Things don’t always work out the way we imagine. Sometimes the unexpected happens and we’re forced to deal with the circumstances.
It’s times like this when you can only hope to have a solid “Plan B.”
Developing a good back-up plan is a good strategy for just about anything in life. That includes your preferred payment option.
We’re not stoopid. At Check Advantage we realize that a lot of people would rather use other types of payment than personal checks. There’s no question that credit cards and debit cards can be extremely efficient. If you can use them responsibly – there’s no reason why you shouldn’t keep them in your wallet.
Online bill pay is another great convenience that the Internet age has brought about. It’s an extremely useful tool for keeping track of your finances and making sure bills get paid on time.
But that doesn’t mean there will never be times when you’ll need to turn to personal checks.
A month ago, I wrote about how my wife and I visited a legendary pizza parlor in Appleton, WI. In 1955, Frank’s Pizza Parlor on College Avenue became the first pizzeria to ever open in the city. Apparently they hadn’t updated things much since then – because they couldn’t accept credit or debit cards.
If my wife didn’t have personal checks in her purse we might have had to scrub some toilets to pay for dinner.
Now it’s true – places that don’t accept credit cards are a rare find. But there are other reasons that personal checks can be an excellent backup plan.
Have you ever gone to get some cash but the ATM ate your card because you forget your PIN? Personal checks could be a great backup in this situation.
Have you ever been in the checkout line and the cashier tells you there’s something wrong with their system today and they can’t accept debit cards. Personal checks to the rescue!
Let’s say you need to get online and authorize the payment of a bill. What happens if your Internet connection is down – or worse yet – your computer crashes completely. I doubt the collection agency will take that as an excuse. Luckily – you probably have a checkbook ready to help back you up.
By the way – there are a lot of places that will charge you an extra “convenience fee” for paying online. That’s ridiculous! Tell them where to put that convenience fee then order checks online and make your payment that way!
All this talk about having a Plan B reminds me of one of the worst movies ever made (THE worst according to many film buffs) Plan 9 From Outerspace. If you’ve never seen it – check out the trailer below. If this is how Plan 9 turned out Plans 1 through 8 must have been disasters!
Image credit: mringlein
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