I have every bill I can paid via Auto-pay or Bill-pay. So I only have a few items I pay with a personal check (plumber, electrician, etc).
I’ve been wondering about alternatives to personal checks, especially with the increase in check washing/fraud. I think my bank does Zelle, and I’ll look into it. I also have a Pay Pal account which I use, but there can be fees for the other person.
What are good alternatives to check payments that you have used?
(I’m also interested because I want to gift some $$ to younger family members, and I hesitate to give them a check!)
Thanks for your responses-- I’m very interested to hear!
I haven’t written a personal check in over 10 years. If I am having work done and they want paid right then, I’ll ask them for an estimate and run to the bank to get cash, but if they bill, I use my banks bill pay system and set them up there. It will let me set up individuals as well. While I retired after 30 years in IT, I"m not really into apps to do this, but my daughter and her friends use Venmo.
I use my bank’s Bill Pay, too, but for small businesses, the bank just issues and mails a check! For bigger companies, the bank will do an electronic payment. Maybe my bank is behind the times.
I’ve used Cash App b/c the HVAC service I use is cash, check, or Cash App only, (which I think is a disservice to customers but I like to support small local biz). Before Cash App was an option I sometimes used old fashioned money orders as a last resort but obviously having to go to a bank or Post Office is not at all convenient or practical. Consumer Reports has rated Venmo, Cash App, and Zelle and finds different security and privacy issues with each. Zelle generally gets the lowest marks across all categories and also gets a big thumbs down from Clark Howard. None of these seem perfect options but either Venmo or Cash App will likely meet your occasional need to move money.
I’ve been using PayPal since 2001. It’s flawless, I use it all the time. Why should I consider adding Venmo on top of that? (I don’t want to add accounts I don’t really need).
Of course, how can millions be wrong? They will be right, up until the day that some group recognizes a juicy target and hacks into the system and steels millions from those millions of users. Then all of a sudden, it will be. “Well, they should have known that this was really unsafe!”
The privacy settings on Venmo are unideal. By default, non-teen account payments are public – any Venmo user can see them. While public, anyone can see your username, the username of the other person (sender/recipient), and the attached message.
You can change your privacy settings so payments are only visible to your friends – or make them private. But some consumers use the app without even realizing that their payments are public. That can frustrate those who prefer to keep personal finances to themselves. Venmo Review: Pros, Cons, and More | The Motley Fool
Hmmmm… I’ll bet many of the millions of users don’t realize this
Thanks for that. The one thing I find confusing in his recommendation is the first thing. His number one way to pay bills is to go to the company’s site. How do you pay your credit card bill by going to their website without allowing them to direct debit your checking account? If that’s what he’s suggesting that seems worse than having the bank pay them direct via billpay.
Check the link that was posted earlier in this thread to Clark’s thoughts on this. His comment regarding payment apps like Venmo and Cash App says, “…Clark’s main concern is that as legit money transfer services, they have primarily put the onus on the customer — you — to bail yourself out when something goes wrong.”
Most plumbers and electricians will take credit card payments, as for sending money to relatives use a gift card, Visa and others have prepaid cards.
For small businesses, I try not to use credit cards b/c they generate a ~3.5%-4% fee on the business.
As for VIsa gift cards – there have been too many incidents of scammers getting hold of the card number and code, and emptying the gift card before the recipient can use it!