Checks Are Not Debit Cards

When I choose to pay a store for their goods by check, I using the direct descendant of the letters of credit the medieval banking system developed and which led to the modern financial systems we use today.

Writing a check at a place that accepts checks is perfectly legal.

However, if I choose to write a check, I do NOT believe the store had the right to take that choice away from me by processing the check as a debit card.

I have a debit card but I chose to write a check.

Why did I go through all the bother of writing out a check and getting my ID ready so that the pimply-faced cashier can just hand it back to me?

"Oh", I hear you say, "it all comes out of your checking account so what's the big deal?"

First of all, some banks charge YOU for the store's actions. Yup, some banks are charging a fee for your check getting processed like a debit card - when it was the store that took the choice away from you in the first place.

Second of all, checks and debit cards are two entirely different financial instruments with different sets of governance. For example, I can write you a check for $100, then you can endorse that check and hand it to someone else who can endorse it and deposit it into their own checking account.

You can not do that with a debit card - only you are allowed to use the debit card. Whereas a check can bounce from person to person before cashed.

I tend to avoid stores that take away my check-writing privileges. If I absolutely have to go to them, I'll go but I rarely do. Why? Because I really, really hate it when how I choose to pay is taken away from me.

Hate It.