Is there such thing as a Checking account requiring pre-approval / white-list?
I don't believe there is such a process.  My observation (i.e. my opinion) is that banks will have a level of security walls appropriate to the cost vs risk they experience. Since as Frazell says, your liability is limited for this type of fraud, you personally bear little if any risk.  If this fraud were common enough that the cost of your proposal outweighed the expense, they would implement it.  On a similar note. Credit card fraud can be reduced ten fold if a PIN were required for all purchases. The 3 digits on the back helps prove the card is there, and you just didn't steal the from 16 digits, but a 6-8 digit PIN required at point of sale would be tough for the thief to guess. How much software to do this would cost, I don't know, but the idea is brilliant, even if it's mine. 10 fold reduction, if not 100 fold. (Any bank guys reading?) There is no bank that I know of offering such a feature and I'm not sure what the point of it would be (other than to annoy their customers). If you've been subjected to a fraudulent check your best bet is to either choose to write checks only to trusted parties and/or use your banks BillPay service (they usually issue checks on another account while transferring the money from your account). The drawbacks of your current plan, bounced legitimate checks and high maintenance nature, outweigh the potential benefits of catching a fraudulent check since you're not legally obligated to pay checks you haven't written. "The account you are looking for is called a ""Positive Pay"" account.  It generally is only for business accounts, you provide a list of check numbers and amounts, and they are cross-referenced for clearing. It normally has a hefty monthly fee due to the extra labor involved."
(Note: The OP does not state whether the employer-sponsored retirement savings are pre-tax or post-tax (such as a Roth 401(k)). The following answer assumes the more common case of a pre-tax plan.) This is a bad idea, IMHO. IRS Pub 970 lists exceptions to the 10% early withdrawal penalty for educational expenses. This doesn't include, as far as I can tell, student loan payments. So withdrawing from your retirement account would incur both income tax and penalties. Even if there were an exception, you'd still have to pay income taxes, which, depending on the amount and your income, could be at a higher marginal rate than you are currently paying.  If you really want the debt gone as soon as possible, why not reduce the amount you contribute to the retirement plan (but not below the amount that gets you the maximum employer match) and use that money to increase your monthly payments to the student loan? Note that, if you do this, you will pay taxes on income that would have been tax-deferred in order to save money on interest, so there's still a trade-off. (One more thing: rather than rolling over to your new company's plan, you could roll over to a self-directed Traditional IRA.) Sure.  Here it is in its deadly simplicity:  Bank of Too Big  123 Fake St  City State Zip   Date   To whom it may concern:  Please let this letter serve as formal instruction for Bank of Too Big to close the following accounts held under my name, [your name],  [your social security number], listed below  Checking: 00000000  Savings    00000000  Please remit the remaining balances in the form of an official check made payable to me and mail that check for deposit to my account at:  Your Awesome New Bank  c/o the new manager  Address  Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.  If you wish to reach me, you may do so at [telephone number] *pro tip: they **never** call you.*  Sincerely,   Newly empowered consumer, you.     **Here are the important parts:**  1. You HAVE to get this notarized.  It will not work otherwise.  But guess where there are always notaries - banks - especially your new one.  2. Make sure all your automatic payments and things attached to that old account have been switched or cancelled first.  3. Don't leave too much money in there or there is a slim chance they might call you, and you'll have to deal with that nonsense.  Just leave a nominal amount like $10 and they'll just do it to get it over with.  4. Keep a copy.  Just in case.   I have been using this letter for my entire career in banking (a little over 10 years) and it has worked EVERY SINGLE TIME.   Enjoy! No, we did not apply for the loan. So, this is why we thought it was a bit strange a company just sending you a real check for $30K. It does not say anywhere in big red letters that it is a loan. Probably something in very small letters on a back of a paper.  This is really horrible. Especially,if your customers do pay you by check and small business relies on online statement to determine who paid what. I can easily imagine a small outfit that just takes all the checks to the bank, cash them, and then use online statement to update their books.   I do not see how it is helpful to businesses to receive pre-approved credit that is so poorly marked. Especially in the age of electronic transfers!!!  I am trying to understand why I feel so offended by this, and I guess it all comes down to disgust: I refuse to believe that any serious company would use these sort of tactics and instead of us spending more time developing a better product, we have to put more time and effort into ensuring we do not fall victim to this. List of critical skills that gets you a shot at being an agent: http://www.fbijobs.gov/1112.asp  Accounting, Finance, and Law qualifications are huge, and I think the most common way in.  Foreign language proficiency is pretty huge, too.  Still, something like IT or law enforcement experience can get you there.  It helps a lot if you're non-white and female. Generally speaking, when you are asked whether you consent to a credit check, what is implied is that your identifying information is shared to enable that check.  Most credit nowadays (credit, mortgage, car lease, even cell phone accounts etc.) is simply unavailable without a credit check. If a bank is evaluating a persons qualifications to qualify for a loan they have to follow the FDIC and HUD guidelines for equal opportunity credit. If they offer mortgages they will use the phrase equal housing. from the lending club website (fine print area): 2 This depiction is a summary of the processes for obtaining a loan or   making an investment. Loans are issued by WebBank, an FDIC insured   Utah-chartered industrial bank located in Salt Lake City, Utah, Equal   Housing Lender. Investors do not invest directly in loans. Investors   purchase Member Dependent Notes from Lending Club. Loans are not   issued to borrowers in IA and ID. Individual borrowers must be a US   citizen or permanent resident and at least 18 years old. Valid bank   account and social security number/FEIN are required. All loans are   subject to credit review and approval. Your actual rate depends upon   credit score, loan amount, loan term, credit usage and history.   LendingClub notes are issued pursuant to a Prospectus on file with the   SEC. You should review the risks and uncertainties described in the   Prospectus related to your possible investment in the notes. Currently   only residents of the following states may invest in Lending Club   notes: AR, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DE, FL, GA, HI, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA,   MA, ME, MN, MO, MS, MT, NE, NH, NV, NY, OK, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT,   VA, VT, WA, WI, WV, or WY. Our mailing address is: Lending Club, 71   Stevenson, Suite 300, San Francisco, CA 94105. "If you sign the check ""For Deposit Only"", the bank will put it in your account. You may need to set up a ""payable name"" on the account matching your DBA alias. However, having counted offerings for a church on several occasions, I know that banks simply have no choice but to be lax about the ""Pay to the Order Of"" line on checks. Say the church's ""legal name"" for which the operating funds account was opened is ""Saint Barnabas Episcopal Church of Red Bluff"". You'll get offering checks made out to ""Saint Barnabas"", ""Saint B's"", ""Episcopal Church of Red Bluff"", ""Red Bluff Episcopal"", ""Youth Group Fund"", ""Pastor Frank"", etc. The bank will take em all; just gotta stamp em with the endorsement for the church. Sometimes the money will be ""earmarked"" based on the payable line; any attempt to pay the pastor directly will go into his ""discretionary fund"", and anything payable to a specific subgroup of the church will go into their asset account line, but really all the cash goes directly to the same bank account anyway. For-profit operations are similar; an apartment complex may get checks payable to the apartment name, the management company name, even the landlord. I expect that your freelance work will be no different." I know that many HSBC ATMs at branches in the US and Canada offer this service (they actually scan and shred checks as you deposit them). Perhaps they do same in Germany... but not all ATMs offer this feature.