Vent: bank bill pay & mail delivery

[rapmarks]

I used bill pay to send a large check to my son. He had not received it after almost two weeks. Saturday morning I had to call the bank because my son was really worried, twenty minutes on hold, only option was stop payment, $37 fee to stop payment. Today a neighbor walks over with the check which had been sitting in his held mail for over a week. I have had mail delivered to my neighbor and received other people's mail. If you complain it gets blown off. This was from a bank, and I received a neighbors bank statement once.
So what do I do, do I try to use bill pay, I am kind of turned off by it. This is the fourth tine I have had a problem using bill pay. Do I mail it myself.it might get there and it might not. I do not want to set up electronic transfers into his bank account,
My son had gone to post office about it and they were not nice. Turned out his neighbor had two days of my sons mail, not just the check.

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[Phydeaux]

PayPal.

 

[ace2000]

So what do I do, do I try to use bill pay, I am kind of turned off by it. This is the fourth tine I have had a problem using bill pay. Do I mail it myself.it might get there and it might not. I do not want to set up electronic transfers into his bank account,

You'd have to explain your statement above. If you don't do electronic transfer, other than handing it to him yourself, what other option could you even imagine? There is nothing wrong with the electronic transfer option, I use it all the time myself.

 

[CO skier]

I used bill pay to send a large check to my son. He had not received it after almost two weeks. Saturday morning I had to call the bank because my son was really worried, twenty minutes on hold, only option was stop payment, $37 fee to stop payment. Today a neighbor walks over with the check which had been sitting in his held mail for over a week. I have had mail delivered to my neighbor and received other people's mail. If you complain it gets blown off. This was from a bank, and I received a neighbors bank statement once.
So what do I do, do I try to use bill pay, I am kind of turned off by it. This is the fourth tine I have had a problem using bill pay. Do I mail it myself.it might get there and it might not. I do not want to set up electronic transfers into his bank account,
My son had gone to post office about it and they were not nice. Turned out his neighbor had two days of my sons mail, not just the check.

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Is there a bank with branches in both locations? If there is, open a joint account with your son. You deposit a check (or cash, when there is not enough time for a check to clear) from your account to the joint account. Your son writes checks or makes cash withdrawals from the joint account.

If there is not a bank with branches in both locations, open a joint account at a bank where you live. Instead of sending a check to your son, you deposit the check from your account to the joint account. You inform your son the money is there. Your son writes checks from the joint account to deposit to his account where he lives, just as if you had sent him a check through the mail, except this cuts out the unreliable mailman.

 

[Sandy VDH]

don't know where you live, but try this direct exchange system. https://www.zellepay.com/ Multiple banks participate, funds are there almost immediately. You both just have to have a checking account at any of the banks that participate, you have to have it registered using an email or a cell phone number.

They have 9 banks now about another dozen + will be available soon, or might be available already. I have TD and it is on the listing of coming soon, but they already are available.

https://www.zellepay.com/participating-banks-and-credit-unions

I have funds in Canada, so I can switch funds in my Canadian TDCanadaTrust Account to my US TD account. But I don't live where there are any TD banks. But now I can use zelle to move funds to my Chase account. It is easy and nearly instant.

 

[pedro47]

Can your bank to do electronic transfer? We used Naval Federal and Ally Bank to transfer money to our college age grandkids in NC. They will received the transfer within 24 hours or sooner.
Good Luck.

 

[DeniseM]

I use PayPal to send money to my son.

*And, my daughter has an account at the same bank that I do, so we linked the accounts and I can transfer funds directly to her online.

 

[artringwald]

I use PayPal to send money to my son.

Does PayPal charge a fee for that?

 

[DeniseM]

No - friends and family transfer are free.

 

[dioxide45]

Bill Pay works great when you are paying a company or credit card company that has an arrangement setup with the bank where they can post payments automatically. So you schedule a bill pay today with your bank and the biller gets paid tomorrow. The problem is that if the company isn't setup with the bank or you are paying an individual the bank actually cuts a check and mails it. Thus the issues you experience with the USPS.

I agree with others, use PayPal or use a service like Zelle through your bank if they and your son's financial institution support it.

 

[Talent312]

If your son's bank has a branch where you live, you don't need to set up a joint account. Just go to that branch & deposit the check yourself. All you'll need his account #. I've done it many times.

Otherwise, use your bank to set up bank-to-bank electronic transfers. I use it to move $$ between a brokerage, online savings and my local bank. All of our $$ are just digits in a computer somewhere, anyway. Easy-peasy, and no issues with delivery.

.

 

[VacationForever]

Sounds like mailman issue. I have a joint bank savings account with my son and I just do online transfer. He then transfers it to his checking account. I also get free wire, it is a great option if I need to get money to other accounts that are not part of my bank network.

 

[Icc5]

Had this happen years ago when we lived in Los Altos,California. In our mail was a check for someone in Los Altos Hills for $837,000 in the envelope from a brokerage against. Back then, no cell phones and we had phone books to look up addresses and phone numbers. We looked it up and called and the son came and got the check. It was for an 87 year old man that had closed his account and lived with his son. No, I didn't open the envelope but you could see into it. The real unusual part is the man actually used to live in our neighborhood about 20 years earlier a few blocks from us.
We also received lots of mail from others and at times didn't get our own mail. We had 3 streets running parallel to us and all had the same address numbers.

 

[Phydeaux]

The only time I'll use snail mail is when there is absolutely no other option available.

In this instance, PayPal is seamless, simple, instant, and the money goes directly into the bank account. Simple.

 

[rapmarks]

Thanks never thought of PayPal. My son texted me that the directions for my daughter in laws cat scan were also in his neighbor's held mail, she needs to fast for four hours. Too bad she didn't know that when she went in last Friday.


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[ottawasquaw]

That's really awful about the poor mail delivery. I've had problems, too. Maybe you should email your congressional rep? Not being flip here at all. Also, I use an app on my phone, Venmo, to transfer $ to my son. I'm on his cell bill. So, monthly, I pay him instantly. It is a great app and works well for roommates or any time you are sharing joint expenses. It might be useful for shared vacation?

 

[VegasBella]

That's really frustrating.

My husband had one publisher who insisted on hand-writing and snail mailing royalty checks. Well, THREE times the checks were wrongly put into another business's mailbox. AND even worse, that other business tried to cash them. AND way way way worse, the bank honored the fraudulent transactions and cashed the checks.

We had to track down the checks and fix the whole issue form OUR end. And we hardly even got an apology from anyone. It was insane.

 

[artringwald]

That's really frustrating.

My husband had one publisher who insisted on hand-writing and snail mailing royalty checks. Well, THREE times the checks were wrongly put into another business's mailbox. AND even worse, that other business tried to cash them. AND way way way worse, the bank honored the fraudulent transactions and cashed the checks.

We had to track down the checks and fix the whole issue form OUR end. And we hardly even got an apology from anyone. It was insane.

I had a similar problem when USPS delivered my $900 insurance reimbursement check to a PO Box for a small business who cashed the check without trying to contact anyone. The bank was of no help, and I had to do all the work to figure out what happened. Months later, I got two $900 checks, another one from the reimbursement company and one from the banks fraud department. I even wrote a letter to the bank to let them know I got paid twice. The bank (Wells Fargo), did nothing, so I kept the extra money.

 

[isisdave]

Verbal complaints to the PO do nothing, but there is a form you can file (paper, and probably online too) that constitutes an official complaint. Your son should do that, if only to build a case against the incompetence at the local branch.


I also endorse PayPal and Zelle and deposit-into-his-account. There is also BlueBird by Amex; you put money into an account and he can pull it out at his local WalMart and some other ATMs.

 

[WinniWoman]

I have done electronic transfers into my son's bank account. Nice and easy. I know you don't want to, but maybe you should try it.

 

[ace2000]

Thanks never thought of PayPal.

You've mentioned that you don't want to do an electronic transfer. But, you're in favor of Paypal, which actually is just an electronic transfer between your banks - with an additional layer in between????!!!!!!

 

[rapmarks]

Am I wrong, when you do an electronic transfer, you have to go through a procedure on lone on both ends where the bank deposits or takes three transactions to set up the ability to transfer. This takes a few days and then you can do the transfer. I do not send money regularly, maybe once a year for a special reason.


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[ace2000]

Am I wrong, when you do an electronic transfer, you have to go through a procedure on lone on both ends where the bank deposits or takes three transactions to set up the ability to transfer. This takes a few days and then you can do the transfer. I do not send money regularly, maybe once a year for a special reason.

Depends on what you mean by "electronic transfer". If you don't want to use bill pay, then you could ask your bank to wire the funds instead (might be an extra fee). I send money to my son via a bank to bank transfer and it's free at my bank.

If you don't want to use bill pay or bank transfer, then I would definitely recommend Paypal. I'm curious why you don't want to use bill pay, which I assume is what you meant in your original post, but you don't have to go into the details if you'd rather not.

 

[Sandy VDH]

Am I wrong, when you do an electronic transfer, you have to go through a procedure on lone on both ends where the bank deposits or takes three transactions to set up the ability to transfer. This takes a few days and then you can do the transfer. I do not send money regularly, maybe once a year for a special reason.

What is wrong with setting up your bank to accept electronic payments???

No you do not have to validate your bank account if you use Zelle, because you are doing it from within your bank itself, and it doesn not need to verify your account. Whereas Paypal is external to your bank and it needs to be able to verify your account. Zelle doesn't not need that step.

Once set up is completed at each end (you have to enable the service with your bank, can be done online in a minute) payment is nearly instantaneous.

I love Zelle, it is so fast and easy. So sharing bills or sharing costs of a trip with my friends, they can pay me back immediately.

If it was transferring money to a family member I would suggest you look in Zelle.

 

[rapmarks]

Ok, let me ask a different way. Obviously I get electronic transfers for deposits and recurring bills, but how do I do it for an individual that I rarely send a check to. I too don't like sending a paper check by mail and that is what the bank is doing with bill pay. It takes them a couple days to do it, then the mail situation. But will anyone give you their routing and bank account number. Another thing with bill pay is you have no proof you paid it. I remember twice having to call the bank and going through a lot of hassle to prove that the check was cashed that was sent through bill pay. I have never heard of zelle will look into it


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