MikeR397 said:r0man said:faztcobra said:So just for clarification, I could take a AMEX BT check into BofA (my institution) and just write 'BofA' into the "pay to" line and then "for acct xxxx" and that's it?

From my little book of AMEX IN:NYC promotional checks:

"Checks made payable to cash, yourself, for deposit only, or to a brokerage account or similar asset account, or for purposes of making mortgage or insurance payments will be treated as Cash Advances"

I would be concerned that pay to BofA "for acct xxxx" could be considered 'for deposit only'. I wrote the check to my wife's name and deposited it into her checking account. She has a different last name, so there can be no confusion. I actually got a call from AMEX fraud dept asking me to confirm that I wrote the check.YES, this is exactly the case with AMEX:

1) DO NOT WRITE THE CHECK TO YOUR BANK WITH ACCOUNT #
2) Do write the check to ANY other individual (they can even be a joint account holder with you and this is ok, i have done it)
3) Do call AMEX and tell them what you are doing. YOU WILL GET A FRAUD CALL WHEN WRITING A BIG CHECK TO ANOTHER PERSON IF YOU DO NOT CALL AND TELL THEM WHAT YOU ARE DOING BEFOREHAND!

Sorry for the caps, but this AMEX situation is very touchy and I don't want other's to screw it up and get a cash advance rate. I will update my OP with more of this AMEX info.
Regarding HIGHLIGHTED bullet point #2, Mike, on 8/14, I emailed C/S regarding cash advance treatment and the rep responding said the following (PLEASE NOTE THE JOINT ACCOUNT INFO HIGHLIGHTED):

Customer (email@email.com) 08/14/2007 08:11 AM
I just received checks. Can I write it to another person who is a joint account holder with me & have them DEPOSIT it? I want to ensure this won't be treated as a cash advance. I plan to write the check at the end of the week for approx $22,000.

Please confirm my understanding that this would be an acceptable use of these checks. Thanks in advance.

RESPONSE 4 HOURS LATER
Dear fname lname:....If the bank account that the check is being deposited in shows that you are a signer on the account, the check will be considered a Cash Advance and will accrue finance charges as such......Sincerely,
/M. Ardila
Email Servicing Team
American Express Interactive Services

r0man said:FWIW, I deposited an AMEX IN:NYC BT check made out to my wife's name into a joint account and there were no finance charges assessed.Yes, jackcrawfish, that AMEX rep was wrong. I have deposited 6 checks from AMEX to my mom/dad and vice versa and we are all joint owners on the same checking account with no problems. All they do is call to verify for the first check you write. It is not at the cash advance rate as long as it is a different person, and that is all that matters. Besides, how will they even know that you are a joint owner if you write it to your wife?

cyberkost said:Family members (wife, mom, dad) often have the same last name ... this is fairly easy to catch and may raise some alarms ...
Good point. My wife has a different last name.

cyberkost said:MikeR397 said:r0man said:FWIW, I deposited an AMEX IN:NYC BT check made out to my wife's name into a joint account and there were no finance charges assessed.Yes, jackcrawfish, that AMEX rep was wrong. I have deposited 6 checks from AMEX to my mom/dad and vice versa and we are all joint owners on the same checking account with no problems. All they do is call to verify for the first check you write. It is not at the cash advance rate as long as it is a different person, and that is all that matters. Besides, how will they even know that you are a joint owner if you write it to your wife?

Family members (wife, mom, dad) often have the same last name ... this is fairly easy to catch and may raise some alarms, e.g., AM3X may suspect you to be joint on the depositor's account just because her/his last name and yours are the same ... and if this happens the burden of proof may be entirely on your side (and AM3X may not be a fair judge in this situation).

Thanks all for your feedback. I'll be a datapoint for.... (are you ready?) ... the last-name-the-same-following-email-asking-permission-to-write-to-wife-scenario.

Now I wonder if I should call AMX at all? I may have messed this one up....ooops

Edit: Since I opened her own individual checking account, however, AMX won't care that she's my wife. I just happen to owe her $$$ (sorry Mike for getting off topic a bit). I'm calling anyway to give them the heads-up.

Thanks Mike. Worthy of update to OP? (re: they always call with first check).

jackcrawfish said:Thanks Mike. Worthy of update to OP? (re: they always call with first check).I added this language to the bottom under the AMEX section. It already said that more or less, but it probalby wasn't clear enough, so I amended it. Thanks for the advice.

neednowallet said:I know this has been asked and replied to many a times in this thread. But I want to make sure that I am doing it right. I am going to write a check for 30K to my wife (different last name) and have her deposit the money in our joint checking account using an ATM card.

Is that going to fine? I just do not want to get hit by Finance charges and the crazy 26.7% APR for Cash Advances. Currently we only have joint account and if this is a no-go situation, I will have to have my wife open another checking account for herself and then do the transfer - in the process I will loose interest for about a month. (intro APR is only for 6 months and they took 20 days to send me the card and the checks!!)
What's the issuer name? Call them to verify check sequence is not CASH advance check. Often "CONVENIENCE" checks are cash rate APR - NOT INTRO.

neednowallet said:jackcrawfish said:neednowallet said:I know this has been asked and replied to many a times in this thread. But I want to make sure that I am doing it right. I am going to write a check for 30K to my wife (different last name) and have her deposit the money in our joint checking account using an ATM card.

Is that going to fine? I just do not want to get hit by Finance charges and the crazy 26.7% APR for Cash Advances. Currently we only have joint account and if this is a no-go situation, I will have to have my wife open another checking account for herself and then do the transfer - in the process I will loose interest for about a month. (intro APR is only for 6 months and they took 20 days to send me the card and the checks!!)
What's the issuer name? Call them to verify check sequence is not CASH advance check. Often "CONVENIENCE" checks are cash rate APR - NOT INTRO.

sorry for not mentioning that - the issuer is AMEX
I have called AMEX 5 times in the last hour and the score is 4:1. 4 customer reps told me that it would be considered Cash Advance and 1 told me that it is not a problem. I even tried to argue that if I write it to my wife's name, why does AMEX care? The response was that they get the account number and name of all the account holders when the check is being cleared. And so it being a joint account, my name would also show up - even if I wrote the check to my wife's name.

Well what can I do?

see this post regarding checks to wives that have their own INDIVIDUAL bank account.

neednowallet said:sorry for not mentioning that - the issuer is AMEX
I have called AMEX 5 times in the last hour and the score is 4:1. 4 customer reps told me that it would be considered Cash Advance and 1 told me that it is not a problem. I even tried to argue that if I write it to my wife's name, why does AMEX care? The response was that they get the account number and name of all the account holders when the check is being cleared. And so it being a joint account, my name would also show up - even if I wrote the check to my wife's name.

Well what can I do?
I suppose you could keep calling hoping that the tide turns and the other side wins 5-4 or 6-5
I can only tell you that I had the exact same situation as you a few weeks ago and check went through ok. How about when the fraud/security calls you to verify that you wrote the check you can ask them if it's being treated as a BT or cash advance and tell them to cancel the check it if it's the latter. If in fact you can cancel the check with the security department then your worst case scenario is a returned check fee at the bank. Good luck and please let us know what you do and the result.

Can't you just call and request that they do a direct deposit to your account? Everytime I call BOA for anything they almost beg me to do a BT and they want to deposit it directly into my checking account. They send me checks once a week and keep raising my credit limit. The only problem with it
is the BT rate is 3.99%, or I would take it.