit, I still fill out a slip. Then I slide my card and tell the teller what to do

Same here, but did you know that some our banks now have ATMs that will let you take out US money from a Canadian account?

But I'm sure you still pay exchange fees. I wonder how up to date they are?

[Shalom]

FWIW, a Mrs. TGK has a Chase account--or at least it became one when they bought out First Chicago. A lot of my tax clients also use Chase--so many that I memorized the routing number: zero seven one, double o, double 0, thirteen.

That's for Illinois. I long ago memorized ours as O two one, OOOO, two one.

(Which is NY downstate; it works here in NJ too, though. I suspect any Chase routing number will work equally well, but haven't tried it.)

[protege]

One of the stories my dad told me was when Grandpa claimed his bank was "ripping him off." My dad looked at his checkbook, and found quite a few huge mistakes. One entry was supposed to take the balance to $11,000 and he wrote it down at $17,000. Then later on, he mistakenly wrote it down as $27,000.

My late grandmother would do things like that. I don't know how much of it was because of her failing memory...or because her eyesight was going too. Before I took over her affairs, she was constantly screwing up her checkbook. She'd sometimes add back bills being paid, or write down the wrong numbers. At least her bank was willing to work with her--one of the senior VPs was a family friend, and would help her out.

Not long after that, she started getting pretty bad. She'd call my mother all hours of the night, usually because she couldn't remember where she was (moving into an apartment...after 54 years in the same house didn't help), or asking where her husband was. Grandpa had died 20 years previously But, the calls got so bad at one point...that we had to have her phone set so she could only call the nursing home's front desk.

[taxguykarl]

That's for Illinois. I long ago memorized ours as O two one, OOOO, two one.

Somehow it wouldn't surprise me if that was the old First Chicago Routing number.

[bankworking]

I'm often confused by American banking practices. I was shocked, for instance, to discover that you guys still fill out deposit and withdrawal slips when using the tellers... That's so totally foreign to me that I wouldn't even have a clue where to start. When we walk up to a teller, we insert our debit card into the card reader, punch in our PIN, and then tell the teller what we want to do. They confirm everything verbally, and then their computer spits out a little receipt which acts as a record of our transaction. That's when I actually bother to deal with a teller (which I only do when I'm buying US cash or converting it back to Canadian). The rest of the time, I do ALL my banking online, and I check my online banking site at least 3x a week. I've never had a bankbook or a register or a ledger or anything of that sort. Heck, I don't even receive a statement every month. I can access scanned images of all my cheques online, and I can receive copies of any statement from any time since the account was opened upon request. Saves paper, saves time, saves money

Seems to be the one area in which the US is stuck in the dark ages and Canada has actually pulled ahead.

We don't use deposit or withdrawal slips at the teller line. Also don't make people write a check in order to withdraw from their account from a teller (which my old bank used to make me do). As you stated, the receipt is the record of the transaction.

But we don't use a debit card/atm card for in-person transactions either. Which personally, I am glad about, because I don't use a debit card. I run everything on a credit card and pay the balance in full each month from my savings. I suppose such a system would have an alternate way to access your account by the teller finding it my acct# or SSN or some such?

We do have the online images of the checks, etc, but for this customer it wouldn't have helped. He didn't own or operate a computer and had no interest in using the open computers we provide at each branch for logging onto one's account. Another issue for him, actually, since it means he never knows he's overdrawn each month until we send the first notice or call him to let him know, by which point he's even further in the hole. Couldn't even convince him to use the call service more regularly.