I love Cahoot, my main online bank
here in the UK, but I fear the days of its stingy chequebook policies have
returned. I’m back to begging for a new one, something that will sound
especially strange to American readers.
In the UK, you don’t pay for your checkbooks (I’m going with the American
spelling now). They’re free from your bank. Not only that, many banks offer free
checking without some high minimum balance. It’s pretty nice. Heck, ATM fees are
still pretty rare, too. Banks let non-customers use their ATMs generally without
charge. All this will also likely come with free overdraft protection. Actually,
not protection — a free overdraft limit period. Unlike in the US, it’s not
illegal to overdraw your checking account. Banks actively encourage you to do it
in Britain and give you a set limit that you can overspend.
In the US, of course, you’re typically going to buy your checks, unless you
get an initial order for free. You’ll get a box of like 150 checks, compared to
the single checkbook that a UK bank will send you.
Ah, a world of contrasts. The UK system is less wasteful. I just tossed out
two big boxes of checks from US accounts I no longer have. I found them buried
in one of our closets. Instead, in the UK, you order a book of 15-20 checks at a
time. Some banks automatically send you a new book, when you need it.
I joined Cahoot about five or six years ago and quickly found they were
stingy about checks. In the name of security, they only wanted to give me a
single checkbook at a time. My wife and I have a joint account, so that’s pretty
unworkable. If she’s out with the checkbook, I can’t write one if I need to.
In fact, I was pretty greedy. I wanted three checkbooks — one for me, one
for my wife and a spare in case one of us ran out. I was seriously thinking of
quitting the bank I’d just joined. Then they saw the light, and I was able to
freely order checkbooks at my own discretion.
Last week, my wife used her last check and snagged my book. No problem. I
went online and ordered a new one. Then I got a message from Cahoot. Denied!
We’ve got your request for a new cheque book. We’ve looked at your account
and can see that you already have a cheque book in use. We can only order
another book when at least 8 of the cheques from your current book have been
used.
Let’s be clear about the absurdity here. It’s a joint account. They should be
able to see that. That alone should make it possible to have two checkbooks at
any time. But let’s say you agree you should have only one. That book has 15
checks. They want half of them used before you can order a new check book, which
takes a week to arrive. We don’t write a ton of checks, but still, it’s not hard
to run out if there’s a delay.
The policy also doesn’t take voided checks into account. I’m always making a
mistake when writing a check and have to void it and start afresh. That voided
check isn’t going to be seen as "used" by Cahoot. And
over at The Times, someone notes another issue:
Try asking Cahoot for a new cheque book when you’ve used all your cheques
up to the helpful slip in the book that says "it’s time to order a new cheque
book" …… Cahoot absolutely refuses to do so UNLESS all the previous cheques have
been cashed – as if you can do anything about when other people present their
cheques!
We’ll see if I’m going through some twice per decade challenge over
checkbooks or whether something big has changed at Cahoot. Meanwhile, I’ll
remember fondly those packs of 150 I used to get in the US.
Aside from the cheque book issue, they’ve been great. The consistently offer
very high interest on both current and savings accounts, rather than some banks
that jack of the rate only to drop it.
