EITM: STOP PAYMENT 11/30/23

A check-up.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Christen, do you know what astop payment on a check is? Yes,
of course there you go for anybodythat doesn't know. And I feel
like if I learned one lesson fromPhyllis, it was put a stop on
the check. So if you ifyou paid for something with a check,
whether it was anything, doesn't matter. You go to a store you did

(00:21):
before a service like whatever it isif the check got lost, so you
would hear from the merchant, rightand again the merchant could be anything,
but whoever you were given the moneyto, Hey, we didn't get the
uh, we didn't get the check. Or here's here's also where Phyllis was
was very quick. If she sentsomebody like like if somebody was getting like

(00:46):
bar mitzvad or something, yeah,and she was like, I sent a
check for eight dollars and they werelike, we didn't get it. Put
a stop on the check. She'sgoing to stuff some crime syndicate. So
but yeah, they were like asa gift, people would write a check
or something. Well if if iffor whatever reason, they were like,
we didn't get it. So notonly would my mom act as though like

(01:08):
there was some kind of like horribleoffense taking place in the world. She
drilled that into my sister and icehead. Yeah that if you that's free
money out there. So you hadto put a stop payment on the check.
When you put a stop payment onthe check, yeah, that meant
that if somebody else got the checkand tried to like endorse it or whatever,

(01:33):
they wouldn't be able to use itbecause the bank is flagged. That
check number sixty nine wasn't able tobe used anymore. Right, So when
you put a stop payment on thecheck, in your mind, how long
did that stop last for? Iforever? Thank you? Thank you?

(01:57):
Yeah, I think that there wasan expiration and void. Two years ago,
Arnie Shatz from Santa Anna wrote acheck to pay a fifty seven hundred
dollars bill. Now he does sayI pay all my bills by check.
I'm a dinosaur. That's a MelissaMalay. Oh is she all check?
She told us that, Oh Idon't remember bills. Oh, that's right,

(02:21):
that's right. Two years ago,Melissa Malay from Santa Anna wrote a
check to pay a fifty seven hundreddollars bill. By the way, I
bet she in the back of herhead has phyllis put a stop on it.
Okay, I know that you're doingyour mom's voice, but that's my
mom's voice. I'm sure that's that'severybody's everybody here. That was what you

(02:46):
did. The merchant told Melissa itnever received the check, so he put
a stop payment on the check andthen wrote them a new one, Santa
new one. Very good, Diane, you were trained well. Shatz's bank
told him, that's the guy Arniethat the stop payment would last for a

(03:07):
year, so he was like,sweet, good to go. Oh wait,
I'm I'm sorry that's not forever.No, Shatz says, My assumption
was that it's only good for theone year, because if the check was
presented past the one year mark,the bank is going to question it and
say, wait a minute, thisis an old check. Now. That
should flip a switch in your headthat you were also taught in the world

(03:30):
of banking, Like when you geta check, deposit it, it expires.
Yeah, personal checks, I don't. I mean you see that on
like if you get a refund froman insurance company or something like we're void
after ninety days. Yeah, somethinglike that. Right now. I remember
this is a total side note.I remember living in Los Angeles at one
point and being unable to get abank account and getting a check from the

(03:55):
company where I had ninety days goingI don't know what to do here because
I will not have an account inninety days I had bad credit. Two
years after Shatz stopped payment on thecheck, the merchant cashed it. So
they got paid twice. Yes,but they cashed that first check and it

(04:18):
was definitely the merchant. It wasn'tsomeone who had gotten the hold of it.
Shatz was ticked off that the bankallowed for that to happen, But
yes, it is the merchant wherehe sent them the check put a stop
on it. They had received thecheck, held onto it for two years,

(04:40):
and then cashed it. Now didthe was the accounting within that company
just not so good and they werelike, oh my god, we never
cashed this and we actually have ithere. Well, remember they got a
second check from him, but runsaying it was there no record keeping that
I don't know that I don't knowit. Was this a completely innocent mistake.

(05:09):
Why would you cash it two yearslater? But should the bank?
I think it's more on the bankto flag it as being, like you
said, an older check. Whyis that on the bank. You told
us that they would. The banktold him, no, he he the
bank told him the stop is goodfor a year, because you read it,

(05:30):
because we would notice if it wasan older sucking question it. No,
he said, he was fine withit because here he goes the bank.
He said, but my assumption wasthat it's only good for one year,
because if the check was presented pastone year, the bank is going
to question it and say, waita minute, this is an old check.
Oh he assumed that. I assumedthat. No, no, no,

(05:53):
he was told it was good fora year, which still that blows
my mind. So here's my questionfor you. How long does a stop
on a check good for? Wait? Are you saying he was told a
year and it's not even a year. I know the answer. What is
it because we all grew up thinkinglifetime? Yeah, forever? Six months?

(06:18):
Oh, six months? So hewas lied to in the first place.
Yes, check stops are only goodfor six months unless unless what you
renew the stop. So Phyllis wouldhave had me renewing that call the bank

(06:39):
stop on it. That I've neverheard. I've never heard of that before,
never heard of that. I needto re up thesstop what did because
I can picture how my mom didit, and it definitely influenced the way
I do it or had done inthe past. When Phillis either mis rote
a check or decided to pay someoneand she had to write like void on

(07:04):
that check letters, how much markerand pen did she use? Well,
if we messed a check up,Yes, that got shredded. Oh you
guys had a shredder by hand.Oh yeah, tiny pieces. You know
where they say you can't rip apiece of paper more than seven times?
Those people never met Phyllis. Ohthat thing got shredded. Now, I

(07:28):
thought you were at through coconut.I thought you were gonna say when you
had to give the cable company thevoided checks, so they had your bank
number and you had to have voidon it. How big were those letters?
M hm, top to bottom.The only thing you didn't write on
was the routing number. My momessentially went to the store and got big

(07:50):
letters and just taped the check tothe back of them. That void could
not have been bigger. They're notstealing my god damn money. Mom.
It says void, and I swearit like and my mom wasn't artsy but
red for the V but really ohdifferent colors, and the O and void

(08:11):
also had the like no smoking signalthrough it. Yeah. Uh, you
were not messing with her money,no way. So they said it's only
good for six months unless you keepre upping the void, which I'm sorry
the stop, which nobody's ever heardof, ever, ever, nobody's heard
of that. But isn't it alsoa little bit of a dick move on

(08:35):
the merchant to go look at this? I found a check for fifty seven
right? Even when? Is itfrom Let's see, we're in twenty twenty
three, so this is from twentytwenty one. Let's cash it? Or
is that just an honest mistake thatit must have fallen to the bottom of
the register somewhere and let's just cashit. But you're right, even if

(08:56):
there was no harm intended, maybecalled your customer or try to find information
to conduct them. Well, Idon't, I mean, listen, how
much work am I putting in theYou said it was for fifty seven hundred
dollars a lot of money. That'sa lot of money, and you know,
and I bet it's the same wayfor Arnie Schatz as it is for

(09:20):
Melissa Malay as it was for PhyllisSiegal. Write my phone number on the
check. Absolutely, what if thebank needs to get in touch? Right
you can you imagine the you signinto your online banking and you see two
years later that that that check iscashed. I panic. I wouldn't think

(09:41):
it was the merchant. I wouldthink it was somebody who who totally found
it and it is and it isa criminal. Nope. And now,
like Diane said, it's now beingused to fund terrorism. Pitchfork in one
hand, flamethrower in the other.Where's your manager? I put a stop
on this check. So you seeyour first call is to oh you do

(10:03):
call the bank first? Yeah,what happened to my stop? So you
had to renew that a year anda half ago. No one said,
no one said, oh my god, how angry would your mom have been?
Oh, if confronted with this newnews I'm joking about arson, my
mom would have burnt the bank downon the the also. But if it

(10:26):
were me, like I was nevergood at like keeping a check book,
I think you could figure that outby knowing I wasn't able to get a
bank account right the but I wasn'tgood man. My mom had like when
when you get to the end oflike the register whatever it is. We
had stacks of those, and I'mlike, I think, like when my

(10:46):
parents got divorced, I bet theydidn't argue over the kids. I bet
they argued over who's getting the checkregisters. Oh yeah, my mom could
flip back through those for a hundredyears. Hugh Rights, gonna overlook the
guy's last name. It is acurious one. Where is that from?

(11:09):
Is it German? No, that'sPolish? Oh is it? Yeah?
That sounds very mill No, youknow what, it sounds like shots beer,
so it's very Laverne, and surelythat's shots. But going ahead,
by the way, kudos for youfor knowing, Diane. I how did

(11:31):
your mom The other thing my momhad with checks, if you received one
from another family member, did shemake you, essentially that day go and
cash it. It didn't matter whoit was from. You can catch it
that day, that is, ohabsolutely absolutely. And the second you gotta

(11:54):
check because it's not money till it'sin the bank, so it had to
go. And if you, god, if the mail was late and you
couldn't get to the bank on time, Oh no, you're losing interest.
But you were at the bank immediately. And there's one place you did not
take that check drive through. No, you go in in the bank.

(12:15):
In the bank, Oh so takingso goddamn long for my money. Yeah,
no, you went in. Wedidn't trust the tube. No,
that was what happened. Nope,I just remember. And it was probably
when I was a little bit olderand would maybe bring the birthday cardiff to
my room and it wouldn't be aspresent in maybe the kitchen where my mom

(12:39):
would handle cashing it, and shewould say to me, we we can't
do this to Bobby. We needto go cash that check. Oh,
by the way, my mom hadthe same thing. People are waiting to
see their check clares. Yeah,that's true, because they might think that
it got lost in the mail,gets lost in the mail, butt us
stop on it. That's another that'sthe reason you put or are you maybe

(13:01):
put the wrong address? Yeah?Sure, But whoever got that check,
they could get in touch with you, because we had to have our goddamn
phone number on it. Dispute overpayment? What are other reasons you would
put the stop payment on non sufficientfunds? I think clear? Hey,
go ahead and put a stop onthat till payday. Done that more than

(13:24):
once or twice? So b more, oh b more. Chick oh Baltimore
said that her mom was charged toput a stop payment on a check recently.
I think that's I think that's anew thing and you still have to
renew it. I think I don'tknow how to pay for a stop I

(13:45):
feel like I feel like that's that'skind of a thing. Now, are
you serious? Yeah, my mommailed a check for forty dollars to her
grandson, which which was not received. She ain't got no vemo. Bank
charged her to twenty dollars to stoppaying twenty dollars. I told my mom,
I would rather someone get forty dollarsfrom your check than give the bank

(14:09):
twenty. That's crazy, that's crazy. You know who would not pay for
a stop check? Phyllis? Shewouldn't pay to have a design on the
check? You did? You didn'thave a design on your check? What's
the plainest one you have? Yeah? I always did that too. I

(14:30):
was always I was like, oh, they're paying with a snoopy check.
If my mom, if they wouldhave let her, my mom would have
written memo and drawn along yeah,you pay for that. Isn't that important
that you have designer checks? Oh? They think they're the god. This
is by the way, why wereyou bringing a check up to your room?

(14:50):
No, I said, if youlike the car? Yeah? Oh
no, no, no, no, that got opened in the kitchen.
Yes, yeah, and the checkwent to Phyllis. That's why I said,
as I got old, huh yeah, but my mom you could have.
She didn't care to take the car. Do whatever you want. We
weren't writing thank yous, but wewere running to the bank. I I

(15:11):
have never myself and this is notcheck related, but it's similar. But
I want to hope that you oryour mom and I are one and the
same when it comes to this.Please tell me Phyllis never paid for a
return address label. No, that'swhat the mar Yeah, every charity,

(15:33):
because sometimes you see that you thinkI'll keep that. You're like, who's
buying sheets of return address? No? You know what? Thank you mancha
dons. It doesn't matter what timeof year. There may be a wreath
on it. Who cares? Yeah, yeah, it doesn't matter. We're
always reefed. People know you knowwho else you used to send us?

(15:56):
I remember my mom would thank himthrough the TV. What so there we
we got we'd get returnal address labelsthrough the March of Dimes and then there
was one other charity. But mymom would thank him every year because we
would also get return address envelope orthe stamps from camp. But think you
think this person talking to the televisionshould yell thank you to the TV Danny

(16:21):
Thomas, No, no, no, no, we didn't mess around.
Remember lost lost the young child?So yeah, no children wed? No,
no, no, you know what? Thank you? Jerry Lewis,
Jerry, he's on my return address. Yep. Muscular dystrophe would be right

(16:42):
there on us. Michael asked aquestion that we were wondering. Do you
have to pay every time you reup after six months? Yes? Oh
oh do you have to? I'msorry you have to re up. I
wasn't paying close enough attention. Doyou have to pay? I don't know.
You'd have to ask baltar check.I can't believe twenty bucks. That's

(17:03):
that's as crazy. I'd rather rollthe dice. No, I'm with her.
It's forty bucks. I'm gonna payfifty percent of that. There's Steph
Wrights. Banks have always charged forstop payments. No, no, no,
no, no, they didn't evenlistening for't. I'll tell you what.
The first teller that told Phyllis thatshe had to pay for a stop
they would have had to identify herbody in the parking lot. Phillips ain't

(17:26):
paying for a stop check. Aaronsays, stop payments cost thirty five dollars.
Oh my god, who is payingfor that? And he said that
was years ago. Thirty five bucksfor stop payment. Man, banks are
really nickel and diamond, and like, how you want to take just chance
it? That's principle though, Hi, Ellie in the morning, I'm your

(17:52):
goddamn customer. Yeah, hi,do you know how much money you've made
on barge checks off of absolute please? I'm sorry, yes, go ahead.
Yeah, I had to pay twelvedollars yesterday for a stop payment.
Where were you stop? First ofall, dinosaur, what were you paying?
What were you paying for with acheck? Well, it wasn't a

(18:14):
check, it was it was astop payment to a direct deposit. But
they're doing the same things out ofpeople don't use checks. Are you serious
for a direct deposit? You haddollars? Highway robbery, highway robbery.
It was appending it was a pendingtransaction, and I asked them to stop
it, and they charged me twelvedollars to do it. Hey, what

(18:40):
is the do you have to isit? That's only a one time like
that can't come back to haunt youright, Well, they set it to
one time charge for for that particularone. Now, I'm not sure if
they'd want to do it again ornot. Yeah, I'd find a new

(19:00):
you know what I bet like ifyou what's the bank downstairs, west O
Banco or something like that, Yeah, yeah, I would. I could
see them doing It's a small bank, but even still that that you should
do that for me. Now,John says that his financial institution, he
was able to do a permanent stoppayment, but he did have to pay

(19:22):
how much doesn't say? So ifit's thirty five bucks a year, I'm
gonna do it permanently. Figure that'sgood for twenty years. So you do
the math. Okay, who whois paying seven hundred dollars the again two
years later they cash a check.Oh my god, that would frighten me

(19:45):
so much. I would think myidentity had been stolen, like I just
I would go into total panic mode. I would be afraid that I wouldn't
even remember that I wrote them acheck. Well, yeah, they'd be
confused. And as to what theamount was for if it weren't maybe so
much, But you did say itwas fifty seven hundred dollars. That is

(20:07):
a lot of money. I thinksomeone got a blank check and tried to
like copy a check I had written, So it was an amount maybe I
didn't like take a second look atbecause I knew that was going to come
out of the account earlier. Butstill, first of all, what are
you doing wrong? What online baking? Though? You should be able to
look through your register and see ifthere was a number that is non accounted

(20:32):
for no blank checks. No,it says void, and right next to
the numbers, she would write void, no blank checks. Did she when
when all the checkbooks started to dothe like duplicate carbon copy underneath? Did
she trust that the oh you knowwhat, I don't know? Or was
she like, no, I don'tknow that's a good ques that's another copy

(20:53):
of that check out there if Ilose my what did she call her purse
pocket booked? Her pocket book?Bet she was not a fan of the
carbon copy. Yeah, now,I will say this the other thing that
she I think we were offered itat one point. I remember being at
the bank when they were asking.The guy made the fatal mistake of asking

(21:14):
my mom if they wanted a design, and I remember grabbing my mom by
the back of the shirt to pullher back into the chair. But I
remember somebody asking at one point ifthey wanted the book where it was like,
oh, yeah, god, whatdo I have a library that I
go to and write all my checks? A book? I know, Like,
who the hell gets that? Idon't even know what that is?

(21:37):
Well, Grandmama wrote me her inheritance. You know how there's you know how
there's like it looked like a bigbinder. No, well, it looked
like a binder, but also acheck book. Everyone is a check No,
no, no, no, thiswas this was almost like you know,
like on a desk people have likea calendar that's like the size of
like a like an at a glanceproduct. No, no, it's a

(21:59):
big where. Yeah. Yeah,they would have one of those and there
would be like five, like fivechecks on it and you would had the
register over here and then the checknext. Yeah. No, it was
it looked rich, Yes, itlooked like nobody four had that looked rich
They offered that to my mom atone point, and I thought that here

(22:22):
goes World War three. I hideit right behind the bear that stands in
the corner of my library, Like, dude, why would you even recommend
that. First of all, allof us have holes in our clothes.
It's not for fashion line two.Hi, elliot in the morning. Hey,

(22:48):
yeah, Hi, who's this Hey, this is Shanna. I just
had a quick story my company.I'm not going to name who they are,
but they issued from the cast tableperson shoot, about forty eight checks
to vendors and did not put postageor return address on them. And they
charged fifty five dollars per check tocancel all of them. Over twenty six

(23:11):
hundred dollars. Oh my god,fifty five dollars a check. Yeah.
I don't know if it was becauseit was from a company or what,
but yeah, it was. Theygot fired. Oh my god. And
how many checks did you say thatwas? I think it was forty eight?
Wow? Wow, Wow, that'scrazy. A piler. By the
way, this is Shanna from Richmond. We met up in New Orleans.

(23:33):
I apologized for being able to Imean, maybe he didn't recognize your voice
with you standing upright. Yeah.Probably. He had just come from a
We had just come from a NewOrleans wedding, so it was amazed that
we were out there. The Howgood of a time did we have?
Though? We had a good time, and except for that person abruptly pouring

(23:57):
a shot down my face and thenwanting me to pay for it, that's
the beach, that's the beach.It's supposed to go in the butthole.
All right, very good, Thankyou, Shanna, Thank you.