The check-in cheque.

I just banked in a cheque into a local bank here.

It only has the initials of my first name and my last name printed on the cheque.
When I received the cheque in the mail earlier, I went "what the???"

As it is, I didn't know if the bank will accept the cheque since it only had my initials. As such, since pract starts tomorrow, and there were no other days free to get to the bank, I decided to go today, even if it means me walking back and forth again, although I just came from uni.

Well...well, I was really surprised by the response that the bank gave.

Apparently in Australia, the banking practice is that customers only need to print the initials of their first name (and maybe middle name) and the last name as well.

I find it's a scary system as anyone who picks up your cheque, and if they have the same initials (and touch wood) the same last name, they can pretend to be you....... Zzzzzz..

Apart from that, if you want to withdraw money, my housemate related to me the incident that all she needed was a bankcard, and your pin-number to withdraw (they have card readers at the counter), and that also no form of photo identification was needed as the bankcard was sufficient identification...... *scary!!!*. If anyone had scheming intentions, they could easily manipulate the system if they wanted to!!

The lady at the counter did tell me that she did notice that many of the students also asked for their full name on their cheques. If you are wondering, the practice in Malaysia (and most Asian countries) is that if your name was written incorrectly on the cheque by even one letter, the counter or the bank will automatically reject your cheque, and the cheque will be treated as bounced, and (may) charge a processing fee for that. Technically I feel safer with this system, as I'm used to it, and people are more careful on what they write on cheques anyways.

The other thing about banks here is the 100 point system. Because there is no national Identification Card in place here (because of the assumption that it supposedly infringes on the rights of the citizen b.s), financial institutions here utilize a different identification system, where each type of form identification carries a weight of certain points. The main identification being Drivers' Licence, Passports, Student IDs and maybe letters from the educational institutions, as well as identifications with a photo.

The govt did try implementing it here some time back, but the people lobbied against it...So there...just remember to bring your drivers' licence, passport and some form of photo identification if you come here..... :-P

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