You could never scrape paper unless you back it up by another medium like a cd-r, no not cdrw. Even those can only last 20 years.

Huh? I believe OP was talking about scraping his MS Money and relying only on BOA's site.

I still keep my ledger / budget in excel format.

yardline said:I've been using BOA's online checking and bill pay for about three years. All this time my wife and I continued to use MS Money to maintain a separate off-line record, which has to have withdrawals entered and then be reconciled, all taking up time. I'm thinking of ditching the off-line checkbook and just check the online banking site each day, as I do now anway. We seldom write paper checks, so most transactions show up immediately.

So, I was wondering how many fellow FW's have scrapped the checkbook all together?

I still manually enter all of my transactions into Quicken, but that's mainly because it forces me to check every transaction on my bank/credit card statements. I also have to confess to liking the cool graphs and charts that Quicken can produce.

What's a checkbook? I can go online and immediately see how much I've spent.

Personal accounts > Online Banking > MS Money > Checkbook

Business Accounts > Online Banking > MS Money AND QuickBooks > Paper Ledger

So yes, in addition to all the online/local PC storage options, I keep paper copies of everything. That way I am not totally lost if the power or internet is out. Don't get too dependent on your digital copies, they may not be there when you need them.

yardline said:I've been using BOA's online checking and bill pay for about three years. All this time my wife and I continued to use MS Money to maintain a separate off-line record, which has to have withdrawals entered and then be reconciled, all taking up time. I'm thinking of ditching the off-line checkbook and just check the online banking site each day, as I do now anway. We seldom write paper checks, so most transactions show up immediately.

So, I was wondering how many fellow FW's have scrapped the checkbook all together?

Doesn't MS Money offer online connection to BOA and hundreds of other banks to download the transactions and eliminate the additional data entry/reconciliation? I've not used it for a while, but remember this option was available for both QB and MSM years ago.

As far as ditching home book keeping (i.e. checkbook) and relying solely on online, it is ok for basic record keeping. You'll be missing these options, though:
- online banking has no budgeting tools. It will be hard to get a quick summary of your spending, trends, remaining budget, etc.
- if you have more than one account, it is hard to get a full picture of your current state
- banks keep the records available on the site only for limited time. I think my bank goes back only two years.

I use Bank of America for bill pay also but I don't like how the transactions immediately deduct and process from you checking account when a payment is issued. It's like a money order where funds are immediately withdrawn from your account even if the recipient hasn't deposited the check yet.

I used to always worry that my payments to my landlord would get lost in the mail but the payment amount still gets deducted from checking. For electronic bill payments to credit card companies and utilities BoA bill pay works great, but I hesitate to use it if the payment has to be mailed via USPS to the recepient.

In all the years I've kept track of my accounts separately, I've frequently found transactions that posted for more than I authorized (most common are the transactions that allow a tip to be added, but there are plenty of threads discussing the circumstances of that scenario). On a couple occasions I've caught scenarios where the bank made a mistake, but those are the easiest to spot even without a separate record (double charge, erroneous fee, unpaid interest are the three I've encountered)

Without the reconciliation of your receipts, you are at the mercy of your memory for verifying all charges are authorized and of the correct amount. I don't know about you guys, but my memory is not picture perfect. Like most people, scanning a statement using only memory is only going to spot transactions for a store that you either would not shop at, or have not shopped at in ages.

If you don't want to keep a separate record of your account, then do what I do now which is to save all receipts, then when the statement comes, mark off each transaction for which you have a matching receipt. Then you will have about a handful of oddball transactions left (online purchase, lost receipt, etc...) Then make an educated guess on whether to dispute those or not. When you are done, file the receipts that support a warranty or potential return and shred the rest. For 15 to 30 minutes a month (depending on your volume), you gain piece of mind. The nice thing about finding transactions that don't match the amount you authorized, you tend to get the full transaction amount refunded, not just the difference.

everyone who buys groceries in front of me uses paper checks...
-pull out the checkbook
-fumble for your pen
-loooooook at the amount
-ask about some fruit being overcharged
-write the check
-mess something up
-rewrite the check
-tear it our slowly but rip the corner, ask if its ok
-put the wallet back in the purse
-pull it back out again when they ask for you license
-cashier writes the acct# on the check...

oh holy crap the next person that uses a check at the grocery store I am going to kill...

I still have paper checks and use them as required (mailing payments, club dues, personal payments, etc), but anyone using them in a retail establishment should be shot on site.

joy2bklyn said:I use my check book a stamp and the post office mail box. AND I stand in line to make deposits and withdrawals, sometimes I do use the drive through bank windows. Some of you are laughing but I feel comfortable doing it. I figure that I help keep people working in jobs that would be eliminated by now.
The post office takes credit cards now. Why spend your money, when you can spend someone else's (and, then, pay it later, of course)?

There is something to be said with doing bank transactions with people rather than machines. When there's a screw-up with a teller transaction, there are two people there, it's likely to get caught, and, if not, is likely to get fixed when the transaction is checked. With a machine, it's too bad, 'cause machines don't make mistakes.