Doubt that cash and paper checks will disappear in ten years. There are those hold outs who won't let go of the old way to bank. Then you have the under banked and unbanked who may need paper money orders/bank checks. While many have gravitated away from the old school of banking it will work when the power is out and we don't trust automation.

My guess over the next 10 years, this will become less and less. Eventually you won't be able to pay by check.

FrankN wrote: I honestly hate physically writing checks and sending them through old school mail. I take the risk and do everything I can online.

I have a couple of bills (trash and gas) that can't be paid online and it drives me crazy. I usually have my husband call and pay with a credit card over the phone because I never remember to write and mail the checks.

FrankN wrote: I honestly hate physically writing checks and sending them through old school mail. I take the risk and do everything I can online.

Same here Frank. You know, the Plastc website promotes this card as having everything handy on one device. Well, I already have that. It's called a laptop. There are paydays when I can also pay everything on my smartphone. I get paid and 10 minutes later.......I'm broke. It's FANTASTIC.

I honestly hate physically writing checks and sending them through old school mail. I take the risk and do everything I can online.

Wanderer wrote: Not as trusting as some, I do not trust the cloud and likely never will. Do you use electronics to pay bills but store nothing off site and backup my own computers.

I pay bills electronically, too, but that's more out of laziness than anything else. I mean, the ability is there, so I'm not going to sit down and write out checks when I can get it done with a couple clicks.

Not as trusting as some, I do not trust the cloud and likely never will. Do you use electronics to pay bills but store nothing off site and backup my own computers.

You are a trusting soul FRANKN. I haven't quite come that far yet. The only thing I have in the cloud at this time is some music. Being from an older generation, I still use checks and stamps to pay some of my bills. Some are paid online but I haven't quite made the total break yet. This new Plastic will probably be the thing of the future in a few years but for now, I'm happy doing it "my way." LOL

Well said MikeJ. There is no way to avoid that risk 100%. However there is a lot of ways to combat this risk, and you can see the obvious benefits of using the cloud and online banking services. In my opinion, the benefits outweigh the costs.

Wanderer wrote: My concern besides cost is using clouds and other sites to store passwords and so on. How many times have we read about sites getting hacked (months later). Not for me.

Everything is hackable. All of your utility, bank and other accounts; regardless of whether you use online payments or not, are accessible online to those with the right tools. While minimizing your exposure to online accounts might somewhat mitigate the risk of detrimental activities due to data breaches, it is almost impossible to enjoy a modern lifestyle without some risk. Unless you live almost entirely off the grid, hunt all of your own food and chop all of your own fuel and paying for everything with cash, there will be risk involved.

If you choose to reduce your risk by not using online services, that's great but what are you going to do when something like the OPM gets hacked and your government security clearance information is now floating around out there? Where does one draw the line between convenience and necessity and how does one control what 3rd parties they can trust?

I'm not saying that anyone is wrong; I'm just saying that the problem is of a far larger scope than most people realize and virtually no amount of mitigation will completely shield you from risk.

Wanderer wrote: My concern besides cost is using clouds and other sites to store passwords and so on. How many times have we read about sites getting hacked (months later). Not for me.

This is precisely my problem with these things. I don't even like uploading family pictures to websites to have them printed because I've heard of people hacking those sites to get pictures of kids. If we learned anything from the election it's that everything is hackable, so I don't see myself trusting a third party site with my passwords and financial information.

This is actually the first time I heard of this. I wouldn't need it though......my card count is at a minimum and I'm too used to doing things the way I do them that I don't want to change it up.

Wanderer wrote: My concern besides cost is using clouds and other sites to store passwords and so on. How many times have we read about sites getting hacked (months later). Not for me.

This is exactly why I wouldn't want to take the chance on something like this yet. I think that the technology is still too new and they need to have more security before I would trust keeping all of my accounts in one place. Do you know if the $150 fee is something that you have to pay yearly or is it just a one-time fee?

My concern besides cost is using clouds and other sites to store passwords and so on. How many times have we read about sites getting hacked (months later). Not for me.

MidSouthGal wrote: I'm all about technology, but free technology. Why would i pay for something when i can get something similar at no cost?But I'm cheap .

I completely agree, MidSouthGal. This is, in my opinion, "gimmicky" at best. I guess it allows for consolidation of multiple credit cards but that "convenience" isn't worth $150 (plus a subscription fee.)