American banks just need to be dragged into the 20th century, then you can be done with checks for good.
I log into each credit card or utility site separately to pay. I think each payment takes longer than it would take me to write a check, stick it in an envelope, and write my return address on the envelope. (They are always window envelopes, so I don’t have to write the payee’s address.)
I receive my mail at a P. O. box, so I go the the post office once or twice a week anyway to pick up my mail, and mail out any outgoing stuff. Given that I go the the post office anyway, that’s part of my calculus about it. As I wrote above, what I like about paying on-line is that it gets finalized and confirmed much quicker than paying by mail does.
ETA: Basically, I’m just kind of habitually old-school about a lot of things. I’m sure my bank can deal with on-line bill paying for me, as many have suggested above, but I just don’t care about that very much. I don’t have enough bills to pay to make it worthwhile to even learn about how it all works.
12+ times a year. My rent still gets paid by check, then maybe one or two a year for special reasons. This year will be at least 14; I moved, so in one month I paid two different landlords, then the new landlord had to ask for a small back payment for an improperly computed pet deposit. (In a similar vein, my use of stamps is even smaller, maybe one or two a year now.) For one-time bills, I also tend to pay by check. Don’t even know if, say, the local medical imaging office would have accepted a card- my first thought was to toss my checkbook in my jacket pocket before going.
Thing is, all of my bills are auto-pay or paid online, and my apartment offers such a service. I could be nearly check-free, at least for recurrent bills. But, at my last apartment, the online payment middleman absconded one day with all of the deposited funds, and tenants were on the hook for making sure the complex was paid. The only people not screwed over were people who’d handed a check/money order over. A big ordeal (which luckily I’d not gotten involved in, as I had been too lazy to sign up in the first place), and for housing at least, I want the satisfaction of physically handing my payment over to a complex employee.
Don’t know what’ll happen in the next few months if I get a new car like I’m planning. Last two times I financed something (car through Teachers Credit Union, computer through Fry’s), they had no online payment mechanism, so I was writing them checks each month. Did make it easier to pay above the monthly cost; I knocked two years off my last car loan by rounding up my payment each month.
I do all my bill-paying online, and have done for more than ten years.
When I first moved to Australia in 1999, I had planned to get a Cheque Account, like I had had up till then back in NZ, but the Bank Teller said: “What do you want one of those for?” like I was an idiot. So I didn’t. As it turns out I haven’t missed it, but as far as I know many people still use Cheque Accounts for Personal and Business reasons, so I’m not sure why she was so condescending.
Really? You can’t pay bills on-line? What?
Indeed, I can’t pay some bills online. Not every small business takes electronic payments.
But that’s not what I was referring to. I meant, American banks don’t process a hundred thousand transactions without error.
I misunderstood. Of course not all business are set up for electronic payment. I may have exaggerated the number of transactions. I’m thinking more like 100 a year, and I’ve never once encountered an error personally and I can’t recall anyone I know ever mentioning a transaction error. I’m sure they happen sometimes though.
I still write checks, as I always have, though I’ve arranged auto-pay for many accounts. I pay my mother’s bills and prefer to see the phone bill to see if she’s made any strange calls to out of state scammers or charities. I prefer to write a check to the credit card company as the amount I pay might change every month (trying to pay it off, beyond the minimum). I use my own credit card everywhere that I can and write a monthly check paying it off. I agree checks are passe and a pain in the ass - going through the falling-down bank drive through is an awful experience, attempting to get a handful of cash. I should learn to use the ATM machine, but I don’t know where the card is right now and someone would have to show me again how to use the ATM, its been years…
Once a week for my daycare provider. Once a month for my husband’s car payment (not our bank). Four times a year for my mailorder pharmacy and recycling service. HOA dues bi-annually. I tend to pay our vet with a check because they are a small local business and I know it’s less expensive.
I hated paying bills via writing checks and sometimes I was late because I procrastinated. Auto-pay and electronic bill pay has been a godsend for me in that respect.
And when your statement doesn’t show the payment, what do you offer as evidence that they screwed up?
A piece of paper that someone has written on?
I instantly see the transaction on my on-line statement; it’s right there and never gets edited away superfluously.
I’d say we write about 3 or 4 per week. Gardener, alimony, some bills, repaying my business for costs advanced, loans and gifts to relatives. Most of my bills are paid on line by my bank, which writes checks for me.
The way it works with my bank is the moment you click “submit” you get taken to a receipt page that confirms the payment has been made. If you wish you can print the receipt for evidence, you can also have it emailed to an email address, but I have never seen a mistake made yet and don’t bother with it. The online transaction history is always up to date so the transaction appears immediately in my account, and the receiver gets the funds within 24 hours.
The idea that some of your online payment systems involve the bank writing and posting cheques on your behalf is quaint.
Most Aussies probably have Cheque accounts, but not chequebooks. That’s just what they call a transaction account.
When I got mine I had a similar reaction from the teller. He told me that I could have one, but because of the banking regulations there would be additional taxes on every transaction on the account, even those not involving cheques. If I got the same kind of account without the chequebook, no extra taxes. That was in the early 90’s, I don’t know if it’s still the same.
Pretty much my experience in Canada.
When I worked in debt collection, I used to write dozens of cheques a week, to pay court fees and clients.
From a business point of view, it’s more convenient to send someone a physical cheque, than to tell them “I’ve wired the money over to your account, so keep an eye on your bank balance for the next few days to make sure it arrives.” Even though a cheque can bounce, it’s a more solid proof that you have paid them.
It’s also more convenient for businesses to receive long-distance payments by cheque, because they have the sender’s name printed on them. You wouldn’t believe the number of electronic payments we received with no reference, and no clue about who they were from. (Which means you have to call the sender’s bank and get them to trace the transaction.)
As for personal use, though, I don’t even have a chequebook. Maybe I could request one from the bank, but I wasn’t automatically sent one. I did recieve one from the Inland Revenue a couple of weeks ago, which I think was the first cheque I have ever received.
I write a personal check maybe twice a year. My business writes plenty of checks, but accepts none.
I think I’ve filled in a cheque for someone else, but can’t remember when.
I filled in practice cheques in high school in a math class that focused on personal finances.
I purchased a bank cheque in 2009 to pay the bond on a rental property, and I purchased one in 2006 for the same purpose.
I cannot recall ever actually writing a real cheque on my own behalf.