[a9ex]

I never used a check my entire life, it‘s just not a thing in Europe (:

In the pre-internet-banking times, you would just fill out one of these forms [0] to send money from your account directly to someone else.

[0] https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zahlschein#/media/Datei%3AZa...

[sneak]

Checks are basically the same thing, they're just given to the payee to give to their bank (to give to your bank) instead.

The high penalties (historically) for writing bad checks meant that if you had a signed check in hand, you had at least a small level of confidence that you had actually been paid the money, much like cash in hand (it could of course be counterfeit, but you can assume to some extent that it is not).

[vladvasiliu]

> I never used a check my entire life, it‘s just not a thing in Europe (:

Which parts of Europe? I use them all the time in France. A bunch of taxes companies have to pay can't be paid by credit card. It's either check or bank transfer.

[hnbad]

In Germany I haven't seen one since the 1990s. I was horrified to learn that they're still in use but apparently there have been only 8.3 million transactions with checks in Germany in 2019 compared to some 11000 million direct debit, 6600 million bank transfers and 6300 debit card transactions.

Apparently there was a Eurocheque system that enabled guarantees for international cheque payments in the EU but ended in 2001. This is generally cited as one of the main reasons cheques rapidly became irrelevant given that EC debit cards were still available and online banking became a thing.

[silvestrov]

In Denmark checks are not supported payment anymore, not even at banks: https://danskebank.dk/privat/find-hjaelp/betalinger-og-overf...

Everything is debit card, bank transfer or MobilePay. Creditcards are only really used for travel and payment of US companies.

[Nextgrid]

I've seen checks being used in France in the past but that was almost a decade ago and I haven't been there since. Are they still prevalent, and if so, why? Is the bank transfer UX not good?

[bigbacaloa]

In Spain I've never seen a check except ones sent to me from the US and bank checks to pay mortgages.

[heisenbit]

Which reminds me, being in Germany of one night I dropped such an order into the bank mailbox to pay my taxes as this exceeded the online limits. Where it then likely was retrieved and the information on it was used to wire 5000€ to the U.K. where probably a money mule was forwarding it. Bank eventually returned it.

[jccalhoun]

I'm in the USA and I write maybe three checks a year. When I was renting I would pay with check but I don't rent any more. Now I write a check to pay the person who is doing work on the house. I can't remember the last time I sent one through the mail or wrote one at a store.

[nibbleshifter]

I've used cheques a few times in Europe. They aren't common (especially since SEPA), but they do still exist.