Paying with a check may soon be a thing of the past

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI)- Debit, Credit, Apple Pay, Venmo, Cash App, or maybe just plain old cash.

When it comes to making a purchase, it seems like there are more options than necessary.

However, checks are one thing you may be seeing less of.

Nicole Huff is the owner of Southern Flour Bakery in Columbus.

She said she just recently stopped accepting checks.

“About a year ago, and that was kind of the last straw for me. I just stopped,” said Huff.

That last straw being a “bad check.” Huff said she’s seen more than her fair share of them in her seven years of owning a bakery.

“I’ve had people bounce checks for five dollars, six dollars, and they don’t pay. I could prosecute that, but I just don’t want to go through. I just mark it off… If someone bounces a check, I have to go through a whole… so many times I have to call them, so many times I have to go down the prosecutor, so many times I have to fill paper work out,” said Huff.

Citizens National Bank Regional Support Officer Shannon Shaw said a lot of people are choosing to no longer write or cash checks.

“We do see a decline in actual checks being used because of all the apps to pay people and things like that,” said Shaw.

Southern Flour, uses a newer transaction system called “Square.”

“The square system processes all of our payments, but we don’t pay interchange fees, which are fees that regular credit card companies would actually charge to the business owner,” said Huff.

The system accepts things like Apple Pay, where customers can pay for items with just a tap of their phone or card.

“There’s something on the back of your check-card, like visa card or whatever, where you can just tap that on there,” said Huff.

Not everyone is sold on this new way of exchanging money.

“They’re not-so-sure of the apps where you send money through an app on your cell phone. I owe you money, so I’m just going to write you a check, or I’m going to tithe, so I’ll just write you a check. Some churches don’t take online payments yet,” said Shaw.

Even still, Huff said she sees fewer and fewer checks and surprisingly less cash as well.

“Every day I can tell it’s lower. People pay with their phones and their cards,” said Huff.

Banking insiders said there are no signs of checks or cash disappearing anytime soon, but they wouldn’t be surprised if things were vastly different within the next ten years.