Checks continue to dominate the market for noncash retail payments in the United States. Each year, U.S. residents … write between 65 billion and 70 billion checks, an average of one check per business day per resident. This dependence on … checks is unique among developed countries. It is also extremely costly: by switching from checks to other forms of payment …

One reason the U.S. has been slow to move from paper checks to electronic payments is that the benefits for individual …