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> Seriously, these days nobody should be writing personal checks FTFY. The US is the only country in the world that I know of where writing personal checks is
by rippercushions 4y ago
> Seriously, these days nobody should be writing personal checks
FTFY. The US is the only country in the world that I know of where writing personal checks is still commonplace. In Europe they're thoroughly obsolete, and in Asia, where they were mostly uncommon in the first place, even the few once check-happy countries like Singapore have pretty much migrated off.
- tnjm 4y agoFrench resident here. Received a bill from this week from a medical lab for some tests; the only payment options are either visit the lab in person (an hour's drive away) or mail a personal check. This is not uncommon here, and even most large supermarket chains still accept checks.
- nicbou 4y agoReally? I’m approaching 10 years in Germany and I have never seen a cheque in Europe. SEPA transfers are the standard, and this is in the land of the faxes.
- Mikushi 4y agoI can attest that France still uses checks a lot. Just over this summer I wrote something like 5 checks. Mostly for work to be done on a house, and otherwise to get around the absurdly low limit on bank cards.
- Thlom 4y agoWow. I’m a year away from 40 and have handled exactly one check my entire life. A gift from my uncle for my confirmation. I have never seen them used in shops and I have never heard of paying bills with checks. These days I get most bills straight into my online bank and just have to confirm the payment. It’s been more or less like this my entire adult life. Norway BTW. Perhaps our small population makes it easier to just end old legacy shit?
- kerneis 4y agoThey're still used in France even if mostly by old people.
- Ichthypresbyter 4y agoCertainly up to about 5-10 years ago in the UK university societies ran on cheques (not sure if they still do). It was AIUI the only simple way of requiring the approval of any two of a number of committee members to spend money.
- secretsatan 4y agoI think the last time I wrote a cheque was just before leaving the UK 16 years ago. I was surprised in Switzerland they have kind of a reverse cheques (probably the wrong term), when you buy many things online, or dealing with taxes, the firm will send you a payment slip, you can then take that to your bank (or now scan with the banks app) and authorise the funds.