ING Direct debits the money from your account when they cut the check, and then re-deposits it (without interest) if it hasn't been cashed in 90 days or has pay

ING Direct debits the money from your account when they cut the check, and then re-deposits it (without interest) if it hasn't been cashed in 90 days or has payment stopped. They also don't issue manual checks, so that isn't an issue. Anecdotally, it seems to work well. In regards to maintaining your own ledger instead of just using the bank's, the primary purpose is to help catch any errors that the bank makes with your account. Personally, I have few enough transactions that I can generally keep track of them in my head, but I could easily see how you might need some help with that if your finances were even a little more complicated than mine.