At my house, we pay almost every single one of our bills using our bank’s online bill payment service. It’s fast, easy and I don’t need to buy stamps or deal with the disgusting flavor of envelope glue in my mouth.
However, there are a couple of bills we must pay through the mail – our monthly rent being the most prime example. We rent our house from a normal family that doesn’t see the need to take Visa or Mastercard, so we send them a check every month. Pretty lo-fi, but people have been doing it since mail was invented.
Well, about six months ago or so, we ran out of personal checks. We hadn’t ordered any in a dog’s age (because we probably only use 15 per year or so), and we didn’t exactly keep track of how many checks we hand left. So, we started using cashier’s checks instead (and yes, I know it’s cheaper to just order more personal checks, but let’s just understand that we didn’t and let me finish my story 
. A few days before the end of the month, one of us would waltz over to our bank, get the cashier’s check and mail it off to the landlord. Easy as pie. Until this month.
I dropped the check off at the post office New Year’s Eve. Fast forward to last saturday (January 5th), I get a letter in the mail from my landlord explaining that he didn’t receive our rent. I assumed that the check had gotten lost in the mail (it had never happened to us before, but I’d heard of that happening), so I contacted my bank to find out if I could stop payment on the check. “No problem”, they said. “But, you’ll need to call [phone number] or visit your branch to actually stop payment”. So, this afternoon I putt down to the local branch near the office where I work, explain the situation, and the stop payment order is in and done in just a couple of minutes.
“Is there anything else I can help you with?”
“Actually, I was wondering how long it will be before the funds are back in my account.”
“You know, I’m not sure, let me find out…”
[A series of conversations with coworkers ensues, as well as a phone call]
“90 Days.”
“Ninety DAYS?!”
“Yes sir, 90 days.”
I don’t know what I really expected, but I suppose I thought it would be something like 5-10 business days or something, but 3 freaking months?
So, the morale of this story: don’t mail a cashier’s check unless you have the cash to replace it if it gets lost or stolen.
Technorati Tags: finances, cashier’s check, money, tips, life hacks
Written by Brett Kelly
GTD