Using Secure Ink

[SamCapote]

I was reading a now closed thread where some parts of the world no longer use written checks (aka "cheques"), others (i.e. my good friend, welch) in the USA claim that checks are dead here also. I'm always puzzled when I read such comments, since I continue to write 50-60 checks per month.

 

My preferred checkwriting method is using good old Quicken 2001 Deluxe which was affordable, controllable, and minus the bloatware of current versions....which prints out the checks in my good old (? 1993 ?) HP Laserjet 4L, and I sign them. I also have a portable checkbook that gets a good amount of use writing individual manual checks. Just finished paying various contractors, maintenance/repair service people with 7 checks over the last 4 days.

 

Then there are legal contracts, work orders, bank/insurance papers, employment matters, chattel, etc. where I want a secure (Noodler's) ink.

[fledermaus89]

I think it's just like fountain pens; some people don't see them in their daily routine anymore and assume nobody uses them at all.

 

The thing with checks for me is that I always maintain a carbon copy of the check and therefore use ballpoints most of the time. I don't really like pressing down hard with fountain pens. Therefore, I don't get to use my bulletproof inks with checks. A carbon copy is very useful for against forgery so I don't worry too much about it (and the balance in my checking account is not worth attempting a forgery anyways!)

[The Journeyman]

Here in the Uk the Banks keep talking about doing away with cheques but too many Of us still use them and so threaten revolution - albeit in a quiet Brit way! (" I say! You shouldn't really do that sort of thing!" and so on.) Anyway, may I ask what "bulletproof" ink you prefer to use for signatures and the like?

[lapis]

However much I love FPs and their inks, I'm glad that checks are now long since gone here. Saves time and mess trying to write on any un-normal surface. It's also good to keep my memory in shape (I have about a dozen code numbers stuffed up in my head). I think that if anybody tried to pay with a check, the person sitting next to the cash register would automatically call one of the men standing around the doorway with a black T-shirt bearing the name "SECURITY".

[cactusneedle]

I still write a few checks also. Weekly to our contractor who is doing a total house remodel for us. These are carbon checks so I have to use a ball point. I also carry a check book in my purse for the occasional check that I write to reimburse someone for something. These can be written with a fp but I do not have a permanent ink so use a ball point for these also, unfortunately.

[ac12]

Get an Esterbrook with a manifold nib.

Those nibs were meant to do carbon copies, so go ahead and press down.

[swanjun]

I write one check per month for our mortgage, which (at least, as far as I know) doesn't give an option to pay online.

[stonezebra]

I don't write very many check anymore either but when I do I use a bulletproof ink (most often N Legal Lapis or #41 Brown). (Eek! I sound like that beer commercial! LOL!)

[mhosea]

I was reading a now closed thread where some parts of the world no longer use written checks (aka "cheques"), others (i.e. my good friend, welch) in the USA claim that checks are dead here also. I'm always puzzled when I read such comments, since I continue to write 50-60 checks per month.

 

 

In my household we are required to write perhaps a check a month, on average, most of them for school-related activities/things. My youngest will be a senior next year, so perhaps this source of paper check demand will be drying up soon enough. Yes, there are times when it is easiest to pay a contractor with a paper check, though I often use a credit card if they will take it. The vast majority of my "checks", however are ACH, and some few are bank-generated, if paper, through my bank's bill-pay service. Most of the latter are sent to doctors and dentists to settle up any discrepancy left after insurance pays out, perhaps a half-dozen a year. I don't much appreciate being relieved of the check-writing, but I do very much appreciate not having to stamp and address the envelopes!

 

I don't fully understand why anyone would think that the US would be close on the heels of the more modern European countries in such matters. Perhaps our financial industry operates on the cutting edge, but the masses? I think not. My mother-in-law doesn't have a computer. She could, she did once, but it didn't "take". A 2012 poll claimed that "only" 53% of seniors use the internet. I'll bet there's a pretty high rate of paper check writing in that remaining 47%!

 

Anyway, I was reminded of how slow the US can be on my recent vacation to Halifax. I had heard that many other countries now have widespread use of chips in their credit cards rather than the magnetic stripe. But my recently-issued (post-Target-breach) Visa card from one of the big-guns still didn't have one. <sigh>

Edited June 10, 2014 by mhosea

[fledermaus89]

Get an Esterbrook with a manifold nib.

Those nibs were meant to do carbon copies, so go ahead and press down.

 

Any reason to buy more pens is a good one. Even if I write checks less than 10 times a year...

[wallylynn]

Rare, but I still write a check here and there. Mostly because I don't buy stuff. What I do gets put on the credit card, and that's paid electronically.

I've always wondered, shouldn't it be the payee and amount be in the secure ink, and the signature in the washable, not the other way around?

 

I had heard that many other countries now have widespread use of chips in their credit cards rather than the magnetic stripe. But my recently-issued (post-Target-breach) Visa card from one of the big-guns still didn't have one. <sigh>

A decade ago, I had an Amex card with the chip. I even ordered their chip reader. They had grand plans for online purchasing. It fizzled. I couldn't use the chip anywhere. When it expired, they sent a chipless. Now it has the wireless. That works half the time.

My newest Mastercard has a chip. But still can't use it anywhere...

[PJohnP]

Sam,

 

 

On the cheque front - yes, I still spell it that way after part of my life in Canada and the UK - I think that there are some substantial regional differences. In the US Southwest, cheques are still a fairly major approach for many people, debit cards notwithstanding. Several people I know find the various security lapses with credit and debit cards very disquieting, and cases such we had recently here with "skimmers" that steal CC and DC data at gas stations and supermarkets have not quelled the discomfort. While it's a trifle annoying occasionally when several people ahead of one in the queue at the grocery store each and all write cheques, it's not life threatening.

 

I see less tolerance for cheque-writing in the large urban centres I visit in my business travel. This is especially true in the greater NYC area, where the need to buy a coffee and depart in a cloud is far greater than meeting and greeting the person serving one's beverage, although there are, obviously, exceptions to this need-for-speed.

 

I do, of course, perform some actions online. eBay isn't exactly "aligned" with cheque-writing, and there are several areas of business life that require payment electronically.

 

But, there's one thing that's quite a bit nicer about writing cheques for bills, and that's that I do not have to memorise yet another password or PIN for yet another website. I write the cheque, put a stamp on the envelope, and drop it into the maibox in front of the house for the postman - no sexism in that term, as the post office person who comes and delivers here is a man - to pick up and send out. I occasionally drop by the local post office, buy some stamps, interact with the counter clerk, and marvel at how well all of this still works.

 

Cheques are, therefore, a very good thing. *

 

 

 

John P.

 

* And, I do use "secure ink" for all of my cheque-writing !

[The Journeyman]

Hi John P

 

May I ask what "secure ink" you use for cheque writing?

[PJohnP]

May I ask what "secure ink" you use for cheque writing?

 

Several inks over time have been in the role, including Sailor Kiwa-guru, Noodler's Coral Sea Blue, and currently Noodler's Zhivago. The latter is considered "near-bulletproof", but it's certainly a pretty "secure" ink. It's my consideration that using a highly tamper-resistant ink makes my cheques less desirable for any mischief, so moving cheque-washers onto other more easily altered documents.

 

 

 

 

John P.

[Nokin]

I use Diamine Registrars via a 3B Pelikan nib - if someone wants to try to replicate that then i'll see them in court!

[Morphling27]

I work in gub-ment, so many documents I sign I fear and therefor am elated to have converted to fountain pens. I'd almost always use roller-ball or gel pens over a typical ball point which is at least marginally more secure. Many times my stuff gets scanned, so that copy really can't be tampered with in the traditional sense. I've never had a worry on documents regarding me, but I see many doctor's scripts that were questionable - clearly changed numbers, no license number, amounts changed, etc. Half are clearly and shamelessly written by at least 2, if not 3 people sometimes given the different handwriting.

 

So, having secure ink, while never directly a concern for me, is still valid. I write only a handful of checks now that I have a mortgage vs. renting. My old apartment would take cash (obviously) but they were never there around rent time conveniently. I'm not one to leave large sums of cash in a drop box hoping they get it and are honest, so checks were the only way. Also, they had some insane charge for using a debit/credit card. It was along the lines of $25 or $35.

 

Heck, I keep logs for work and some personal logs - it's nice to finally have ink that won't fade like the junk in regular pens. Living in AZ, it's a plus as everything fades with the southwestern sun.

[SamCapote]

I think I just love writing checks, and balancing my accounts every month to the penny. I don't mind filling out the envelope address, posting the stamp, etc. There's a sublime satisfaction with the whole process that extends out from my love of FP's, ink, and a delightful obsessiveness over small details. I also love using postage stamps which tell their own stories. I imagine my payments being noticed in ways I'll never know.

 

I use Noodler's #41, Hunter's Green, Legal Lapis, La Reine Mauve, and a few others.

[PJohnP]

I think I just love writing checks, and balancing my accounts every month to the penny. I don't mind filling out the envelope address, posting the stamp, etc. There's a sublime satisfaction with the whole process that extends out from my love of FP's, ink, and a delightful obsessiveness over small details. I also love using postage stamps which tell their own stories. I imagine my payments being noticed in ways I'll never know.

 

Sam,

 

 

Yes, I can agree in all particulars on these points. It's something akin to my enjoying the process of grinding coffee for each batch, then gently placing it in the conical filter with light packing into a mound, and finally running the now-twenty-plus-year old but still robust coffee-maker, all actions instead of getting a "K-cup" maker for the quick convenience. It's not just ritual, but a process that yields a subtly different and sometimes quite wonderful result.

 

 

John P.

[Komitadjie]

I use Platinum Carbon Black for that purpose, although it is extremely rare that I will write a check the last few years. I do, however, sign a very large number of documents in professional capacity at work, and I also fill out banking slips fairly regularly.

 

I am fully aware that the chances of someone trying to alter a signature on something like that are very small, but hey, what are the chances of actually NEEDING to go crashing off-road through the weeds, compared to the number of people driving vehicles set up to do so?

[tfwall]

I do, however, sign a very large number of documents in professional capacity at work, and I also fill out banking slips fairly regularly.

 

I am fully aware that the chances of someone trying to alter a signature on something like that are very small, but hey, what are the chances of actually NEEDING to go crashing off-road through the weeds, compared to the number of people driving vehicles set up to do so?

 

Wouldn't you want a very "weak" ink for your signature in that case, to maximize the chances of it being destroyed before the document is? If you sign with a "secure" ink, then you are essentially giving any potential criminals your signature on a blank page, which they are free to put whatever they like above it. A literal case of carte blanche.