Keeping track . . .

paper checks still popular

paper checks continue to be America's favorite way to pay bills, despite the growing popularity of technologically savvy debit cards, ATMs, and computerized billing services that grab payments straight from checking accounts. A recent survey by the Check Payment Systems Association (CPSA) in Washington found that:

*More than 89 percent of all Americans use checks as their No. 1 payment method.

*Checks account for 73 percent of noncash transactions.

*Check growth over the past 20 years has skyrocketed from 28 billion checks written in 1976 to nearly 65 billion in 1996.

According to CPSA, checks remain popular because they are more accurate, final, private, and secure.

(c) Copyright 1999. The Christian Science Publishing Society