Change Direct Deposit: Fill & Download for Free

Sorry for going anonymous on thus one - it's one of those “to protect the guilty” situations.At the company I used to work for, on and off for six years, the boss was really big on direct deposit. He pushed everyone onto direct deposit with lots of great reasons.“If I'm traveling when payroll comes out, there won't be anyone around to sign checks. You'll have to wait until I get back to get paid.” “Direct deposit hits your bank account at midnight on the morning of pay day, so you'll get your money faster than if I sign the check that afternoon.” He had a great sales pitch to make sure everyone was set up on direct deposit.I was on direct deposit for years, but at some point I changed banks and just never got around to submitting the info for my new account.But here's the thing. Direct deposit can work both ways.An employee had stolen from the company, so the boss had the HR manager pull the last two checks out of the guy's account - a month's worth of pay. I thought that was a bit harsh, but hey, that employee was a crook and got what he deserved.Then one of the girls in data entry had a family emergency. She had to quit her job with no notice and move back East to take care of her mom. “Well, she didn't give proper notice…”, so he ordered HR to pull out her last check.I thought that was a pretty crappy move - and so did the HR manager - so she refused to do it. The boss fired her and, you guessed it, pulled a month's worth of pay back out of her account.Needless to say, there was no way in hell I was going on direct deposit after that. I was running a business on the side, and had plans of my own to leave the company eventually.Every now and then the boss would stop by my office “hey, I noticed you hadn't gotten back on direct deposit yet… …you know the money hits your account a lot earlier… “I made up excuses, changed the subject, avoided eye contact… …he was on to me.I had been up front with my employer, that I was running a small business in my free time. They said they were fine with it, but I knew it was a bit of a gamble.So the day finally came. I was told by my boss “you can do this, or you can do that, but you can't do both.” I was fired! It was my turn!About a week later I get a call from the manager at my old bank branch. “I just got the strangest call, someone tried to reverse a direct deposit from over a year ago…”Sure enough, my old boss had gone all the way back to my last direct deposit - into an account that was long closed - and tried to take back my money.I don't know if I was lucky or smart, but he was basically just using the reverse direct deposits to “get even” with people he didn't like. He had no legal basis for taking the money, since it was paid two weeks after it was earned. But he knew the havoc he'd cause by making the account go negative, and was banking on the fact that the (now broke) former employee wouldn't be able to hire a lawyer to get the money back.

Contact the person who helped you to create your direct deposit in the first place.Very likely, this will be a person who works in the payroll department of your company.This time say, “I would like my net paycheck to be deposited here, instead of there.”They will likely have you fill out a form of some kind. Your signature will serve as the authorization for them to change the direct deposit account number.They will make the necessary arrangements to help you achieve the effect you’re looking for.

I can only answer for the US (things may be different in other countries), but yes - it is left to the discretion of the employer. Some states require that you opt in to direct deposit rather than have it assumed that you want it, but even there, businesses can terminate “at will” and may choose to do so if you don’t agree to the requirement.Whether paid by check or direct deposit, the difference in processing is very minor. Checks might take 5 minutes more to process than direct deposits (purely because you have to change the printer from paper to check stock, wait for the checks to print, stuff them into envelopes, etc.), but again - that’s very little time when you consider it. However, direct deposits have ACH guarantee that the money will be in your account on a specified date. If you have a check that you must send to a remote address and it somehow gets lost in the mail, the business can be held liable for not providing funds to the employee on the check date. Processing must be done earlier to account for mailing time as well, whereas all direct deposit processing can be done the day prior to the check date. This is why the requirement is seen regularly these days.