Do you still write checks?

[lizbud]

I still use checks for some bills. Some bills I have set up to be paid by
automatic deduction from my checking account & use a debit card to pay
for most everyday purchases.

[Pembroke_Corgi]

I use checks for bills only once a month- for rent. Sometimes, when a place accepts only cash or check they come in handy, as I almost never carry cash. I find it's too easy to spend and leaves you wondering later "Where did that $20 go?"

Most of the time, I use my debit card to pay for things, and have most of my bills deducted from my checking account, but I can't pay rent that way, so I write a check.

[prechrswife]

We pay some bills online, but still use checks for day-to-day things. We actually don't even have a debit card right now.

[momoffuzzyfaces]

I mostly use checks and never a credit card on line. I'm just not comfortable with all that info floating around in cyberspace!!! I seldom buy on line though; only from about two places I've shopped at for years! Yea, I'm old fashioned and that's fine with me!

[Cinder & Smoke]

Anyone still write checks?

Now days you get accused of "holding up the line" if you write a cheque in a store!

I was in a lil Maw & Paw shop a month ago with a few items ($25.00 or so) and
a short line behind me ...
I (incorrectly) assumed they wouldn't have a "modern" card swiper system,
so I'd pre-filled a check with everything but the amount ...

Sweet Young Thing rang me up and ammounced my total --- I scribbled in the amount ...
... and offered my cheque before the register tray popped open ...

and a mumbled "Don't you have a CARD!? ...
I'll have to get this APPROVED! ... Cash would almost be easier!"

"Approval" required:
* Paging the Manager from the distant regions of the store
* The Boss arrived wearing a Dirty Look that got more sour we he was handed my cheque
* (second one I'd heard for one cheque) and a demand for my driver's license
* A careful comparison of my driver license signature and mug shot
* An inquirey as to the correctness of the check's printed address & phone number
* The affixing of the Manager's Approval via initials in the corner
* And a parting Dirty Look as said Manager returned to his interrupted duties

Not to mention the increasing from the assembled multitudes
now stacked a dozen deep in line behind me!
"Oh, Good Grief! ... He's trying to pay with a CHEQUE! "

I grabbed my bag and ran!

/s/ Ole Phart Phred

[Cinder & Smoke]

... as I almost never carry cash.
I find it's too easy to spend
and leaves you wondering later "Where did that $20 go?"

Most of the time, I use my debit card to pay for things ...

BUTTTT ...

It's a heck of a lot easier to blow through a truckload of greenbacks using that
good ole Debit Card (well named) and a few trusty Merchants' Card Swipers!

Can be an *eye-opening* experience when you hook up the ole 'puter and have
a look at the Bank's version of the State of the Account ...
OMG!
WHERE'd all that money GO!??

I don't remember spending THAT much!
/s/ Poor Boy

[Grace]

I pay most household bills on line. When I shop on line I use my credit card. When I go shopping around town I pay with cash or write a check. Don't have a debit card - don't want one. Too easy for someone to get your info and drain the account - IMHO.

[Cataholic]

I usually use my debit card, pay online, have automatic withdrawal, or just skip paying it all together!

[Cinder & Smoke]

... or just skip paying it all together!

Well, DANG ~

Why haven't I thought of that?

Do "they" still send out "enforcers" with clubs to break fingers?

[joycenalex]

i voted both. i do a fair number of things online, but this am i wrote a check at the vets.

[sirrahbed]

I thought I would be the last one to do things electronically - but a year ago Missy showed me how to pay my bills online and now that is all I do. I reconcile my balance at least once a week and so always know exactly how much money we have - down to the penny. Our bank still offers this service at no charge and it is so easy for me. I still have my checks for those few times when I need to pay or send money to an individual. (not a business)

Funny story - two Christmases ago I was in Circuit City and bought some movies - I handed the guy my check and he just stood staring at it. He called over another employee and asked what to do with THIS? Is it possible he had never even seen a check before??

[jenluckenbach]

Checks I use, it is CASH I never have! LOL

Monthly bills = checks.

Credit card bills = mostly paid online.

Shopping = DEBIT CARD!!! I use that for EVERYTHING (that I don't use the credid card for. LOL)

[Killearn Kitties]

I don't remember the last time I wrote a personal cheque. I do still have a cheque book, but very rarely do I have to use it.

At work we still write the occasional cheque, to suppliers we rarely use, so that it is just not worth getting their details and setting up online payments.

[Freedom]

I do not pay ANYTHING online. I don't trust the 'net enough to link up to my bank, I don't even have access to my bank acocunt on the net.

Most of my bills are set for auto debit. Other things, I write checks.

I don't own a Debit Card, they are anti-consumer and I would never want one! I use the float and gain interest that way.

I use my credit card for everything - even the groceries! By the time I pay for them, we've already eaten them.

Cash, well, I've been known to go out with less than $1 in change. Drives Dad nuts. Can be a problem when you get to the front of the line and they have a $10 minimum for credit. I NEVER carry my check book, that stays in the house where it is safe. Only time I know I will need it is for doctor visits; they don't take credit cards, and I never have enough cash for my co payment.

Come tax time, I go through the checkbook register and the credit card statements to pick up all the deductions. If I paid cash, I 'd have a file folder for cash receipts (doubt there would be any receipts IN there, I'd forget to keep them for sure!) In fact last month Dad paid cash for a doctor visit copayment, and I made an entry in the check book register to remind me come tax time!

I do make purchases on line, using a credit card. And I worry. Five years ago, I bought something on line from a BIG company (either L L Bean or Land's End, I won't say more) and the following month I had over $2000 in purchases on my credit card. Someone had hacked in and used people's cards to go on a spending spree. That's the source of me not trusting the Interent for stuff.

[cyber-sibes]

We have most of the regular bills paid on-line. but i try to keep my on=line purchases really minimal. I still use checks for my retail store charge accounts, doctor appointments, hairdresser, charitable contributions and things like that. I have duplicates, so it's easy to track that way. I use my credit card for most everything else, like groceries & gas.