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How common is check usage in the USA? Is it a daily/weekly/monthly/quarterly thing?
Bill pay sends a bank check which is covered by the immediate withdrawal of funds from the customer’s account. In most cases, the customer would be fine with that or even prefer it, to ensure they don’t accidentally bounce a check.
However, I’m wondering if another customer base can be someone who has bank bill pay but wants to float the funds until the check is cashed. Maybe they don’t have the actual funds yet but want to write a check against funds they expect to have soon (risky but people do it).
Do you restrict writing checks that are for an amount greater than the current account balance?
Lastly, I’m wondering how you handle deliberate check fraud. Victims will try to sue all associated parties. How does your liability work in those cases?
I see you are using Plaid for Bank integration. The last time I checked Plaid , there were security issues with regards to how it handled passwords by copying Bank login screens. I believe TD was suing Plaid for this reason. I wish you best of luck but I avoid any service that uses Plaid.
If you have a Capital One or Citi account, both use a direct integration.
Checks might have been useful historically, but I really can't think of any use case these days where I'd prefer writing a check over just instructing my bank to pay somebody directly, which has the huge advantage of being more secure (my bank and I can agree on any security measures we like, vs. having to trust various third parties to "authenticate" a piece of paper and a signature) and avoids having to "balance my checking account" entirely.
How common is check usage in the USA? Is it a daily/weekly/monthly/quarterly thing?
Not to rain on your parade, but my Chase app already has this ability. Don’t other banks as well? Whats the upside of this option?
Yes most of the major banks do, but many neo banks don't. Upside is convenience and speed for folks that don't have a bank with billpay.
Why does it need to be connected to your bank at all? It just needs the account, routing, and check numbers. I can order paper checks with arbitrary account and routing numbers on them. Also, for people with printers: checks don’t need to be with special ink or on special paper.
Technically, a check can be scribbled on a napkin in crayon, as long as it contains the sender’s account and routing numbers, and the payee, and the amount. It’s just an instruction note to a bank saying pay this person from this account.
(We tried it a couple times at two different banks. With n=2, our p value was Is there some sort of standards document somewhere that outlines the minimum viable check? Because handwritten in crayon on a napkin... I don't think that even "technically" counts. At least not anymore.
But on the other hand, I suppose a payee could accept your Crayola-napkin-check and just punch the numbers into their electronic check submission system?
Why does it need to be connected to your bank at all? It just needs the account, routing, and check numbers. I can order paper checks with arbitrary account and routing numbers on them. Also, for people with printers: checks don’t need to be with special ink or on special paper.
Technically, a check can be scribbled on a napkin in crayon, as long as it contains the sender’s account and routing numbers, and the payee, and the amount. It’s just an instruction note to a bank saying pay this person from this account.
How common is check usage in the USA? Is it a daily/weekly/monthly/quarterly thing?
It's still baffling to me that the US, unlike most other countries, have never developed "push" bank/credit transfers. Checks might have been useful historically, but I really can't think of any use case these days where I'd prefer writing a check over just instructing my bank to pay somebody directly, which has the huge advantage of being more secure (my bank and I can agree on any security measures we like, vs. hav…
ACH and Zelle are both "push" transfers, although the former isn't typically available to consumers. Businesses certainly use it to do direct payroll deposits, for instance.