I’ve been using the paper check writing service of my Electric Orange checking account a lot recently. I don’t keep much money in my Bank of America checking account anymore, so it’s really my only option, outside of my business checking account with Chase (but it’s really a bad idea to mingle business and personal). It does require a bit of planning ahead though. For instance, as I mention yesterday, I’ll be paying my property taxes and contributing to my health savings account as part of my year-end tax moves. Not having a checkbook made these two transactions interesting. Let me explain:
Paying Property Taxes with an Electric Orange Paper Check
I get two property tax statements in the mail each November. One is for the county, and the other is for the school district. Each statement has a payment stub which is supposed to be mailed in with the check. Long story, short: I called the tax assessors and asked if I could just send a check (as there was no way I could mail the check from ING DIRECT and couple it with the stub). They were cool with it and just said to include the account number on the memo line.
A smarter/riskier person would have just rolled with this tactic from the outset, but I’m a cautious, slow-on-the-uptake, nerd who likes to experiment and blog about mailing checks from online banks. Anyway, the takeaway here is that more companies are getting savvy to the idea of receiving these paper checks sent direct from the bank. No stamp, no hassle for me. Win!
Sending Yourself an Electric Orange Paper Check and Using a Special Endorsement
When it was time to square away my health savings account contribution, I could not use the direct mail option described above. Each contribution to the health savings account (which I hold at a local credit union) needs to be made along with my signature on a contribution form. The form is required. So, my solution is to mail myself a paper check from my Electric Orange account. This check is made out to me. I will then bring it down to the credit union, along with the contribution form and sign the back of the check with a blank endorsement (i.e. just my signature). The check should be here in 3 to 5 days. So you can see why a little planning is required. Slightly annoying. Not as big of a win.
As an aside, if I needed to use this check to pay someone else (e.g. pay my gardener, if I had one) then I could simply use a special endorsement. A special endorsement is to put “pay to the order of [person or business name]” on the back of the check just above where you sign it. Of course, you are still dealing with waiting on the check to arrive. But it’s a little hack that could help you out if and when you are crazy enough to roll with just an online checking account like me.
Anyway, I thought my fellow Electric Orange users would appreciate this information if they are ever facing a similar situation. Likewise if you are on the fence about using an online checking account, this should give you some food for thought. Props to long-time reader David for inspiring this post.
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