Do you need a checkbook? What is the benefit?

 Are checkbooks still relevant in this day and age? As digital payments and credit and debit card payments become more widespread in their use, many people feel that checks are no longer necessities. However, there is an argument to be made for them. If you are looking for a non-digital payment method that is more versatile than cash, checks are the way to go.

What Are Checks and In What Situations Are They Useful. 

A check is essentially a written instruction for your bank, requesting the transfer of a certain amount of money from one bank account to another.

Checks are still the preferred method of payment in certain instances. If we were to talk about the payment of large sums of money, then dealing with checks remains relevant, as large sums are generally difficult to accept in cash.

 Examples include:

• Payment of a home or a car
• Payment of employees' salaries. Many companies still choose to pay their employees by check, which they can cash each month, instead of paying a significant amount of money in cash

Further examples include:

• If you are dealing who doesn’t have easy access to digital payment methods

• A business that doesn’t accept credit cards/debit cards and you don’t have any cash on hand

A check is essentially a written instruction for your bank, requesting the transfer of a certain amount of money from one bank account to another.

Benefits of Using Checks

• Owning a checkbook and writing checks can be considered a more “hands-on” approach to financial planning. To put it simply, maintaining a checkbook takes more effort than digital transactions, and in some cases, that’s a good thing! For example, it’s very easy to set up automatic online payments and forget about them over time, affecting your budgeting. You may not necessarily know how much you are spending each month. However, the traditional approach of check-writing keeps you constantly aware of where your money is going and to whom.

• Most of the time, a check is not cashed immediately; therefore, it is possible that after you issue a check, you can stop it. However, this needs a lot of speed on your behalf because as soon as the check is cashed, you will not be able to get your money back.

• Credit and debit card payments usually entail processing fees. However, checks don’t have such a stipulation, and therefore they can help you avoid these hidden costs.

• Checks are easily traceable, and as such, provide you with an easily trackable record of exactly how much you are spending.

• In instances where you need to transfer funds but do not have access to the internet or cash is not readily available; checks are reliable and very useful payment methods.

Problems of Using Checks

• Checkbooks could potentially pose a security risk for you. This is because checks include sensitive information on them, including your bank account number, address, or phone number. Therefore, if your checkbook was ever lost or stolen, this could be quite risky for you.

• Banks usually charge you certain fees if you need to stop a check, whereas this is not the case for a debit card, for instance.

• If you write out a check to someone, and for any reason, there is not enough in your bank account balance when the individual comes to cash the check, you are likely to run into trouble with the bank, and you will have to pay a fine as a result.

• There may be processing delays. In some cases, there could be a lag time between the time you write out a check and when it is processed. These delays could cause confusion, and as a result, you may lose track of how much money is in your account at a given time.