I think in part it's because its harder to transfer money between banks in the US - no equivalent of the faster-payments-scheme which allows a free transfer wit

I think in part it's because its harder to transfer money between banks in the US - no equivalent of the faster-payments-scheme which allows a free transfer within a few minutes in the UK. Cheques do provide a layer of universal compatibility. I think its also the reason behind the success of Venmo (and earlier PayPal) to allow for free/very low-cost money transmission.