Toward Paperless Banking

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At one time, I would write over 150 checks a year. Until a few years ago, that meant getting a fat envelope from my bank. No money inside, just a statement of my transactions and all the checks that I had written for that month. These days we're moving closer to a paperless society. Your bank will send you a monthly statement and nothing else.

Our checks have disappeared through the process of accounts receivable conversion. You haven't lost proof that you wrote a check. The banks are simply making an electronic image of your document while turning the check into a debt transaction. On your statement, your bank may label them "automated checks" or "authorized transfers" or simply "ARC". In any case, this is just the banks effort to speed up the transference of money. Instead of taking weeks for a check to clear, now it's just a matter of hours. Of course, there is an even faster way of transferring funds than electronic banking. It's called marriage.