Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Saving Deposit Slips

Sometimes I have to remind myself that I am a woman of a certain age and that how business is conducted is way different than for most of my life... like having done business without email, without cellphones, etc.

One huge change is banking. Of course, I remember running to get to the bank by 3, standing in line to make a deposit on payday and using your whole lunch hour; heck, even dealing with tellers. Can't remember the last time I used a teller. When I was at my client a few weeks back, I asked if any of the guys I work with remember life without ATMs and they didn't. Yikes.

Citibank recently changed so that if you make a deposit, a photocopy of the check appears on the deposit slip. I have to say I love that feature.

But now, Citibank has complicated it one step more. Rather than getting a paper receipt for whatever you do at the ATM, you can now have one emailed to you. They are positioning this as a "green" solution.

My first reaction is one of paranoia -- if I make a deposit of a bunch of checks, I want to walk away from that ATM with a piece of paper in my hand. If I never got the email receipt and the money didn't show up, how would I prove I made the deposit?

Is this a valid fear or is it my 60+ brain thinking that?

I have to say I don't keep deposit slips. I wait for the money to show up in my account and then I shred them. I suppose I could be more organized, but once the money is in there, I sort of lose interest in how it got there.

So what do you guys vote? Paper or email?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I got an email receipt for something I bought at a shop today.

I don't know what I'll do with those emails. I'm not as good as you about your ATM receipts - I routinely say don't give me one. When I look at my account I notice them and acknowledge when I got the cash, but I don't really reconcile. Not that I shouldn't, but I don't.

Mary Mc said...

Anonymous was me this time by accident ;)

Pat said...

The reason I ask for a receipt from an ATM is that I feel the computer will then have the record twice -- once when I got the money and maybe it's my old lady fear that I'll take out $100 and be charged with $1000 -- and then the computer will have a second record when it prints the receipt.
I'm not saying I'm right -- I'm just more paranoid than the average bear -- well, at least I use ATMs and do banking on line.

One thing I won't do is give vendors access to my checking acct. Barbara does, and we discuss this from time to time. She loves geting her electric bill, for example, with $0 due. I don't trust Con Ed to take out the right amount one time -- but I am sort of leaning in that direction more than ever.

I resisted paying bills on line for a long time -- and now have for years and can't imnagine doing it the old-fashioned way with checks and stamps again. I do love paying the bill the day it arrives (Ok, when I'm being organized which is about 80% of the time)