Balancing the Checkbook

I’m 23.  I sometimes forget my age; I guess it just seems irrelevant and my brain has decided to stop remembering it.  But I am always reminded of my age when banking comes up in conversation with members of another generation.  I’m not sure where the gap is, but I would guess it corresponds closely with the development of the internet.

A conversation with a member of my parents’ generation or earlier might go something like this:

“So Jonathan, make sure with all those car problems you’ve had that the bills tie out at the end of the month when you balance your checkbook.”

“Checkbook,” I ponder.  “Ah yes, the checkbook.  I hardly ever use it.” 

“Well you do balance it every month, right?”

I pause, awkwardly.  “Of course!  Who doesn’t?”

“Good!”

I leave the room in search of someone in the know.  Spotting my wife, I duck into a dark corner and gesture for her to come over, “Psst…Ash…come here a sec.” 

“What are you doing?”  She looks around to find out who I’m hiding from.

“Just, come here a sec.  I have a question.”

She comes over, giving into the fact that her husband’s strangeness is incurable.  “Hey, do you know what it means to balance your checkbook?”

“Um, sorta, I think.  Isn’t it just making sure your bills match the checks you’ve written?”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought, but I wasn’t sure.  They were saying something about tying out to the penny, so I guess that works…Have you ever done that?”

“No.”

“Ok, just checking...”  She rolls her eyes and starts to walk away, but I stop her.  I don’t want to be spotted.  I stealthily look around to see if anyone has noticed this covert conversation, and then jump back into the light and walk down the hall whistling.

The truth is, I’ve never once balanced my checkbook, and I don’t intend to ever do so.  I’m pretty confident that most of my generation conforms to this pattern, and here’s why.  First of all, we never write checks.  It took me five years to make it through my first packet of checks.  Why write checks when you could be getting one to two percent cash back on every purchase you make?  There is nothing so pleasing as checking your rewards at the end of the year and seeing you have earned a couple hundred bucks just by paying your bills and buying what you would have bought anyway. 

Generally, proponents of the checkbook point to the security it provides over the plastic option, but I have to respectfully disagree with this perspective.  It’s true that these days you can almost count on one of your credit card numbers being stolen during your lifetime.  But you can dispute any charges that you know someone else made, and I have never heard of anyone who was defrauded in this manner actually having to pay for the fraudulent charges. 

Credit card companies are putting much more effort into identity protection now anyways.  I recently got a new credit card that had better rewards, and I immediately started using it (because of the rewards).  The next day I received a phone call from the company to verify charges they thought might be fraudulent.  Apparently, most credit card users do not jump right into their new card like I did.  So I verified the expenses and that was that.  But I was pleased with their vigilance. 

Then there is the obvious factor of internet banking.  If I couldn’t go online and see every purchase I had made, on both my credit and debit cards, I would be tempted to go back to checks.  But I can see everything – every tiny interest earning, every automated bill, every singular coke that I didn’t have enough cash to pay for because I wanted my credit card rewards so earnestly.  It’s all there. 

Now let’s think about the check.  There are two obvious drawbacks in my opinion.  First, it is slow and cumbersome.  Between the actual writing of checks and the checking and rechecking of sums at the end of every month, much time is wasted.  But more importantly, in terms of security, using a check is openly handing out your bank account number, complete with your name and address.  I find it ironic that some people can be so careful about blocking off their bank account numbers on other documents, but are completely fine with handing it out on every check they write. 

At least with debit, the card number is auxiliary to the account number.  And for credit, where the card number is often the account number, no one is leaving that number in someone else’s keeping.  You swipe the card and get it back.  Sure, people still manage to steal it, but they have to be trickier about it.  And when there is credit fraud, the money is coming out of the bank’s keeping first, rather than coming straight out your bank account.  When the fraud is recognized, it can be fixed entirely without affecting your personal cash balance. 

No – I don’t balance my checkbook, but I keep a very close eye on all of my accounts with online technology and I pay my full bill every month.  I see only one possible benefit to the checkbook habit.  For those who are tempted to overspend when using credit or debit, because it doesn’t seem like real money, using checks is a good way to temper this habit.  But for those who have no trouble keeping track of their finances, it seems to me that using checks for everyday transactions is throwing money away, wasting time, and less secure to boot.