Counter checks

[JerryNumbers]

Counter checks, do any of you know what they are? That's what I remember them being called, in our old store we always had 2 or 3 pads of counter checks laying on the checkout counter.

[OLD fashioned preacher]

Oh yeah, I am familiar with them (showing my age)

[JerryNumbers]

:smug:

Me too! I've got a few of them stored away.

[Salyan]

Like receipt books...?

(Showing my not age here... )

[rancher824]

Not old enough to have seen them used, but I am familiar with them.

Edited January 25, 2012 by rancher824

[JerryNumbers]

Like receipt books...?

(Showing my not age here... )

Not really.

It would have the name of the bank.

A place for the date.

A line to whom it was written.

A line to write out the amount.

No account number.

A place to sign it.

Here is an example.

Another example

And another one

I believe personalized checks started showing up around this country in the late 60's.

[Invicta]

Not really.

It would have the name of the bank.

A place for the date.

A line to whom it was written.

A line to write out the amount.

No account number.

A place to sign it.

Here is an example.

Another example

And another one

I believe personalized checks started showing up around this country in the late 60's.

I remember some of our stores like Selfidges and Harrods had those. It was also legal to write a cheque on anything, as long as it had a stamp on it. 2d if I remember correctly. You had to sign across the stamp. This was known as Stamp Duty. Bank cheques also had a printed stamp (marked 2d duty paid) on them as Stamp Duty applied to them as well. A receipt also had to have the signature across a stamp to be legal, but I think that was 1d stamp in that case.

I remember the case of a man writing a cheque on his friends chest and signing it across a stamp. The bank honoured it but had to stamp CANCELLED across his chest. Edited January 26, 2012 by Invicta

[rancher824]

My dad has told that he had an uncle that worked at a cattle stock yard. One day a man bid in some cows, and went to pay for them. The stock yard had counter checks for 2 different banks. They asked him which bank he needed. He told them it did not matter. And sure enough it did not matter, he did not have an account in either bank!!!
I have also heard of a check being written on a watermelon rhine. All this was way before my time though.

[John81]

There used to be much more trust and honesty in much of the land.

My Dad borrowed the money for both houses he bought and the three new vehicles he bought in his life, all on his word. Dad told the man at the bank he was planning to buy a house/vehicle and the man at the bank told my Dad to write a check for whatever amount he needed and when the check came in he'd have a loan for that amount.

[amblivion]

Wow that is just crazy. I can't imagine the fraud that would go on today with counter checks. A lot of people are really dishonest these days.

[1Timothy115]

I've never heard of such as described above. Never in my life in any state I've resided in whether north, south, east, or west small towns to large cities has there ever been a bank that would place blank checks in another business?!?

Counter checks are blank checks usually with the bank's logo but no customer information. Found in the bank along with savings deposit/withdrawal and checking deposit slips.

If you are at the bank and need to make a withdrawal from your checking account or bank account you fill it out and withdrew the funds in cash.

They are still at both of my banks and have been since I was a young child.

Today many rarely see the inside of a bank...direct deposit, checking cards, and automated teller machines have taken the place of going inside. However, I occasionally go inside the bank where my savings account is and use one of those blank savings withdrawal slips. Then at the bank where my checking account is, I use a blank deposit slip to make deposits. I have picked up the blank "counter" checks by mistake.

amblivion, the fraud would have been going just as rampant in days gone by. Every bank robber in the nation would have used them. Bonnie and Clyde would have never had to enter a bank.

[JerryNumbers]

I remember some of our stores like Selfidges and Harrods had those. It was also legal to write a cheque on anything, as long as it had a stamp on it. 2d if I remember correctly. You had to sign across the stamp. This was known as Stamp Duty. Bank cheques also had a printed stamp (marked 2d duty paid) on them as Stamp Duty applied to them as well. A receipt also had to have the signature across a stamp to be legal, but I think that was 1d stamp in that case.

I remember the case of a man writing a cheque on his friends chest and signing it across a stamp. The bank honoured it but had to stamp CANCELLED across his chest.

No stamps on our checks.

[JerryNumbers]

Wow that is just crazy. I can't imagine the fraud that would go on today with counter checks. A lot of people are really dishonest these days.

In that day they went by signature, that is not done no more, I failed to sign 2 different checks & it passed though the bank just fine.

And I can see why you call it crazy, your of the computer age, but it worked very good.

[Invicta]

No stamps on our checks.

No there are not stamps on our cheques these days, but there was when I was a youth.

[OLD fashioned preacher]

I've never heard of such as described above. Never in my life in any state I've resided in whether north, south, east, or west small towns to large cities has there ever been a bank that would place blank checks in another business?!?

Counter checks are blank checks usually with the bank's logo but no customer information. Found in the bank along with savings deposit/withdrawal and checking deposit slips.

If you are at the bank and need to make a withdrawal from your checking account or bank account you fill it out and withdrew the funds in cash.

They are still at both of my banks and have been since I was a young child.

Today many rarely see the inside of a bank...direct deposit, checking cards, and automated teller machines have taken the place of going inside. However, I occasionally go inside the bank where my savings account is and use one of those blank savings withdrawal slips. Then at the bank where my checking account is, I use a blank deposit slip to make deposits. I have picked up the blank "counter" checks by mistake.

amblivion, the fraud would have been going just as rampant in days gone by. Every bank robber in the nation would have used them. Bonnie and Clyde would have never had to enter a bank.

"In all of your days" sounds like they are very few (less than 40). You used to be able to write out your own check (on any paper) and they would be honored at your bank if it had your signature.
No, fraud was not as epidemic as now, as for Bonnie Parkers' and Clyde Barrows' "career", they were not paper hangers.

Incidentally, I realize what "counter checks" refers to now, we were dealing with what "counter checks" used to refer to. Remember, some of us remember when only big corporate retail giants (such as the Sears and Roebuck Co) could afford air conditioning (and I'm from the Deep South) and used it as a marketing item ("and enjoy air conditioned shopping"). Edited January 31, 2012 by OLD fashioned