1. When you deposit personal checks through an ATM and the check is made at to you, and the account into which you are making the deposit is yours, do you need to sign the back of the check and write your account number?

2. What do you do about depositing checks made out to minors? Do you have a 4 year old sign her own check to endorse it?

1. I don't use an ATM but I often deposit checks made out to my husband withuot him signing it. I just tell the bank to 'stamp it' and they use some stamp and stamp the back and it's fine. If my husband does sign it, I make sure he also writes 'Deposit Only' so that if it gets lost, no one can claim it was endorsed to him/her.
2. I was told to right the minors name in print and the word minor next to it and then sign my name (I'm the parent on the account) so it says 'Child - minor' on one line and my messy sig on the next.

You stand in line at a teller? I couldn't do that. Yesterday I had to and I thought my brain was going to explode from the increase in blood pressure. I didn't have anything to read [usually if I have to stand in line at a bank I'll sneak into someone's office and take their newspaper but yesterday everyone's office seemed occupied] and I was standing there for literally...minutes...with nothing to do but wait for the old lady in front of me to finish with her Savings Bonds [people still buy those?] and the other gentleman to finish flirting with the other teller [they were speaking a foreign language but it was obvious they were flirting - she kept on flicking her hair and adjusting her bra strap...]. I thought I'd go crazy. No way I could do that on a regular basis. And then you know what? The tellers talk to you. They ask you how you are. And then I'm trapped. I have to carry on an inane conversation with a human being. Give me an ATM any day.

some banks don't have lines at the teller. Alternatively I use a drop box at the bank for deposits.
The tellers at my bank are not chatty. I'm usually in and out in less than 3 minutes

No, why would I stand in line at a teller??? I go to the drive-thru. I only go to a teller if I have no choice, I don't like the line as usually there's older people that take an hour or so to get going (but they often have kosher cookies, so if my kids are with me, they like to go inside). [Yes, I wonder if that was my kids grandmother who you saw buying the bonds ]

Nu, the guy is smart - if you play your cards right you may be able to finagle an extra 20 from the teller using judicious flirtation.

The drop box at my bank seems out of service more often than it is in service.

Of course you sign it!
I don't write account numbers anymore. I grew up doing that, but I switched to my husbands bank and they don't write account numbers on the check.

I never have. It takes too much effort. I think if it's a business account they require it, but not sure.

I generally do, but that's only because I was a part-time teller in college and got used to do doing that for all deposits that I handled. I'm quite certain that writing "For deposit only" on the back will suffice in lieu of a signature, but don't know if account numbers are still required. I think it varies from bank to bank and you really need to check with your own bank as to what they require today. I believe that I did ask that very question at my bank in the last year and they told me that the account number is indeed still required.

I'm lucky that my local branch is only about a year old, so I don't mind going to the tellers for deposits because it's generally just as quick as using the ATMs, since there is literally never a line.

i always sign my checks before depositing them in the ATM (don't remember the last time i deposited them with a teller, but i also have a direct deposit from work)

The government once sent my son, who was about 8 at the time, a check for $50 (I have no idea why). I tried to deposit it in my account but they wouldn't let me. So the check just sat around for a while and eventually got lost. Then I got letters that he has unclaimed government funds, and I filled out the form and got a new check, opened an account for him and he deposited the check himself.

Yes to both.

Yes to both.

You can sign your check as Mickey Mouse and endorse is as Ted Roosevelt Jr. Nobody will ever look at it unless the check is of an obscene amount.

I believe they force you to endorse checks deposited at a teller, and in theory they could return checks not endorsed by you from an ATM deposit, but I don't think too many banks practice that.

Check 21 is a scary but efficient legislation. But don't forget that in the world outside of US and Canada checks are an exotic instrument that never really had a chance to become as broad a tool as they are in the US.

Half the time the bank will cash checks that don't have the FRONT of them signed. Forget the back.....

Why don't you try ipod shiurim?

I always write my account number on it, and I usually write "for deposit only", especially if I'm depositing in an ATM, if I'm doing a teller, then I might leave out the FDO.

Only use the teller. Some banks will not allow a double endorsed check in an ATM.

Maybe in Israel.

Not in Israel, in NY. In Israel they are quite yekkish about check procedure (probably because even half of the legitimate ones bounce).

My father deposits loads of checks every week and he says they barely even look, let alone notice.... It's probably different when you bring only one...