Vanguard Deposit Slips Incorrectly Fitting into Their Postage Paid Envelopes

[pubman]

I use the Vanguard-supplied deposit slips in the Vanguard postage-paid envelopes to deposit checks into my Vanguard money market fund. The problem was that it took nearly 3 weeks for a recent deposit to be recognized by Vanguard. For 2 weeks I thought the envelope was lost and was about to stop payment on my check. Turns out that the postal bar code below the Vanguard address on the deposit slips does not show completely in the envelope window. The last 5 bars (which electronically give the zip code) are cut off. This is an obvious result of poor printer registration. I can cut down the slip but then I must tape it into place but this might run havoc with their automatically envelope opening machines.

Has anyone seen this? And if so please complain to your account rep since mine apparently thinks I should do my depositing another way, rather than just have Vanguard reprint the deposit slips correctly.

[powermega]

I completely agree with the Vanguard rep. You should link your checking account electronically so you don't have to bother with sending checks in the mail. ACH transfer is much faster and far more secure.

[drk]

Another option is mobile check deposit in the Vanguard app.

[David Jay]

The problem was that it took nearly 3 weeks for a recent deposit to be recognized by Vanguard.

Sounds like a great argument in favor of ACH transfers.

[heartwood]

Are your deposit tickets really old? I ran out a couple of years ago. They no longer print them on the bottom of my deposit confirmations, there's no way I can find to request them, and my rep says they no longer provide them. He says if I want to mail a check I should write a transmittal with directions, eg. account number.

I use mobile check deposit instead.

[pubman]

My personal checking account is linked to my Vanguard account. It is depositing 3rd party checks that I prefer to mail in with the deposit slip. This is easier for me paperwork-wise than taking a photo of both sides off a check and using the mobile investment app. My deposit slips are not old - just received them. It just that the printing registration is off - I can easily just photocopy them with a slight shift but this error must impact many others and I object on principle. BTW, it is very easy to order slips for any fund. Go to your fund online and click "order deposit slips" in the top right.

[heartwood]

My personal checking account is linked to my Vanguard account. It is depositing 3rd party checks that I prefer to mail in with the deposit slip. This is easier for me paperwork-wise than taking a photo of both sides off a check and using the mobile investment app. My deposit slips are not old - just received them. It just that the printing registration is off - I can easily just photocopy them with a slight shift but this error must impact many others and I object on principle. BTW, it is very easy to order slips for any fund. Go to your fund online and click "order deposit slips" in the top right.

Perhaps its a brokerage vs traditional issue? I'm brokerage and see no opportunity to "order deposit slips".

Not to beat it to death, I did order some slips a couple of years ago. They never arrived. I asked my rep who said they're no longer used (perhaps in brokerage?). Looking at my confirmations, mine do not have deposit slips as in the past of several years ago. My interest was in the period when mobile check deposit wasn't working in the Vanguard app and I needed to deposit checks. The answers I got were mobile deposit to BOA and EFT; or mail them in with a note, no slips available.

Now that Vanguard mobile deposit works on the particular account (but not others) this is moot for me.

Thanks

[OnTrack]

There may be other options for making deposits, but given that Vanguard supplies deposit slips and envelopes, I agree that they should be compatible. Telling the customer to not use them instead of addressing the problem is not acceptable.

[whomever]

Another option would be to print the address on a plain envelope and use that.

[exigent]

I agree with OP that this is annoying. I don’t use physical deposit slips, but if they offer them, then they should work. If the workaround is to use another avenue for deposit, then they shouldn’t offer deposit slips at all.

[RickBoglehead]

It is very un-Boglehead to accept a delay in mailing checks, vs using their app, which results in immediate receipt by Vanguard.

[L1tt1eMinon]

My personal checking account is linked to my Vanguard account. It is depositing 3rd party checks that I prefer to mail in with the deposit slip. This is easier for me paperwork-wise than taking a photo of both sides off a check and using the mobile investment app. My deposit slips are not old - just received them. It just that the printing registration is off - I can easily just photocopy them with a slight shift but this error must impact many others and I object on principle. BTW, it is very easy to order slips for any fund. Go to your fund online and click "order deposit slips" in the top right.

I don’t see how it is easier paper work wise. You snap a pic and you still keep the check in case anything happens. Vs you mail it and the mail gets lost or Vanguard has issue with your check and you don’t have it.

[Shackleton]

My personal checking account is linked to my Vanguard account. It is depositing 3rd party checks that I prefer to mail in with the deposit slip. This is easier for me paperwork-wise than taking a photo of both sides off a check and using the mobile investment app. My deposit slips are not old - just received them. It just that the printing registration is off - I can easily just photocopy them with a slight shift but this error must impact many others and I object on principle. BTW, it is very easy to order slips for any fund. Go to your fund online and click "order deposit slips" in the top right.

I don’t see how it is easier paper work wise. You snap a pic and you still keep the check in case anything happens. Vs you mail it and the mail gets lost or Vanguard has issue with your check and you don’t have it.

Exactly. You are putting your deposit first into the hands of the USPS (yikes!) and then the Vanguard processes. If your check gets lost in the mail or damaged by Vanguard, you need to have taken a photo or copy of the check (since you say these are for 3rd party checks, you wouldn't have the details of the check.) So sounds like you'd need to take a photo of the check regardless. Just use the mobile app to deposit, keep the check in a drawer until it clears, then shred the check.

[UpperNwGuy]

I never send third party checks directly to Vanguard. Too many things can go wrong with USPS or at Vanguard. If there is a problem with a check, I prefer to have a real bank in the loop. I then use ACH to transfer the funds to Vanguard.

[TravelGeek]

There may be other options for making deposits, but given that Vanguard supplies deposit slips and envelopes, I agree that they should be compatible. Telling the customer to not use them instead of addressing the problem is not acceptable.

Agreed. It doesn’t matter that there are alternatives to depositing cash. I suspect the OP was aware of them. Vanguard should not provide slips/envelopes that have result in delayed or lost deposits, and Vanguard employees should take the problem report seriously. If they wanted to encourage people to use faster/cheaper/safer methods, they could print instructions on each deposit slip, but as long a small they provide them, they should work correctly.

(disclaimer: haven’t used one in over a decade, I would guess)

[dratkinson]

Sound like OP's mobile deposit app is the safest way to go, and much faster than a mailed check. But....


Another option if you want to continue using the mail. You should be able to use Word to duplicate the address information, with ZIP bar code, in the correct location on a blank page. Then print, fold, and insert that page in pre-paid envelope so it shows through the envelope window. (Saves cutting up deposit slip.)

So you've put a bandaid on Vanguard's problem, but are still at the mercy of the USPS.


Local B&M bank. Assuming OP's bank is local, walking in to deposit a check would be faster and safer than mailing it. (I use a local B&M COOP-member CU to deposit the odd check. Then ACH to Vanguard.)


Disclosure. I mailed a USPS certified-receipt, signature-requested envelope the last week of November. It was delivered the first week of January. (Holiday mail volume?)

My attention span does not support waiting weeks to record a check deposit.

[8foot7]

My personal checking account is linked to my Vanguard account. It is depositing 3rd party checks that I prefer to mail in with the deposit slip. This is easier for me paperwork-wise than taking a photo of both sides off a check and using the mobile investment app. My deposit slips are not old - just received them. It just that the printing registration is off - I can easily just photocopy them with a slight shift but this error must impact many others and I object on principle. BTW, it is very easy to order slips for any fund. Go to your fund online and click "order deposit slips" in the top right.

I'm going to push back on your volunteering to make subtle changes to preprinted deposit slip layouts via photocopying, let alone filling out the slip, finding an envelope, carrying out the envelope to the mailbox, being in any way easier than pressing a camera button twice on your smartphone and being done with the whole process.

[Vegomatic]

FWIW, if you call Vanguard up, and ask for deposit slips - the rep will ask "How many?" - you will receive in the mail an envelope with the requested number of deposit slips and postpaid envelopes. Did this last month - Dec 2018.