9-11 and the death of cheques?

When the planes crashed into the twin towers on September 11, 2001, it signaled the death of cheques.

Why?

Because while the planes were grounded, so were all the paper cheques.

Billions of dollars in paper cheques sat in airplanes. Waiting.

The banks hated that.

They lost money.

Big money.

And they vowed to never let it happen again.

They pushed to pass a law that allowed for electronic settlement of cheques.

No more airplanes needed. Well, a lot fewer anyway.

And the banks saved…and are still saving…BILLIONS of dollars because they no longer pay for transportation and labor associated with moving paper cheques around the country.

But what did you save?

Did the interest you earn on your savings go up?

Did your bank eliminate or lower their fees?

Of course not.

They just kept all that savings to themselves.

And then went on and caused the financial crises of 2008.

Nice work, fellas.

Here’s my point…

Not using cheques is good for the banks.

But not necessarily good for you.

There are plenty of reasons to still use cheques.

Probably the best reason is that using cheques makes you stop and think about each purchase you make.

No mindless swiping or clicking and “adding to cart.”

Cheques make you smarter about how you spend your money.

Don’t let the banks fool you into thinking cheques are an old fashioned, dumb idea.

Oh, and don’t let them fool you into thinking that cheques should be expensive either!