Bank Checks

With the advent of the debit card it seems that bank checks are being used less and less as time goes by. Many businesses refuse to accept personal bank checks any more. At some locations big retailers like Wal-mart and Old Navy will take your check and scan it through. It automatically deducts the balance from you bank account and they give it back to you. At this point your carefully selected much agonized over NFL bank checks are acting, in effect, like a disposable debit card.

Be that as it may many of us still order personal bank checks every day. While you may not care for the NFL version there are bank checks designs to fit every taste. Whether you want angels or demons, Strawberry Shortcake or GI Joe, cats or zebras there are relatively cheap bank checks being printed for you.

If you don’t have your check direct deposited you still receive one of those business computer bank checks. The book keeper in the office has bank check printing software and she diligently prints them out for you every pay period. Of course if the company is very small they may still order bank checks and write them out by hand.

When you give to charities most of them are set up to handle debit and credit cards. The only folks who may not be equipped for the debit revolution are the Salvation Army bell ringers who are out at Christmas. Who knows with wireless technology growing by leaps and bounds maybe they too will soon be able to take a card. But even if a person can use their card they don’t always chose to do so. There is some satisfaction in writing an actual bank check to your favorite charity. People still send a lot of bank checks for multiple sclerosis foundation donations.

Sometimes, if you need a check for a large sum of money, a bank certified check or a cashier check may be required. In other words, you’ve paid for the check up front so the party receiving it knows that it is good. It acts kind of like a money order.

Occasionally, you may authorize a bank draft to pay recurring bills. These are very convenient. All you have to worry about is having enough money in the account for the draft to clear and getting them to stop it when you no longer require their services.

If you have accounts overseas a foreign bank draft may be needed to remove money from your account.