Check Facts and FiguresWritten by Antigone Arthur
Check Facts and FiguresAre you a check fanatic? Don't worry, you aren't alone. Millions of consumers write checks every year. In fact in United States most consumers use checks to handle payment transactions. Want to convince your friends and family of benefits of check writing? Consider following check writing trivia: - Deluxe™ checks provide international checking supplies. The company produces more checks than any other international check printer.
- Deluxe™ checks led
movement to create picture checks and direct market checks. - Americans write more than 42.5 billion checks every year.
- Some believe an Ancient Roman first came on
idea of check writing, though it didn't become popular until late 1600s. - Europeans wrote
first official checks during 1650s. - In
United States checks are among most popular form of payment, above credit cards. - People write roughly 450 million "bad checks" or checks that bounce every year.
- Counterfeiting money and checks used to be a treasonous crime. Officials could sentence someone to death for it.
- 1/3 of all money currency circulating during
Civil War was fake - Check writing didn't become popular in
United States until after 1800s. - Deluxe™ uses a proprietary or unique technology to print checks.
- 60 percent of all transactions not paid for with cash are paid by check.
- Consumers are 65 percent more likely to use checks than other forms of electronic payments.
- The number of checks used by Americans is increasing. In recent years check use rose 54 percent alone.
- More than 39 trillion dollars in payments are made every year with checks, compared to just 7 trillion for other forms of payment.
As you can see, writing checks is a favorite past time. No matter what check you prefer, whether cheap personal checks, top stub checks, side tear or cheap checks in general, rest assured check writing is not likely to die out any time soon. Within United States, check writing is more common than elsewhere. Check use is increasing in United States. Nearly 84 percent of payment transactions in United States come in form of check payments.
| | Read and Understand Your Credit Card StatementWritten by Neil Goldberg
Have you ever looked at your credit card statement and ended up just scratching your head in frustration? Well join club! But don’t take any comfort in fact that you have plenty of company, because lack of knowledge can cost you….right on your credit report, and once there can stay with you a while.Adding to challenge is that almost every creditor’s statement is slightly different, varying in format and billing cycle and interest calculations. You first want to check what you purchased and what you borrowed, so make sure you save all your receipts to make sure you weren’t charged for something you didn’t buy or were double billed. Immediately dispute any discrepancies via phone and in writing. Next you’ll want to verify interest rates being applied for each type of purchase. Remember, cash advances almost always carry a higher interest than normal purchases and interest usually accrues from date you received money. Also, if you have any balance transfers with introductory interest rates, verify that it is correctly noted and hasn’t been increased prematurely.
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