Now more than ever, people are choosing to pay for goods and services using either debit or credit cards. However, paying by credit or debit card is a relatively new concept in the history of time. Many people over the age of forty remember the days of paying by cash or by check. Indeed, many before the advent of credit card machines, many people carried checkbooks with them to the supermarket and places of business to make payments.
Paying by check was never convenient to begin with. First of all, you had to have a pen on hand to write out all the information on the check. You also had to be aware of the date as there was already a line of people waiting behind you. Remember, this was a time before cell phones, so you couldn’t simply pull your phone out to check the date (although you might have had a day planner in your purse to use as a reference). Most establishments also required you to provide your driver’s license number as well as your phone number just in case your check bounced. Also, if you happened to write down the wrong amount of money on your check, you had to tear it up and start all over, much to the chagrin of the people waiting behind you.
Luckily, with payment processing services so readily available and easy to use, you rarely, if ever, need to write checks anymore. In fact, you might be wondering if you ever need to pay by check. Let’s ponder our choices:
Rent Or Mortgage Payments
One of the only circumstances in which you ever might pay by check would be if you are making a rent or mortgage payment or some other type of large payment, such as school tuition. However, the best way to make these check payments is electronically. By paying electronically through your banking institution’s website, your payment will be made as securely as possible. Remember, if your paper check happens to get lost in the mail or get into the wrong hands, people can use your checking and routing numbers to steal your identification. Having your identification or your money stolen is one of the worst nightmares that you can go through, so make your transactions as secure as possible.
Utility Payments
Although you could write a paper check to pay for your monthly utilities, we recommend paying for your utilities online. One payment option is to use your debit or credit card to pay your utilities on the utility company’s website. However, if you can set up your banking institution to make payments directly to your utility companies, this is the best option.
Paying People Directly
True, you could people directly for their services using a paper check, but could still be a risky option. What is the person loses your check and it falls into the wrong hands? A better option for paying people directly is by using an app such as Venmo.
Although making payments by paper checks is becoming more obsolete, our payment solutions company does offer check services. However, we also offer plenty of other payment processing services as well. Contact Americard Payment today to learn more about our payment processing services.
