Strange 19th century banking [LWN.net]

Strange 19th century banking

Posted Sep 15, 2005 17:38 UTC (Thu) by macc (subscriber, #510)
In reply to: Strange 19th century banking by shane
Parent article: The Grumpy Editor's guide to personal finance managers (Part I)

In Germany you pay by check if you are short on money.

i.e. when a bill is due you send the check on the day its due.
This is usually deemed sufficient for meeting the due-date.

But snailmail takes 2 Days and the recipient has to carry it
to his bank and get it booked(1-2Days). After another 2-4 Days
the amount is debited to your bank account.

This gives you about a week of credit
which some businesses and private persons
desperately need.

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Strange 19th century banking

Posted Sep 15, 2005 17:50 UTC (Thu) by rogerd (guest, #4170) [Link]

Check Kiting, yeah, that is what it's called.

Even our US system calls that fraud, and will prosecute people for it.

I think the last Banking bill here made it allowable to post an electronic copy of a check as if it were physically received, thereby reducing the "check's in the mail" timeframe down to the speed of light transit.