Ordering personal checks or just replacing them with a debit or credit card is a decision you must have faced at some point when organizing your finances. There is a lot to consider when choosing between the two options, but it mainly depends on what you are going to use them for and which of them is going to save you more time, and preferably more money. Also, you need to consider the risks when using either of them, whether security risks or other risks that might arise from their usage.
Arguments favoring debit cards over checks include that many places do not accept checks anymore, some places are even doing “no-checks-accepted” trials in order to see how many customers will complain about it. Also checks usually work only in your area or state, but are rarely accepted in other states or even internationally, unlike debit cards. Some people see that using debit cards is a lot easier than using checks, where the payment is done faster unlike writing a check. Also, amounts you pay using debit cards are deducted faster than a check is cleared and your account is affected which might cause you to overspend without knowing that checks you issued earlier have not been reflected on your account yet.
When discussing security features of both options, you will find that some people favor using debit cards because they are used with pins, whereas checks can be easily stolen and forged. But security features offered by reliable printing companies include measures that protect checks against forging and modification. Another security issue related to checks is that the personal information printed on the checks can assist a scammer in using it for identity theft, whereas debit cards do not contain the same amount of information.
Moving to the argument favoring personal checks over debit cards, it is always advisable to use personal checks with sellers that you trust, also sellers need to make sure that the checks are legitimate and that the issuer is a trusted person. People who like using personal checks instead of debit cards say that banks use overdraft protection to manipulate their clients into paying far more than they received from the bank, where they allow you to withdraw from your account even if there is no balance and so you start paying heavy fees for the overdraft amount. It is true that clients have the option to refuse such service, but most people just use it without even knowing how much they have in their bank accounts to begin with, not realizing that they’re using money that isn’t theirs and paying more than they can imagine in overdraft fees. Also people who use their personal checks with a check register and properly organize their finances are always better off.