response 19 of 67:

Dec 29 23:54 UTC 2005

(interesting detail in the ethnological study of USA: they still do pay
with paper checks...)

response 21 of 67:

Dec 30 01:58 UTC 2005

Re #20: You can pay taxes through whats called an ACH debit. However,
agreeing to have your refund direct deposited is not the same as
authorizing the government to debit your bank account.

The point is moot because upon completing your return, you should
already be aware if you owe taxes or are due a refund. If you made a
mistake on your return, the IRS will do one of two things: If the
mistake is major and indicates deliberate fraud, you will be audited. If
the mistake is minor, the IRS will probably just ask that you file a
1040X (Amended Tax Return). Either way, you will not have to pay the tax
until you complete the 1040X or the audit is completed. However, at that
time you might also be subject to penalties and interest.

response 23 of 67:

Dec 30 05:26 UTC 2005

I've taken advantage of direct deposit whenever it is available. It saves 
time and efforts and gets the money deposited as soon as is possible. I 
can't imagine why anyone would not want direct deposit (unless they are 
paid in cash or do not have an account). No one that has responded so far 
as given a reason for not having direct deposit other than those two.

On the other hand, I decline to allow any automatic direct payments from 
my account. It is one thing allowing someone to pour money into my account 
and entirely another giving them the power to ladel it out. I use online 
banking to set up all payments other than a few for which I write checks 
(the latter usually being recipients with whom I do not have account 
numbers).

response 25 of 67:

Dec 30 05:47 UTC 2005

Re #23: too late.  Whenever you allow somebody to deposit money into your
account, you also give them the power to take it out.  In theory they can
only use this power to fix any errors where they put money in your account 
by mistake, but in practice they can do anything and you'll have to dispute
it.

Likewise, when you write someone a check, they get your account info and
they can use it to charge whatever they want against your account.  If
you think you don't actually owe them that money you can dispute it, 
of course, but the world where you can prevent other people from taking
money out of your account has been gone for a long time.  That's why
many merchants won't even deposit your check, they just use the account
info on it to create an ACH debit.

response 27 of 67:

Dec 30 06:37 UTC 2005

i wnat the damn piece of paper! just like voting, i want the damn paper!

response 29 of 67:

Dec 30 08:35 UTC 2005

I must say I do prefer direct deposit.  Just one less thing to have to
do in a day.

response 31 of 67:

Dec 30 13:52 UTC 2005

I use direct deposit for my paycheck and tax returns.

I use automatic withdrawal for all of my regular monthly payments but 
one, and I have the bank automatically send a check for that one.  I 
check my bank accounts daily.  I don't have problems.

More importantly, I haven't missed any payments.  I used to do that 
pretty frequently.  Maybe I'm older and wiser and richer than back in 
those days.  I don't know.  I do know I like not having to worry about 
due dates and writing checks.

response 33 of 67:

Dec 30 16:55 UTC 2005

re #31
Thanks!
(What's your mother's maiden name and your SS#?)  ;)

response 35 of 67:

Dec 30 17:30 UTC 2005

But that's different.  You're talking about a debit card that is tied to the
account - I think what everyone else is talking about is the ability to go
into the account minus the debit card.

response 37 of 67:

Dec 30 17:38 UTC 2005

Do you like to be contrary simply for the sake of being contrary?  Is so much
of your precious little ego wrapped up in being right all of the time.  

You might be educated and you might be some liberal who is capable of a
semblance of a debate, but damn you are exhausting.

response 39 of 67:

Dec 30 18:00 UTC 2005

 re #32:  When I was working for the University one of my co-workers had a
 nasty surprise when payroll debited money from his account because they
 believed (erroneously, as it turned out) that they had overpayed him. 

 You may not have had such an experience, and they may well have changed
 their policy at some point, but it *can* happen.

response 41 of 67:

Dec 30 18:03 UTC 2005

A debit card is just one of many ways by which a person may get your
account information; another is by reading it off the MICR numbers at
the bottom of personal checks you write.  Once he has your account
information, any resourceful and unethical person likely can (not may,
but can) take money out of your account in a variety of ways.  Check
cards (ATM cards with the Visa logo) are particularly vulnerable but
nobody is immune.

I think that pretty much everybody has gone through the experience of
writing a check to someone (a grocery store, some credit card issuers,
etc.) and then discovering that they simply read the information off the
check and generate an Automated Clearing House (ACH) charge against your
account.  They don't deposit the check; they either trash it or, if you
are standing right there, give it back to you.  I trust it doesn't take
much imagination to figure that, if they can do that, they could just as
easily use that account information to generate as many ACH debits for
whatever amounts they like.  You can dispute the transactions after the
fact, of course, but you can't stop it.

This has been a regular problem for businesses; some fraudsters will
somehow get a check (e.g. a rebate check, a dividend check, whatever)
and then use the account info to generate fraudulent debits until the 
account is empty.  For this reason, many banks offer ACH blocking
services to their business customers (but not for ordinary consumer
accounts.)

And this is just one way that it can be done.  The fact that it's never
happened to you is not a particularly compelling argument that it's
impossible.

response 43 of 67:

Dec 30 18:48 UTC 2005

klg how did I *lie* when I didnt say a word about savings account in 
that post.  In fact you are the one who lied about me lying.