>> I have to give away the keys to my account (routing & checking number) in order to transact with my checking account. What a strange country you live in! :)

>> I have to give away the keys to my account (routing & checking number) in order to transact with my checking account. What a strange country you live in! :) I do a lot of payments and I had to google what a routing or checking number even is because I never needed one for making a payment. Also, I can't see how giving up your account number would mean giving away control of it. But that might be because in Europe we do not use such a peculiar payment methods as checks.