How can it not be direct ? If you write a check off a personal account it is going from you to the person you are paying .... so when you write a check from an IRA account it is going direct from the IRA to the charity ... how can you see that as anything different ? This is exactly the same as if the trustee had cut a check ... just saves the middleman and usually a fee. Not many people have check writing abilities on IRA accounts so it is not well known item.
However if the check was written to the IRA owner, put in the IRA owner's account and then a check written from the personal account to the charity that would not be allowed.
