<p>Idmom06, I am certain you did the right thing in having him come back Monday, and, if his employees are not paid, that is not your fault, he should have enough cushion to meet a payroll and his ability to meet his payroll should not be dependent on your check. </p>
<p>My sense is it’s not a scam though - he has actually put himself in a potentially difficult legal position. I am not a lawyer but I think that he has “confessed” to a data breach - he lost your check. Should you become an identity theft victim as a result (that you can verify) he may have liability here or more accurately his business has liability. He has some responsibility to secure his client’s information, especially their financial information. Your challenge is that instruments such as checks actually become more valuable to identity thieves over time, so, this may be a minor inconvenience now but a major inconvenience a year or so out (because thieves quite correctly know you will no longer be thinking about it a year or so out, and you will have more difficulty tracking the original data breach as more time passes). If this check truly is floating around somewhere lost, consider having your bank close the account and open a new one, but with history transferred over (so you don’t lose any long term customer benefits).</p>
<p>oh great point lts. I had not even thought of that angle (shameful for an auditor right? lol!) My gut feeling is the guy is just a goofball who lost the check; my husband, the suspicious one, is not so sure. I have other accounts that can serve as checking temporarily, so it would be not that difficult of a thing if I closed this account. </p>
<p>In fact, that commercial about check washing now comes to mind. egad.</p>
<p>Id be tempted to just tell him to send you a bill-Id not only be worried about a lost check- but about someone “washing” it and submitting to bank.
They really don’t check-
a few years ago- a bank allowed someone to deposit money into one of my accounts ( with a check that bounced) and withdraw money as well.</p>
<p>I was liable for the returned check charges ( for checks I wrote while my account was frozen after the bounced check) and some of the charges the bank never did refund me.
This was a few years ago- before all accounts were available on line and I didn’t know about it, until I recieved something in the mail.</p>
<p>Read post # 28. LTS was much more diligent in listing the risk/potential consequences than I was, but boo hoo, my feelings are hurt. Ok, all better now :)</p>
<p>Its fine, ldmom. And ek4’s point about check washing is also important. See, we can help each other, support each other, and then even get our feelings hurt, disagree and/or make mistakes … and apologize and move on. Wow. You’d think we were grown ups or something ;)</p>
<p>lol…and on that very nice note, I say 'night jym, 'night lts, 'night e-kity (you have to imagine the Walton’s theme song playing in the background here…)</p>
<p>Thanks to jym, LTS and everyone who nailed this one. Talked to my bank this morning and they would like me to close the account. Seems as though they consider it the serious ‘data breach’ that LTS mentioned and are concerned about identity theft, especially since the tree guy asked me to jot my drivers’ license number on the check.</p>
<p>They also gave me a ‘good talking to’ for using checks when other options are available. I’m one of those old school types who still uses checks at the grocery store. (Hey…there’s interest accruing during that float period! lol!)
The bank officer told me there are rings who send people to work at grocery stores for the express purpose of obtaining names, signatures and driver’s license numbers from customers. </p>
<p>Also stopped the check, but there is a 24 hour period in which the bank is not liable if the check is presented and paid. So I could not have given the guy a second check when asked, even if I had put a stop on the check right then and there…unless I wanted to assume risk of paying the check twice. I will be able to give him a check tomorrow according to the bank…less the $32 fee.</p>
<p>Live and learn…even if you are a rusty old retired CPA.</p>
<p>So glad you played it safe, ldmom. Better safe than sorry, for sure. Its a real pain to close accounts, but good idea to avoid bigger trouble. I think , if you are a good customer with your bank, given the circumstances you can ask them to waive the cxl ck fee. If you were mean-spirited (which you are not), you could charge the tree guy the $32 cxl fee anyway and take a profit for all your trouble (jk-- but its fun to think about! )</p>
<p>ha! Don’t think I wouldn’t like to punish this guy a little. I know it was likely an honest mistake, but even after I close the account, someone, somewhere has my name, address, signature and driver’s license number. All you need for a fake id. Which HAS happend to my husband. Guy with a fake TDL with my husband’s info, opened a checking account in Galveston area with a few hundred bucks. As soon as checks were printed, he wrote thousands in hot checks.</p>
<p>ldmom-
You might want to consider getting a new drivers license as well, to be double safe. My h would think that this is extreme and unnecessary, but I prefer to take the “avoid a problem” approach rather than the “deal with it when it happens” approach. That said, if we’d have done that with the new a/c (and had them flush the condensation line, but who knew), we wouldnt have had the flood in our basement last Friday.</p>
<p>I have to agree about the new driver’s license. And one more precaution - put a “hold” on your account at the credit clearinghouses, so that they must contact you if someone tries to open an account in your name.</p>
<p>Absolutely, Chedva!! Fraud alerts on all 3 credit cos (Experian, Equifax, Trans Union) is a MUST. Usually if you register with one they’ll send it on to the other two. Then be sure to follow up and get your free copies of your credit history.</p>
<p><em>edit</em> Can you tell I’ve been through this?</p>
With the exception of you, I hate it when someone in front of me wants to write a check for their groceries. Worse are the ones who don’t even start digging in that bottomless pit called a ‘purse’ for the checkbook until after everything’s totaled up. It’s so slooow.</p>
<p>Better yet, use a ‘cash back’ credit card for your grocery purchases. It’s very fast, everything’s tabulated for you at the end of the month (and often categorized), and you get a percentage of the purchase price back in cash. I use the Costco AmEx.</p>
<p>Regarding the DL number on the check - why would this guy ask you to do that when he knows where you live? It seems very odd to me. I’ve never been requested to do that for anyone whose come to the house. </p>
<p>Good luck with him when he argues about the check cancellation fee!</p>
<p>lol…that’s why I start writing that check, while in line, before I ever get to the register ucdad! But I’m reforming. I just left Walgreens and I used my debit card! Had to ask how…but I did it. Prior to this, I actually was more worried about having my wallet stolen and losing my debit card than writing checks. Figured that was a surefire way to have to close an account and reopen another…or at least freeze an account temporarily and have a new debit card was issued. Silly me.</p>
<p>Just got off the phone with my tree guy. He now tells me he THINKS he may have washed the check in the washing machine by accident. Oh brother. I told him if he could remember it would sure help me out, because I don’t relish the idea of standing in the novel-length line at the DPS office. And it would be nice if I didn’t have to close my account to open another. Honestly, I think that’s really what happened and he was just afraid to tell me. I saw him put that check in his pocket with others and I’ll bet it was accidentally left behind when he cleaned out his pockets. He’ll be by tomorrow to pick up his payment…hopefully by then he’ll have figured out I’m not a meanie and be straight with me.</p>
<p>And for those who wondered, here in Texas you can get a new TDL# if needed. My husband was issued one after his identity was stolen. Not sure if this is true in all states, but I would have to think so…only way to rectify an identity theft situation.</p>
<p>The man that owns the gym where I train had his debit card stolen and used recently. So that is hardly fool-proof.</p>
<p>Does anyone other than me still use cash? I go to the branch of my bank that is 2 minutes away from my office every Friday and get cash for the next week. </p>
<p>I live in Texas and when we have out of the ordinary weekend lawn services, I use the same bank’s drive through service that is open until 1:00 pm on Saturday</p>
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