Seniors, do you still have a checking account and do you write checks?

Until I read your question I never thought about how many cheques I wrote lately. I guess I only write about a couple of cheques a year when I need to pay a bill/send money through the post, the rest of the time it is a debit card direct.

Yes, and yes. But less and less. I'm a poet and I know it!!!!!!!!!!

I have just started using a credit card with a low availble balance insead of a debit card, as I've read about how dangerous it is to use your bank debit card.

I still do need to write checks sometimes though. Like for gifts, graduation, wedding. I can't get to the bank to get cash, and would rather not put that in snail mail anyway.

Also there are still some business that don't accept any card and want a check or cash. Since I shop second hand a lot, I need to be able to write a check there.

I recently transferred my bank accounts from Bank of America to a credit union. I put most of my meager fortune in Savings but since they offered free Checking I put a small amount of money into it for the rare occasion I would need to write a check. Otherwise I pay all my bills electronically. Some are automatic transfers and some I initiate the payment. I rarley use plastic. I use cash for groceries since I live alone and my bill is never all that much. The credit union I joined just recently built a large new home office only 3 miles from where I live so getting the cash I need is close at hand and on the way to the grocery store. If I used plastic it would be a debit card as I don't believe in going in debt and a credit card is debt in my way of thinking. Occasionally I'll use a credit card for an on-line purchase because it's safer and It's a good thing for your credit score to if you use it once in a while. My score is 815 and I'm proud to keep it there.

In the little backwater where I live, many people don't like "big government" or anything "newfangled," and there are several merchants who will not accept anything but cash or checks. In fact, the town itself does not accept anything but cash or checks for the fees it charges. And the country does not accept anything but cash or checks for tax bills.

Which is fine with me. I am in sympathy with the right-wingers on the subject of all the sinister things that can happen when personal information is reduced to nothing but a sequence of numbers whose meaning can easily be accidentally or deliberately manipulated without there being any sensible way to judge whether it is true or false.

A few months ago, the big conglomerate bank that took over our local bank sent me a monthly statement showing that I had received a deposit of $88,000.00. A few days later they mailed me an "apology" which explained that the deposit was actually only $88.00. No harm done. But if their error had been the other way around and I had been accused of being $88,000.00 in the hole, I wonder whether their "apology" would have been sufficient to cover all the hell I would have been put through. Things like this didn't happen in the days when we all had the option of using checks whenever we preferred.

Yes I do, but I write far fewer checks than years past. I travel with credit cards because they're safer than cash or debit in case of pick pocketing as I've seen happen on subways and tourist places. Checks will be phased out in the next decade I'm sure. I just worry about paying bills online and the bank or store get hacked and my info stolen. It happened recently with one of my VISA bank cards so they changed all their clients numbers. What a hassle that must have been for the bank.

I keep checks when I go to the doctor or when a bill comes in that I wasn't anticipating. It does seem a little silly because I do use the debit card for most of my purchases. I used to obsess about my bank balance and keep the ledger up to date daily,but now I just go online and make sure everything is all right. I guess it's nice to still have money to spend.

I pay one check to city of my town and they don't have a card scanner . I drop a check in an outside drive up box as soon as I get the bill otherwise I use a debit card.

Some bills I pay by check.

My family is after me to use on line banking and I just can't. But then some bills I couldn't use it for anyway.

Yes I do. Some of my bills are paid automatically through my account, but I pay local businesses for work done or even groceries with a check. Thank goodness I live where I know practically everyone by name and we know we are getting the best they have to offer rather than dealing with people we've never heard of.

Checks are taken to the bank by the store owner (with the exception of convenience stores-they shred them.)

It's just what we do here. It will probably all be changed eventually, but for now that's how we like it.

Yes, I write out checks to pay my bills - utilities, credit cards, etc. The only thing I regret is that they no longer send you the canceled checks. I used to feel so secure when I received my checks back showing that the recipient has cashed them and credited them to my account. The monthly bank statement shows that the checks went through, but it doesn't give me the same feeling. One time the gas company said I didn't pay my bill. The bank was able to supply a copy of the check to send to them, but I would preferred to have had the canceled check in my file.

I only use checks at home. Don't use them to pay for things in stores. Also don't like using debit cards as they come right out of your account, and it could be disaster if the card was lost or stolen.

I see people paying by personal check quite often at the grocery store. I use my debit card and don't carry much cash with me. My apartment rent has to be paid by check, only. No debit cards or any other type of payment is allowed. My other bills are paid online. I don't see personal checks going away any time soon.