It was with incredible awe that i sifted thru several boxes of papers during a "lets clean out the basement" expedition.
To think that in 1998 we used to write personal checks for everything -- cell phone, electric, credit card bills, car payments, rent, and everything else. Today, I don't write a single recurring check. I use my checkbook so infrequently I don't really remember what drawer it's in, top, middle, bottom, 'Honey, do you know where my check book is?!'
Today, I log in to my credit card account, review the transactions, schedule a payment, and log out. Then, I log into my checking account, review the completed ACH transactions, and log out. I even receive a reminder message so that I don't forget to pay on time.
Thinking back over the years, without small increments of effort on my part, this market has gradually and persistently moved me away from the physical world. My personal vendors have even given me the opportunity to eliminate paper statements, which I have always taken them up on.
I recognize that identity theft is a large and real problem, but overall I think we are all much, much better off. All that paper. And the collective time to write and process the checks, and the resources required transporting them.
I did a quick review and discovered that, according to the Federal Reserve, in 2004 the number of electronic payments passed the number of paper-based payments. And for the remaining checks, Check 21 eliminates the need for banks to actually send the physical check. Banks can just send a digital image of the check for processing.
I'm on board. I like it. Why wouldn't I? We got a free vacation to Hawaii last year by paying everything humanly possible thru credit cards. And more, sitting in the hot tub I learned that most of the people there, who came from all over the US, had paid for their trip exactly the way we did.
When the convenience and the economics are right, people are more technically savvy than they even realize.