TIME

Time.com

MY ACCOUNT SIGN IN SIGN OUT SUBSCRIBE SUBSCRIBE
Home U.S. Politics World Business Tech Health TIME Health Entertainment Science Newsfeed Living Sports History The TIME Vault Magazine Ideas TIME Labs
Photography Videos The Goods Press Room TIME Guide to Happiness
The 100 Most Influential People Guns in America Next Generation Leaders Person of the Year Space Explorers: The ISS Experience
Subscribe Newsletters Feedback Privacy Policy Your California Privacy Rights Terms of Use Ad Choices Ad Choices
RSS TIME Apps TIME for Kids Advertising Reprints and Permissions Site Map Help Customer Service © 2025 TIME USA, LLC. All rights reserved.
Subscribe
Sign InSubscribe

Saving & Spending

Online Banking Customers Demand Paper Checks

ING announced that for the first time it would make paper checkbooks available to accountholders. Odd throwback move or brilliant strategy?

By Martha C. White Aug. 15, 2011
  • Share
  • Read Later
    • Send to Kindle
Brand X Pictures / Getty Images

Related

  • ING Direct Now Offers Paper Checks Depositaccounts.com
  • Email
  • Print
  • Share
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Tumblr
    • LinkedIn
    • StumbleUpon
    • Reddit
    • Digg
    • Mixx
    • Delicious
    • Google+

Follow @TIMEBusiness

Last year, a Federal Reserve Board study found that debit card use eclipsed check-writing for the first time. And the federal government is phasing out the use of paper checks for benefit payments, relying on direct deposit and debit cards instead. The paper check seemed destined soon to be, like the manual typewriter and the cassette player, a casualty of our increasingly electronic age.

But it seems that even the most tech-savvy among us simply can’t live with paper checks: ING Direct, the online bank that was recently acquired by Capital One, announced that for the first time it would make checkbooks available to account holders.

Prior to this, ING customers could fill out a form online and have a paper check sent to a recipient of their choice; of course, this required advance planning and waiting on snail mail — not exactly the quick, convenient type of transaction online banking customers prize. For a while, the bank also let customers order checks on their own through warehouse club Costco, but discontinued this a couple of years ago.

(MORE: Did Capital One Just Buy Your Credit Card?)

Accountholders vented their frustration on ING customer forums and blogs. It seemed that even people who were tech-savvy enough to be comfortable doing most of their banking online still wanted the fallback of a paper checkbook on hand. Maybe someone from ING was reading its customers’ gripes, because the online bank announced it would offer paper checks this year to its Electric Orange accountholders.

ING Direct customers can now go online and pay $5 for a book of 50 paper checks. (The other big player in the online bank space, Ally Financial, already offers checks and doesn’t charge for them.)

(MORE: 10 Things That Are Actually Getting Cheaper)

In an article in American Banker magazine, ING’s head of product strategy said there was still too much of a demand for paper checks for the bank to not offer them:

“It’s not something that our customers want; it’s really something they need. … Customers begrudgingly feel that they need to have paper checks until the rest of the world catches up.”

It’s a counterintuitive move, but it could be one that benefits ING Direct and new owner Capital One. Paper checks are a hassle, but sometimes it can be an even bigger hassle not to have access to them. If ING manages to eliminate one of the drawbacks to its online checking, it could draw more customers who are ambivalent about a traditional banking relationship but don’t want to give up any conveniences.

  • Most Popular
From Business & Money
  1. How to Make Your Resume Last Longer Than 6 Seconds
  2. Germany Has Become the Cut-Rate Prostitution Capital of the World
  3. How Recruiters Use Social Networks to Make Hiring Decisions Now
  4. Is the ATM Cash-Dispensing Sound Fake?
  5. The $40 Million Counterfeit Coupon Caper
From Time.com

Connect With TIME

  • Home
  • U.S.
  • Politics
  • World
  • Business
  • Tech
  • Health
  • Science
  • Entertainment
  • Newsfeed
  • Living
  • Ideas
  • Parents
  • Sports
  • History
  • The TIME Vault
  • Magazine
  • Subscribe
  • Give a Gift
  • The Goods
  • Press Room
  • Newsletters
  • Customer Service
  • Site Map
  • Privacy Policy
  • Your California Privacy Rights
  • Terms of Use
  • Advertising
  • Ad Choices Ad Choices
  • Careers
© 2025 TIME USA, LLC. All rights reserved.