Quicken Starter Edition question
in [Mac Systems]
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From: John Young on 23 Jun 2010 13:09 Does Quicken Starter Edition 2010 still print checks? If yes can you still print your little bit of artwork on the checks? Thanks for any help!
From: nospam on 23 Jun 2010 14:39 In article <1jkjdpk.5hz95p1j763wgN%nospam(a)see.signature>, Richard Maine <nospam(a)see.signature> wrote: > Yes, sometimes (with the paper checks). While I do a lot of bill paying > online, there are times when that doesn't work. Besides the obvious > (individuals or small businesses that don't have ways to get paid > online), there are cases where online payment is a real bother. everyone can be paid online. the bank will draft a check and mail it, saving the cost of the stamp too. the only drawback is that it can take up to five business days to be sent via the mail but they take the money immediately, whereas a paper check would clear *after* you send it, sometimes by several days, depending how fast the recipient processes it. > Yes, I know about the online places that will mail checks for you. I > used to use Quicken bill pay (quite a while ago). But that isn't nearly > as handy now that I don't use Quicken. Most of the alternatives seem > expensive and/or inconvenient. online places?? do you mean banks?
From: Richard Maine on 23 Jun 2010 15:07 nospam <nospam(a)nospam.invalid> wrote: > In article <1jkjdpk.5hz95p1j763wgN%nospam(a)see.signature>, Richard Maine > <nospam(a)see.signature> wrote: > > > Yes, sometimes (with the paper checks). While I do a lot of bill paying > > online, there are times when that doesn't work. Besides the obvious > > (individuals or small businesses that don't have ways to get paid > > online), there are cases where online payment is a real bother. > > everyone can be paid online. the bank will draft a check and mail it, > saving the cost of the stamp too. > > the only drawback is that it can take up to five business days to be > sent via the mail but they take the money immediately, whereas a paper > check would clear *after* you send it, sometimes by several days, > depending how fast the recipient processes it. That's one drawback. It is *NOT* the only one, nor the biggest one. The biggest drawback, in my experience, is somewhat subtly related, but from a criticaly different perspective. Because the bank takes the money from your account immediately, you have *NO* information about if or when the check actually got to the payee. If I send a paper check (or use some of the 3rd party services) and it doesn't clear in a reasonable amount of time, I can notice that and contact the payee instead of waiting for the payee to send me a late notice. Or if I do get a late notice in spite of the check clearing, I can tell the payee that I know I paid them because the check cleared my bank. If I used the bank's billpay service, I can't even give the classic "the check is in the mail" line. Instead I'm reduced to "the bank said they put a check in the mail", which is even less assuring. Yes, you can get things straightened out eventually. But it is a lot of bother. Been there. Done that. Not going back. I consider this a very big deal. The couple of times that it has caused me problems have cost more of my time than I'd have spent in a lifetime of mailing paper checks and earning the money to pay for stamps. A secondary drawback is that it isn't integrated with my personal finance program. Quicken billpay was at least good about that (when I used Quicken). I have to enter the data at the bank's billpay site and then separately enter it into my finance program. That duplicate entry is actually more work than mailing a paper check. To mail a paper check, I just enter the data once. Yes, I have to sign the checks and stuff them in the envelopes, but that is slightly less work than reentering all the data. That lack of intregration also means that I can accidentally enter different data in my program versus what was actually sent to the payee. Yes, I've had that happen. There are others, but that's enough. > > Yes, I know about the online places that will mail checks for you. I > > used to use Quicken bill pay (quite a while ago). But that isn't nearly > > as handy now that I don't use Quicken. Most of the alternatives seem > > expensive and/or inconvenient. > > online places?? > > do you mean banks? No. Well, banks are one. But there are 3rd party ones. I'm not going to bother to go make a list, particularly as it doesn't sound like you are loooking anyway, but I have researched them in the past. I've mentioned one here - Quicken Bill pay. Others exist. Checkfree is a well-known one, but way too limitted for me (it only works for particular payees that they have on their list). -- Richard Maine | Good judgment comes from experience; email: last name at domain . net | experience comes from bad judgment. domain: summertriangle | -- Mark Twain
From: nospam on 23 Jun 2010 16:30 In article <1jkjf83.hlxnye1931pw9N%nospam(a)see.signature>, Richard Maine <nospam(a)see.signature> wrote: > > > Yes, sometimes (with the paper checks). While I do a lot of bill paying > > > online, there are times when that doesn't work. Besides the obvious > > > (individuals or small businesses that don't have ways to get paid > > > online), there are cases where online payment is a real bother. > > > > everyone can be paid online. the bank will draft a check and mail it, > > saving the cost of the stamp too. > > > > the only drawback is that it can take up to five business days to be > > sent via the mail but they take the money immediately, whereas a paper > > check would clear *after* you send it, sometimes by several days, > > depending how fast the recipient processes it. > > That's one drawback. It is *NOT* the only one, nor the biggest one. > > The biggest drawback, in my experience, is somewhat subtly related, but > from a criticaly different perspective. Because the bank takes the money > from your account immediately, you have *NO* information about if or > when the check actually got to the payee. yes you do have information: there's a status field, at least with my bank and it changes from sent to paid or something to that effect (i don't remember since i haven't had to send a check of any sort to anyone recently). > A secondary drawback is that it isn't integrated with my personal > finance program. Quicken billpay was at least good about that (when I > used Quicken). I have to enter the data at the bank's billpay site and > then separately enter it into my finance program. That duplicate entry > is actually more work than mailing a paper check. To mail a paper check, > I just enter the data once. Yes, I have to sign the checks and stuff > them in the envelopes, but that is slightly less work than reentering > all the data. my bank's web site is now my 'checkbook'. it's much, much better than a paper one. > That lack of intregration also means that I can accidentally enter > different data in my program versus what was actually sent to the payee. > Yes, I've had that happen. not with online banking. whatever you type in is what is sent. that may be the wrong amount, but it's going to be consistent with what's entered into the pay history.
From: nospam on 23 Jun 2010 16:36
In article <michelle-45F6EF.12331223062010(a)62-183-169-81.bb.dnainternet.fi>, Michelle Steiner <michelle(a)michelle.org> wrote: > > everyone can be paid online. the bank will draft a check and mail it, > > saving the cost of the stamp too. > > My bank wants $6.95 a month for that. I write only one or two checks a > month. find another bank. not only does my bank (chase) offer online banking for free, but they encourage its use it because it actually costs them *less*. charging for that is a crock. |