Edit: bills and rent are possibly the last hold out, but usually you set up bill payments through your bank.
Basically his experience was:
- Cheques were still reasonably common, to the point that some bank(s) had mobile apps to scan a cheque to deposit it!
- "Bill payments" through a bank usually involved bank staff literally preparing a cheque on your behalf, and mailing it to the biller
As for your comment about "person to person is Paypal" - ok and what if I actually care about what happens to the money, rather than it randomly being held by some non-bank? Do US banks really not have a standard way to transfer money to another individual electronically?
In Australia all that's needed are BSB number (Bank-State-Branch, a unique identifier for each individual branch through the country) and Account number. Transfers could take up to a day or two, the last time I tracked it
In Thailand, there is a similar system where money can be transferred directly to an account belonging to someone else (or your own account at another bank). So far it has always been instant transfer.
Both of these systems are available via internet banking, mobile apps and in Australia, phone banking (not sure about Thailand, promo material isn't always in English)
I remember a few years ago a client in the US apologising for an incorrect wire transfer to me, as he'd given the teller the wrong amount (swapped a 5 and a 2 or something). I was stunned to think that the founder of a tech startup would not be using internet banking to make wire transfers to contractors, but after reading about the cheque situation it occurred to me that maybe he didn't have the choice.. can anyone confirm deny this is available?
I sometimes still get paid by clients using checks, but most have switched over to direct deposit or paying with credit cards.
International wire transfers are another beast due to the IRS and all the regulation around it. You need their bank account, ABA routing number, name, branch address, etc. I wire funds to Vietnam all the time, but there is a limit to the frequency and amount that I can do. It also will raise flags with the IRS, which is something to avoid.
Paper checks are suspected to go the way of the dinosaur in the US by 2028.
The UK is also a big check writing country too, fwiw.
And, honestly, checks aren't a pain in the ass. It's probably the same amount of time/effort as logging into a website and sending money, except for the time it takes to mail it or deliver it by hand.
Edit: did you notice what I said about transfers in Thailand: instant. I can, within about 90 seconds, send money to a person or business at any other bank in the country. A cheque is only "basically the same time" if your scale for comparison is years.
Cheques are absolutely a pain in the ass, and you're kidding yourself if you think the us isn't woefully behind the times in terms of banking.
I thought thailand was bad when I tried to setup a foreign currency account, but it's like Star Trek era banking compared to amercia
Checks are cleared almost instantly now. When you take a photo of it, it's run through ACH just like a wire transfer is. At most, it takes a day depending on when you deposit it.
I never said the US was ahead or behind either, that's something you erroneously inferred. Checks are no longer common, as I said a few replies up. Other than dealing with come clients that still pay by check, I haven't seen one or dealt with them for years.
Also, I live part-time in Vietnam, so I know all about wire transfers thank you very much. I also know what dicks Aussie ex-pats are too, thanks for confirmation.
If you look again you'll see I didn't ask for an opinion, like "are cheques a good way to transfer funds" I asked for confirmation/updates about a previously documented fact - the use of cheques in us banking.