What will replace paper checks?

I've read articles about other countries such as the UK phasing out paper checks within 10 years. I imagine it is inevitable.

So what will replace it? Will all transactions be tied to a credit card company? How will transactions between individuals be done?

Wire transfer of sorts? PayPal? Credit cards?

Seems like every way I think of will make the banks more money.

Via online banking, I suppose...

soon, everyone will have some kind of smart/ID card that can transfer desired amount to another simply by saying "OK card, transfer x amount" and rubbing them together.

Then we become the Borg...

DP

I've had 2-3 customers that do direct transfer, and I get an email on the day its done, kinda wish all were like that, not that I'm much of a fan on doing any money stuff online at all.

There are these new fangled things called debit cards. Theyre obscure now but theyre the hot ticket!

Revelations 13:16-17

Social Security $$ appears the second Wednesday of the month at my bank, I get an email telling me it arrived. Any checks I get I deposit in person. Bank is at the other end of grocery store parking lot.

Electric, telephone, & credit card bills come by email.

Water bill, Property tax, and VA drug co-pay come by US Mail.

Everything is paid on line using my banks secure web site except for the property tax. I write one check a year for that, and drop it in the drop box on my way through town.

I could use a credit card but they charge a fee for that.

For in person purchases I use a debit card, for out of town purchases by internet or phone I use a credit card for a layer of protection. I get walking around money when I buy groceries.

This has been working for about 10 years with no glitches.

Paul

This is the shop owner/management area, so let's think more in the business realm.

I understand that credit/debit cards have widespread use in the personal world, but business still runs on credit and paper checks. Some companies require multiple people to authorize purchases (sign checks). There are also antiquated purchasing and accounting software and practices still in widespread use.

Heavey Metal said:

Revelations 13:16-17

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My Mother's street address is 664.
I guess that makes her the Neighbor of the Beast.


Rex

Maybe it's just me. Out of all the things to simplify my life, 'going check-less' just doesn't seem to be all that great of a leap forward. One of my euro buddies likes to chime in all the time with some way they are 'ahead' of us idiots in USAland. Now lets say I have to pay some random person some amount. I usually do this 15-20 per week. What is easier? To write a check to Joe Commoner for $300 for that tool box I bought off craiglist or to determine SWIFT, ABA, bank name and blah blah blah for every stupid transaction. Example: This week I bought a chuck for one of the 4th axis'. I'm sorry, but it was pretty damn easy to mail a check to them instead of finding out wiring details from someone I buy one item from every 5 years.

thermite said:

Cash or cash equivalents ain't ever quite going away, either.

Bill

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I would hope not, but...I wouldn't put it past people/institutions.

Replace cash? Well if things keep running like they are in DC, I'll have customers giving me 3 chickens, sack of flour, and a goat for payment.

david n said:

Replace cash? Well if things keep running like they are in DC, I'll have customers giving me 3 chickens, sack of flour, and a goat for payment.

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And you'll be rich.

Even when gov't is doing nuthin, it's still spendin.

Please don't send this into a political nose dive.

On a related note...I hear that many credit cards are now going with ( I forgot the exact name) those chips that send a signal so that they dont even get swiped through a reader, they just pass it in front of an "eye". That seems like a disaster waiting to happen. What would prevent someone with a portable "eye" from getting on a city bus and reading the cards in your pocket? Or someone just walking down the street from doing the same. I realize they would need to be in close proximity to your card but WTF. Seems like a horrible idea to me.

BACS is kinda the std in the uk for paying these days unless its a card based transaction. To pay some one using bacs you just need the account name, account number and there sorting code. Dead simple, quickish and easy. Cheques are slow and a pain in the ass, you have to write them, you have to send them, they have to pay them in then the banks have to clear them, lots of steps, lots of agro.

Con tactless payment is a std approach for low value transactions, use to be a £10 limit on my card before having to do chip and pin normal style, think its now upto £25 but still not enough for a tank of gas. Thinking about it i don't think i have ever paid that way, but supposedly my cards are capable of it.

toolsteel said:

On a related note...I hear that many credit cards are now going with ( I forgot the exact name) those chips that send a signal so that they dont even get swiped through a reader, they just pass it in front of an "eye". That seems like a disaster waiting to happen. What would prevent someone with a portable "eye" from getting on a city bus and reading the cards in your pocket? Or someone just walking down the street from doing the same. I realize they would need to be in close proximity to your card but WTF. Seems like a horrible idea to me.

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Its my understanding that there are already devices out there than can read those codes from a card in your billfold as the hacker walks by you. Like yourself, I don't see those chips as any great leap forward in useful technology.

Personally, I avoid using credit cards or debit cards as much as possible for the simple reason that I see the push for their use primarily as one more method by which the parasites running the financial industry can effortlessly suck additional money out of passing transactions where they add some miniscule value in comparison to the amount of money they extract for the "service".

For example, say you buy something for $100, and the transaction fee to the seller is 2.5%. That seller buys something from someone else for $100, with the 2nd seller paying the same fee. Continue this for 40 transactions of $100 each, and the banksters now have every cent of the original $100, which they can now put to work with the rest of their money in manipulating commodity prices and administering a further screwing to society in general.

People in general are pathetically stupid and gullible in their willingness to buy into the latest "convenience technology" so they can feel like they're on the cutting edge and among those in society who are really "with it". In reality, they're so damned ignorant that they're incapable of comprehending the fact they're paying for all this "convenience" in the form of higher prices from the merchant who has to increase those prices to cover the additional overhead associated with transaction fees. Is it really more convenient to pull out a card, swipe it, and enter a PIN or sign a receipt, than it is to just pull out a $100 bill and hand it to the cashier? Do you really feel smart when you realize you just paid that $2.50 or $3 transaction fee in the form of increased prices for the privilege of swiping that card? IMO, a person would be better off to pay with cash and give the 3 bucks to the next street beggar they encounter. The beggar probably will spend the money on his next bottle of Ripple, but even that has more positive effect on the economy than does sticking another 3 bucks in the pockets of banking parasites.

ewlsey said:

Please don't send this into a political nose dive.

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It's completely bipartisan.

www.Dwolla.com - It's pretty awesome, and I think it will replace a lot of business transactions. Paypal costs too much, but I think that if you removed Paypal's stupid policies and fees, the concept is awesome. Dwolla basically does that- they do direct bank account to bank account transfers, without actually revealing account information of either party, and just 25 cents per transaction.

They have an API that allows companies to build in whatever approval requirements they want. I use it to receive my rent payments from my tenants every month, and the car payments on loans I hold.

Cash will never go away, but in the realm of business transactions I think direct bank account transfers wrapped in something more user friendly like Dwolla will be the enduring solution.