When was the last time you wrote out a physical, personal check?

[Charmonium]

I'm not going to include other types of withdrawal though.

For my part, I have no f'ing idea - certainly one to two years I would guess. But I do permit what I'll call parasitic (automatic) w/drawals for a variety of payees.

 

[IronWing]

I had to write one last month. We write a check about once every two years or so.

 

[Iron Woode]

That is how I pay my rent.

 

[biostud]

They don't exist in Denmark anymore.

 

[KMFJD]

well over 20 years ago, it's been so long i don't really remember but i do know that i never used them much and barely made a dent in the first booklet(?) of checks i was given

 

[lxskllr]

25 years? The rare times I need something check-like, I get a money order from USPS. Doing my part to keep USPS healthy. Also, I'm philosophically opposed to checks. It's the way to get paid without actually getting paid. A multistage process that hopefully ends up with gold in your pocket, but is in no way guaranteed. The check's worthless until it clears. It's a hope and a prayer of getting paid.

 

[Brainonska511]

A couple months ago when I had to put a deposit + first month's rent down on my current place.

 

[Charmonium]

A couple months ago when I had to put a deposit + first month's rent down on my current place.

Yeah, for the electronic ACH (???) w/drawals, the payee probably needs to be authenticated. And I can't see an ordinary, private person getting that sort of access.

 

[dullard]

I write a few checks per year. Mostly the DMV (which charges a bundle for ACH checks) and small clubs (which charge a bit too much for cash, especially if everyone pays at once). Then there are recreation guides in Utah that tend to add a hefty credit card fee if they accept credit cards at all. But those guides are starting to move to Venmo.

 

[K1052]

Three months ago for parking space rent.

 

[nOOky]

I wrote a check for my vehicle back about 14 months ago. They would not let me use a credit card to gain any points, they limited it to $2,000 or some small value was all they would allow. So I wrote a check and denied all of the other warranties and coverages like a good boy.

I've gotten a surprising amount of unsolicited advice from "smart" people that told me I should have financed the vehicle and invested the money.

 

[lxskllr]

I've gotten a surprising amount of unsolicited advice from "smart" people that told me I should have financed the vehicle and invested the money.

It's not terrible advice if you want to play games and get every penny you can out of life. I don't have time for games. I just want the transaction done.

 

[biostud]

We have something called "giro card" which is a standardized bill you can easily pay electronically in your web bank, or we simply do bank transfers.

You simply put in the numbers after +71 and the payment noted on the girokort, and then the bill is payed.
And if it is a reoccurring thing you can set it up for automatic payment.

 

[Brainonska511]

I write a few checks per year. Mostly the DMV (which charges a bundle for ACH checks) and small clubs (which charge a bit too much for cash, especially if everyone pays at once). Then there are recreation guides in Utah that tend to add a hefty credit card fee if they accept credit cards at all. But those guides are starting to move to Venmo.

That reminds me of a more recent check I wrote than for my current apartment. In ME, you generally register your vehicle and pay the local excise tax at the same time through city hall, so I wrote a check there to save on processing fees.

Yeah, for the electronic ACH (???) w/drawals, the payee probably needs to be authenticated. And I can't see an ordinary, private person getting that sort of access.

In the past, when I've rented places, they've often wanted certified forms of payment (outside of a really large, corporate landlord that might allow a credit/debit without fee for the deposit), so I was quite happy to simply write a big personal check to secure my current apartment, instead of having to go to the bank or a post office to get a certified form of payment on short notice. But once everything was set up, I just do a fee-free ACH payment (pull) via the landlord's online payment portal.

 

[allisolm]

A couple of days ago for property taxes. They charge 2.5% fee if you want to pay with credit card. Could pay in person with cash but that involves a trip to the bank to get thousands in cash and an appointment at the tax office plus going there. lxskllr is philosophically opposed to checks and I, on the other hand, am philosophically opposed to automatic withdrawals unless forced. With the number of companies that get hacked, I'm just not a fan of having umpteen different entities in possession of my banking information.

​

 

[dullard]

I, on the other hand, am philosophically opposed to automatic withdrawals unless forced. With the number of companies that get hacked, I'm just not a fan of having umpteen different entities in possession of my banking information.

I understand your point; however, I think it is misguided. Once you send the company a physical check they have your name, address, all bank account information, signature, and often other personal information that may be printed on the check (I've seen people have SS numbers or drivers license numbers on their physical check). They have only half of that information with an automatic withdrawal.

 

[lxskllr]

I, on the other hand, am philosophically opposed to automatic withdrawals

I don't do that either. I have nothing on autopay. I prepay my gas/electric $500 at a time to get the benefit of autopay without autopay. That $500 isn't going as far as it did last year. It used to get me 6+ months of energy. Now, it's more like 4 months :^/

 

[Red Squirrel]

I can't recall, I'd say a few years maybe. Once in a while it still happens where I have to write one for like a contractor or something, but even those are starting to accept etransfer now, or sometimes they even prefer just cash. So it's getting rarer.

I can understand not liking automatic withdrawls due to wanting more control of money flow but for me it's convenience. For anything reoccurring I don't want to have to think about it or have to do manual legwork each month. Once in a while I login to my bank to check transactions and if anything seems off I go look at the actual bill. Otherwise I rarely look at my bills, they all have their own login interface and you have to login to each one individually so it's kind of a pain to start doing that each month.

 

[bba-tcg]

10/25/2025. First one I've written in years. Probably the last one for years to come.

 

[KLin]

Several years at least.

 

[bbhaag]

Once a month we go to the local bank that originally financed our mortgage and write them a check. They sold our mortgage to Fannie Mae but we are still able to pay our monthly payment to the local bank.

The reason we don't just do a monthly automatic transfer is because the local bank requires you to have a checking or savings account with them which we do not have.

This is the only reason we still use paper checks. Everything else is on autopay.

I will say as a SBO we stopped taking checks around 5 years ago. It got to the point were it was not worth the hassle. Cash or credit only baby...lets go!

 

[RossMAN]

25 years? The rare times I need something check-like, I get a money order from USPS.

About the same for me, everything is mostly credit card, ACH, cash or for those rare times I need a check USPS MO or cashiers check. I actually don't know where my 2000-ish check book is.

 

[thestrangebrew1]

I haven't written one in years but I know the wife writes one every few months for various donations here in town.

 

[Ken g6]

A month shy of three years. That one dentist must have been kind of backwards.

 

[SKORPI0]

Every week for rent of a 3 bedroom house. Monthly for a 20' x 20' garage.