Order Checks to Increase Security
September 25, 2009 : Posted by: admin : Category: Finance : Comments (0) : Add CommentIt may seem like live, personal checks have gone the way of the handwritten letter – technology and the Internet are advanced enough that most anything handwritten is obsolete, or at least not preferred as much as automatic payments and e-mails. Indeed, both letters and checks go through the postal system, which is not nearly as fast or reliable as people like, and anything that goes through the postal service requires postage and supplies, which both cost money. Still, checks have an appeal all their own and carry unique advantages that automatic payments certainly lack.
Some who have turned away from personal checks in favor of other methods of payment claim that electronic payments are more secure; however, the increasingly common stories of ID theft and fraud clearly show that the electronic world is not immune from the threats that exist in the mail system. On the contrary, personal checks must be signed and endorsed with appropriate signatures to verify the check is being handled by the correct people. In this way, checks may actually be more secure than electronic payment, because checks carry the physical proof of where they have been.

On the brighter side, personal checks carry an opportunity for their carrier to express themselves. For example, photo checks may show any picture on the check the carrier wishes, such as a family portrait, a photo of a memorable vacation, or anything else that can be captured in a camera lens. These are similar to the checks available when a bank customer goes to order checks, except that photo checks are more customizable.
Still, when ordering checks, there are always the many choices available when a customer considers what name and address to put on the checks (or even whether to have the bank imprint a name or address on the checks at all). Photo checks may even provide an edge in deterring identity theft, if the photo is of the actual check carrier. Outside of actual photo checks, of course there is the wide array of illustrations and pictures from which to choose.
Some very fancy personal checks include metallic foil details, personalized characters in foreign languages, even a variety of different images in the same check booklet. One could liken the argument of checks versus electronic payments in much the same fashion as one could argue the preference of e-mail to letters and actual physical correspondence, citing security, convenience, and timeliness. However, one thing is for sure, electronic options do not carry the same personality and capacity for self-expression as their physical paper counterparts.


