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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!bellcore!decvax!genrad!grkermi!rep
From: rep@grkermi.UUCP (Pete Peterson)
Newsgroups: net.consumers
Subject: Re: check guarantee cards
Message-ID: <818@grkermi.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 26-Feb-86 11:22:19 EST
Article-I.D.: grkermi.818
Posted: Wed Feb 26 11:22:19 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 28-Feb-86 22:15:40 EST
References: <1308@decwrl.DEC.COM>
Reply-To: rep@grkermi.UUCP (Pete Peterson)
Organization: GenRad, Inc., Concord, Mass.
Lines: 23
Summary: 

In article <1308@decwrl.DEC.COM> kolling@decwrl.DEC.COM (Karen Kolling) writes:
>
>It's been my experience that in New England personal checks
>are almost never accepted by merchants.  In Calif., a driver's
>license and a "major credit card" makes a personal check
>acceptable virtually every place.  (Also, I have the vague
>impression that there's now some sort of instantaneous credit check
>available by phone, keyed on the driver's license number, in many
>places that I shop;  but this is just based on random impressions
>I've gotten when I'm standing around with my mind shut off in a
>checkout line.)

I can't speak for other parts of New England, but I have never had any problem
with acceptance of personal checks in the Eastern Massachusetts area.  If you
buy a house or car, they tend to want bank checks; otherwise, a driver's
license usually suffices (sometimes large department stores want "major
credit card" also) except for some grocery chains which want you to have
one of their check-cashing ID cards.  The supermarket where I shop takes
checks without asking for any ID at all!

The worst place I found for check acceptance was the Phoenix area.  When I
moved there from Mass., I was shocked at how reluctant people were to accept
personal checks, even with reasonable ID.