MONEY SAVER
Canceled Checks
When Target stopped accepting paper checks at the register this past summer, it was one of many signs of this payment method’s slow decline. Here are some more
Americans use checks less …
Checks processed by the Federal Reserve
… and younger adults use them hardly at all.
Percentage of Americans who wrote a check in one month (October 2023)
Checks aren’t popular for paying bills …
… and even less popular when making purchases.
Although on the decline, checks are still key to how some organizations and people get paid.
Percentage of payments received as checks:
The U.S. government doesn’t like writing checks either.
Since 2013, most Social Security recipients have been required to receive benefits electronically.
We have other ways of settling up with friends and family.
Share of person-to-person payments by method, 2023
If you’re mailing a check, experts advise using the mail drop inside a post office, not a neighborhood mailbox.
Mailing checks has become riskier than ever …
Reports of check fraud potentially related to mail theft
This activity was “fraud, plain and simple,” a Chase spokesperson had to explain, “regardless of what you see online.”
… and check fraud went viral last summer.
Inspired by TikTok videos, thousands of Chase Bank customers preyed on a programming glitch to deposit bad checks at ATMs, then withdrew the checks’ face value in cash—up to tens of thousands of dollars.
SOURCES: KEVIN FOSTER, SURVEY DIRECTOR, FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF ATLANTA; FINANCIAL CRIMES ENFORCEMENT NETWORK; GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS