6 ms·

When you give someone a physical check, you are giving them your bank account info. It is written on the bottom of every check.

elyobo 3y ago
People outside the US stopped using cheques ~decades ago. At 40+ from New Zealand I've literally never paid anyone with one and have been paid with them only a handful of times.
- _delirium 3y ago
  Oddly, given the context of this thread, the UK is an exception. Or at least it was until a few years ago (I left in 2019). They have Faster Payments, but they also still use (used?) cheques more often than any other non-US country I've interacted with. For example, a number of UK universities still do (or until recently did?) expense reimbursements in the form of paper cheques, when reimbursing people not employed by the institution. One university even mailed a paper cheque, made out in British pounds and drawn on a UK bank, to our French invited speaker! The speaker found it inconvenient/expensive to have to deal with that, but their bank was fortunately able to figure out how to deposit it.
  - mattsan 3y ago
    I've never used or seen cheques been used. Anecdotal though.
  - bostik 3y ago
    The only time I've seen a cheque in the decade since I moved to UK has been from DVLA. They send refund as a cheque, and for relatively small amounts likely expect a significant fraction of people to never cash it in because handling the bloody things is just annoying. My bank's mobile app supports cashing them in via camera. Niche use case, but nice to have it for this attempt at government agency nickle-and-diming the populace.
- vxNsr 3y ago
  You probably have a very small illegal population, here in the US, if you don’t wanna hand someone a ton of cash but wanna pay them for something and they’re not allowed to open a bank account, a check is the easiest way to give them money. They can go to a check cashing place pay the 1-3% fee and cash the check. Otherwise you’re giving them cash or doing some complicated load to a prepaid card.
- progval 3y ago
  They are still in use in France from time to time. Typical use cases I have seen are security deposits, and for small non-profits to expense volunteers and getting paid without bothering with payment terminals.

elyobo 3y ago

People outside the US stopped using cheques ~decades ago. At 40+ from New Zealand I've literally never paid anyone with one and have been paid with them only a handful of times.

_delirium 3y ago
Oddly, given the context of this thread, the UK is an exception. Or at least it was until a few years ago (I left in 2019). They have Faster Payments, but they also still use (used?) cheques more often than any other non-US country I've interacted with. For example, a number of UK universities still do (or until recently did?) expense reimbursements in the form of paper cheques, when reimbursing people not employed by the institution. One university even mailed a paper cheque, made out in British pounds and drawn on a UK bank, to our French invited speaker! The speaker found it inconvenient/expensive to have to deal with that, but their bank was fortunately able to figure out how to deposit it.
- mattsan 3y ago
  I've never used or seen cheques been used. Anecdotal though.
- bostik 3y ago
  The only time I've seen a cheque in the decade since I moved to UK has been from DVLA. They send refund as a cheque, and for relatively small amounts likely expect a significant fraction of people to never cash it in because handling the bloody things is just annoying. My bank's mobile app supports cashing them in via camera. Niche use case, but nice to have it for this attempt at government agency nickle-and-diming the populace.
vxNsr 3y ago
You probably have a very small illegal population, here in the US, if you don’t wanna hand someone a ton of cash but wanna pay them for something and they’re not allowed to open a bank account, a check is the easiest way to give them money. They can go to a check cashing place pay the 1-3% fee and cash the check. Otherwise you’re giving them cash or doing some complicated load to a prepaid card.
progval 3y ago
They are still in use in France from time to time. Typical use cases I have seen are security deposits, and for small non-profits to expense volunteers and getting paid without bothering with payment terminals.