Value of a dollar

[bigoak]

[judge jb]

second paragraph: a note of caution......

judge jb

might want to think about this when you do your taxes

[dukhunter]

[Seymore]

I have 20 years experience working in a regional bank and have pretty much seen it all. Seen a lot of people going ballistic because their money is gone over something they didn't even know about. If you have ever read the back of an "unsecured" note you will see that if you have a checking account at the bank and are behind on your note, they can take the funds out of your checking account with no questions asked. If they declare themselves in jeopardy and "call" the note they can take it all up to the payoff of the note. I've also seen older people put their grandchildren or children on their account "just in case something happens" and put them as joint owner. Yep, you guessed it, they now own the money and it is attachable. Social Security funds are exempt but other assets in the account aren't. Seen people get married and put their new spouse on the account only to have all their money disappear because new spouse had judgments. Seeing someone in this situation is like looking at a ghost. They have this blank stare like a deer in headlights with a "what the Hell just happened" look.

I could go on and on but the point is things do not always appear as they are. One has to be diligent in everything these days to keep from having that "what the Hell just happened" look.

[bigoak]

[Seymore]

The cost to handle a paper transaction are enormous. Someone has to handle the check all the way through the proof department of the receiving bank, to the clearing house, and on to the issuing bank. That takes several people to handle this. When direct deposit is used the labor intensity goes down.

[dukhunter]

[donia]

i don't know how, and don't claim to know how, corps run dd, but at msu we don't even get a stub unless we request it....NO paper to handle - if we want to see our "check" we go to our electronic "office" and view it online.

[bigoak]

Good question Duckhunter. Direct Deposit is better for the employer in several ways. Some of which have been mentioned here already. Not having to purchase expensive check stock and not having to print checks is one reason. True that check stubs still cost time and money but not as much as the actual checks. Some employers don't print stubs anymore. It is great for accounting purposes because only one debit hits the account. If you have say 300 employees and you issue paper checks then you have 300 checks clearing your account.(300 debits vs 1 debit is awesome for accounting purposes) It is great if you have employees in different locations because you don't have to mail checks to every location. Say you have truck drivers that are out on the road on payday. With direct deposit they get their money deposited and they have access to it via debit card. With paper checks they have to wait until they get back to the office sometimes several days later to get their check. Have seen nightmare stories about truck drivers sending their girlfriend in to pick up their paper check when they are out on the road. Bad things can happen when your girlfriend gets hold of your check. True it may not be a whole lot less expensive for the employer (but it is less expensive) but it is a lot more convenient for the employer, accounting and the employee. It is just all around a better way of handling payroll.

[ironside39090]

Didn't want to charm in but guess I need to clarify a few things. I do work at the same company Deerhunt does. First let me say our company employees several thousand employees with offices in 7 states and we do work all over the Southeast so that means lots of different jobs going on at one time. Currently the process in getting the check is that on Tuesday they are overnighted to all of these locations in order for the employees to have them Wednesday. To overnight this cost $$ to do so the DD will be saving on this aspect also it takes our payroll department all day Monday to get this ready to do which can be hectic at times. Payroll is turned in at the end of the work week usually on Friday and entered into or system on Monday morning so payroll can start. The DD will cut down on the chaos of not getting times entered in time and will assure that ALL employees get a check when they are supposed to get a check. Yes a check stub will be mailed to the home address but the overnight cost will not be associtated with this. It is a win, win situation for all parties the Employee gets his/her check on the same day every week and the Employer doesn't have the hassle and bassle of trying to get them out in a short time

[DEERHUNT]

[Seymore]

I should have been clearer. While the cost to the employer goes down for reasons already mentioned I was referring to the cost to the bank. Handling paper transactions is very expensive with getting it to the two banks involved if the deposit account is not at the bank that issued it. Then there is the cost to truncate the checks so that all checks issued by an account are available to the customer at the end of the month. That's a big reason check imaging came along not to save postage so much from mailing all those checks back to the customer.

[Boogerden Boy]

I'm on direct deposit and they still send my stub with all the info in the mail to my house.
Not saving any money at all for the company. The bank maybe.....

[Seymore]

Not necessarily in Mississippi as it tends to lag behind larger markets but there are banks in the country who are charging their clients to issue their employees' checks instead of going direct deposit. The bank is passing on the cost to handle the paper transaction to the client and giving them an opt out. This is happening in large markets like New York, Chicago, and LA. Believe it or not Joe Blow depositor is actually being charged a fee for using a teller. Anything that the client could have done through electronic means is being assessed a "convenience" fee for using a teller to do it. Like I said, it isn't wide spread, if happening at all, in Mississippi yet.

I got into an argument years ago with a banker from New York who was putting his tellers on a stop watch to get the customer out of the teller window as fast as possible. I told him that would never go over in Mississippi and he told me my customers were no different than his, I just needed to reeducate them. I then told him there or little old ladies with a bunch of money in the bank whose whole week revolves around getting dressed up, going to the bank, and seeing their favorite teller and talking about their grand kids, gardens, and anything else. I'd hate to see what would happen if a stop watch was put on Grandma.

[dukhunter]

I was wondering about that .... If there was an incentive for the employer from the banks to get there payroll DD.