It’s easy to think of checking with paper checks as something of the past, but there are electronic payment methods such as Venmo, Zelle, and Apple Pay, but there remain some scenarios when it’s best to make use of them. Here’s when it may be safer or preferable to use a personal check, how to utilize checks safely, and also when it’s OK to skip the checks.
Shopping at a Small Business
Due to their size and processing costs, some small companies don’t take credit cards. One study revealed that only 27% of small-scale businesses choose digital payments (think ApplePay or credit card) instead of non-digital transactions (cash or checks, as well as money orders). If you are hiring someone to cut your lawn, purchase products at a local market or flea market vendor, or even employ a dog walker, you might prefer to have a checking account on hand to make payments to them.
Gifting Money
If you’re short on time and planning to attend a birthday party, wedding, or any other celebration of the family it’s likely that you’ll need to put money into a debit card. However, when you’re giving money away as gifts, top stub checks might be a better choice instead of cash. While both cash and checks are easy to lose when you are rushing to open gifts, the latter is specifically addressed to the recipient while the other is not. This could help the recipient be able to recall who gifted them with the money. If they place the money to the side and then return to it later, they might not be able to recall who gifted it to them.
Tracing Important Payments
If you are making a major payment such as an amount to be used towards a downpayment on the purchase of a house, a tuition fee for a college, a deposit to a ceremony venue, or even making a payment to a government agency, such as the IRS it is possible to make a check-in paper. It will make sure that your payments were received as you’ll be able to see the date that the other party deposits or cashes the check in your next bank statement or through the bank’s online portal. Some banks can even show you an image of the cashed check to verify that it’s authentic.
This may even help prevent you from incurring any late fees since the transactions will be all in the same year.
If, for example, your check is missing or stolen, you can request to cancel your payment by calling the bank’s customer care telephone line or online through your bank’s website.
If You’ve Been the Victim of Fraud
Has your sensitive financial information been stolen or compromised? It’s not a problem for everyone. A study found that in the year 2018 14.4 million people across the U.S. were victims of identity fraud to the tune of approximately $3.4 billion in losses. Additionally, that study revealed that more of the victims had to pay from their own pockets to cover the cost of the fraud.
In light of these statistics, It’s natural that you’d want to keep your information secure if you’ve already dealt with similar issues. Many people go back to cash or paper checks in lieu of swiping a debit or credit card at local retailers. Some may not want to enter their payment information online at retail websites or make use of online and electronic payment methods.
While writing checks on paper isn’t an absolute security measure making sure your information is secure off the internet and using your credit card more often could reduce the chance in which identity theft is committed, as well as fraud and other financial criminals.