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I bank at Wells Fargo and I couldn’t deposit a check today because there ran out of envelopes at the ATM! Luckily, I didn’t need the money to be in my account but what if I did? Would I have tried to deposit the check without an envelope? What would’ve been my choices otherwise?

It’s impossible to answer these hypothetical questions since I wasn’t put in the situation but what’s important is how I can solve this potential little problem. Here’s a couple of ways to do so.

Keep Some Envelopes of My Own
This is the obvious solution. I’m sure that if I put it in my own envelope, Wells Fargo will accept it, especially if the reason is because they ran out! An alternative is to keep some of Wells Fargo specific envelopes in my car but that might be a bit cumbersome.

Deposit During Office Hours and Inside the Branch
Using the ATM during office hours allows us to ask the people in the bank to give us some envelopes. In fact, there’s no need for envelopes if we deposit the check inside the branch. Oh speaking of depositing checks, if we deposit a check that’s from the same bank through the teller, we can probably get the cash right away (different banks may have different policies, but Wells Fargo allows this).

Don’t Transfer Every Last Cent to Savings
If we keep some money in our account, we won’t need every check to be deposited on an exact date. There will always be accidents, and we should plan for it ahead of time so it doesn’t affect us.

So, can you think of anything else to prevent? If you were faced with the same situation, would you deposit the check without the envelope or what would you have done?