Great, someone gave you a check – now what do you do? How do you turn this little piece of paper into the cold hard cash that you need to make things work and buy the things you want or need? Can you just take it to a bank?
Well the answer here is that not all banks will cash checks. In fact, more often than not, more and more banks will not cash checks, even if you have an account with them yourself.
Just like check cashiers, banks assume some risk when they cash a check.
Of course, the risk is greater when you are talking about a personal check but some banks won’t even cash business checks these days and what a pain that is becoming!
So what’s the answer?
What do you do when you get a check and need the cash to pay your bills or just to have the money to get the things you want or need?
Well, the bottom line here is that if you don’t have a bank account the best answer probably is to use a check cashing service to get the money out of that check.
Check Cashing And You
If you have never heard of a check cashing business they are pretty easy to understand.
Basically they are businesses that are set up to simply cash checks. Sure, they offer other services as well many times but the “Meat and potatoes” of what they do is check cashing.
More often than not, these businesses will cash business checks such as payroll checks for instance. However they will often also cash things like insurance checks, tax refunds checks, government checks, assistance checks – just about any kind of check you can imagine really.
Unfortunately not all banks will cash checks, even checks written from that bank!
What About Personal Checks
Personal checks can be a little more tricky but yes, check cashiers will occasionally process and cash these checks as well.
When it comes to personal checks however, the best bet is to call around and ask your local check cashiers if they handle them. In fact, there’s a few things that you should ask them while you have them on the phone.
If you want to use a check cashier to do it right, then you are going to want to call around and ask the various check cashiers in your area a few questions.
They are:
What Kinds Of Checks Do They Accept
What Do You Need To Bring With You The Cash A Check
How Much Do They Charge To Cash The Kind Of Check You Have
Once you know these things, you will have a very good idea of which check cashier in your area is going to give you the best rate for your check and that means more money in your pocket!
In addition, if you know upfront what you need to take with you, you can avoid all of the heartache and problems that some people experience when they try to cash their checks – especially if they’ve never used a check cashing business in the past.
If a bank won’t cash your check then you should consider using a check cashier.
Are Check Cashiers Safe To Use
Absolutely!
As long as you are the person that the check is written to you and aren’t trying to do anything “Funny” – and by funny I mean illegal – then you are going to be just fine.
Now, don’t misunderstand me, check cashiers have a tough business and they are open to a lot of people who try to commit fraud by trying to cash fake checks or even worse, forged checks.
Because of that there is a bit of a process that check cashiers go through when you take your check to them to be cashed.
What Check Cashiers Do With Your Check
Once you’ve called all of the check cashiers in your area and learned if they take in the type of check you have, how much they charge for cashing the check and what you need to bring with you in order to get it cashed there’s going to be a few things that happen.
The first thing is that the check cashier will verify that you are the person that the check is written to. You wouldn’t believe how many people try to cash someone else’s check. It happens all of the time.
The next thing that they will do is verify that the check is good. In the case of something like a payroll check, that means that they will often call the employer and make sure that you work there.
In the case of something like a personal check, they will often call the bank and verify the funds and there may be a few other steps they go through to verify the check as well.
Once the check has been verified, they will normally go ahead and process it, giving you the money for the check minus their fee, whatever that may be.
They will then deposit the check into their account and that’s all there is to it.
Why Don’t Banks Do That
Banks can be funny institutions. They often want everyone to open an account or just want to avoid all potential risk altogether.
While it’s understandable to a degree, it can make life a bit of a pain for the average Joe.
So if you need to cash a check and a bank just won’t do it for you, then you should certainly consider using a check cashier. They can save you a lot of time and hassle.
Mandy Dormain started working for Pawn Nerd in 2020. Mandy grew up in a small town in northern Tennessee. But moved to New York for university. Before joining Pawn Nerd, Mandy briefly worked as a freelance journalist for several radio stations. She covers politics and economy stories.
