Adrianna TanMy new property manager has started charging a fee for the convenience of paying them my rent (!) so I am petty enough to go stand at a bank, request checks, write them and walk two blocks to pay rent just as a matter of principle.
The state of financial technology in America is that checks are still the best thing for most things, and the best thing your bank does is the online bill pay where they, get this, print out a check and mail it for you to a payee
In fact when I was at the bank the teller said, oh good your landlord accepts personal checks! Confused, I asked.. as opposed to what? He said many landlords now demand cashier’s / secure checks (basically money that’s already been withdrawn), and that those cost a lot of money for people with personal accounts. Truly the worst timeline (and people)
Vlado Vince@skinnylatte I really struggled understanding how checks worked when I moved to America almost 15 years ago.
I figured it out in the meantime, then I had to figure out how cashier's checks work a few weeks ago when the real estate agent demanded them for payments before we could rent a new place.
Because after seeing every little bit of our finances that show we make the absurd 40 x monthly rent they require, they still didn't trust that normal checks wouldn't bounce smh.
MikeWait, does that 40x mean you make 40x annually what rent is monthly?
Ah, that makes more sense. I was confused because I'd read it as 40x monthly what rent is monthly, which isn't Impossible (especially if a couple gets two Bay Area salaries for remote work), but....
Although, come to think of it, my notions of what interior US city rent should be are 25 years out of date ...