I am currently preparing for some wage garnishments but will still be left with several $K after. Current bank accounts will be frozen. I get a paper check, but I have no idea who can cash a large check. There was little I could do to fend off three large debt accounts, but I do need to figure out how to "bank" and pay my other creditors/collectors who are working with me. I'm trying to save what credit I can. I live in a small town so it wouldn't be hard for the CA to track down any accounts. Technically, what remains in my check is exempt wages after garnishment, but to deposit the check in a current account will create a hassle. There are a couple of check cashing outfits in town but they are spendy, especially if I need to cash a $5K check. I'm about 50 miles from a larger metropolitan area that has dozens of banks. Should I just pick a small bank and open an account? If a bank does a soft pull on my credit reports, will other creditors/collectors see it? I also realize that I could be asked to give up all accounts under a debtor examination. But, I suppose I could later just open another account. All Ineed is an account. My check is form a government entity and i have had no problem getting immediate bank access to my money. (deposit $500, and get $4000+ cash returned. Any suggestions? Thanks.
There are a great number of banks which are out of your state you could use. Just find them online. Deposit %500 and get $4,000 cash back? Now I sure would like to hear how that works.
A couple of suggestions: Any check can be cashed at the bank it is drawn on; this "large" check can be cashed at the bank it is written from. Then, you go into a "cash" mode. As for paying your creditors, you then would have to purchase money orders from any bank or post office. You can try opening an account with some of the larger banks (BoA, Citibank) where you can bank anywhere. But, be aware that your current account status will most likely be posted on ChexSystem, the "credit report" for the banking industry. You may have difficulty opening a traditional checking account. As suggested, investigate some of the on line banks. Also consider a normal savings account, where perhaps you can do e-pay for paying bills.
This suggestion will work in some instances but not many and not in this case because he said they are government checks. He can't very well go right to the U.S. Treasury and get it cashed. Be that as it may, your suggestion does bring up an interesting point that works when someone gives you a check on a local bank. You really don't even have to give your real name to the person writing the check in order to cash it at their bank. Suppose, to give an extreme illustration, that you tell the check writer that you are Wiley E. Coyote or maybe Bugs Bunny. So they write the check out to that name. You turn it over and sign the same name on the back signature line then have them sign under you. Take it to their bank and present it for payment. They want I.D. and you say you lost your wallet but that really makes no difference because the check writer has guaranteed your signature by signing under you on the back side. They will probably still want a thumb print but if you use a very small amount of vaseline on your thumb before you go in the thumb print will disappear as soon as they rub it against another check or run it through a machine. If you don't happen to have any vaseline or other oily substance just press lightly on the ink pad and on the check and give your thumb a bit of a twist as your thumb leaves the paper and the print won't be useable. Most tellers won't catch the blurred print and will cash the check. They can't refuse to cash the check without I.D. if the issuer of the check has guaranteed the signature. Some bank tellers will give you some guff once in a while but stick to your guns and they will cash the check. Usually there is no problem at all. Works every time. But you can't do that with payroll checks from large companies because they are in a distant city. They used to bank in distant cities even though they might have local stores or offices. People never gave it a second thought but their paychecks were actually being drawn on interest bearing accounts. It would take up to 10 days or more to actually get the checks cashed by your local bank but the local bank always gave nearly instant credit for your paycheck drawn on a well known corporation. The corporations would draw interest on the money until it actually got withdrawn from their accounts. If you have hundreds or thousands of employees you make a lot of money just on the interest on the bank float. Think that still don't happen today because of the speed with which checks are cleared? Wrong! If you want to find out how long it takes for your checks to clear just write a bum check to your credit card company. Lets say you pay your account in full using a bum check by phone. Pay it off and wait for 3 days so the account shows paid and you have the ability to go out and buy something that costs close to the credit limit on the card. You can do that because the credit card company gave you "instant" credit but it can take from 10 days to a month for the nasty calls to start and you find out you are in big trouble unless you can pay off at least enough to bring the account back down to below the limits on the card. I don't recommend you try that any time soon however. Not even if you have the funds to bring it back down below limits. You will end up paying dearly and the credit card company will probably close the account giving you a hard knock on your credit reports. All I'm trying to do with that illustration is show you that this new electronic check processing stuff isn't all that fast after all. You can even overdraw your debit cards without penalty at most banks as long as you can get the money into the bank before the close of business the following day. If you need groceries or gasoline the evening before your paycheck gets deposited in your bank and your bank will let you overdraw your debit card you can go get your gas or your groceries the evening before and not pay an overdraft charge.
Thanks for the information. The past few months I went to a paper check. I work for a state agency, so my bank had no problem cashing a large paycheck as long as I was making a deposit (hence, the $500 in, but several K cash back). I've been buying MO's for bills, etc. One new problem I am potentially facing is that several of my big accounts that I have five-year payoff plans with "require" an ACH transaction through a bank account. I guess they will have to accept MO's in the future, or they will need to get in the garnishment line which could be long by the time they get around to it. I didn't think of looking at the state paycheck to see if it is drawn on the state treasury or there is a bank involved. But, for some reason i believe there is a bank name on the check. Thanks for the info. Cheers.
ALmost any bank will "cash" a (US)government check, since all US checks are "backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. A bank usually only denies when the feel the check may be a "fraud". But, as an example, you can "cash" any US Treasury Certificate and/or Bond at any bank, due to the Federal Reserve System. The only reason many banks hesitate to "cash" a larger check (of the US govt.) is for reasons of reducing their reserves requirements (hence the poster's example of cashing check, but making a "deposit", they actually come out ahead on their reserves requirements in this example).
