Fed Check Study Available

W e will all be seeing many new articles on checks in the weeks to came, as authors William Roberds of the Atlanta Federal Reserve and James McAndrews of the New York Federal Reserve have just completed a study of checks in the U.S. (Just in case you haven't seen enough check info from me in the last five years.)

To our great surprise, the authors note the number of checks written each year is actually rising. In 1997, the last year for which figures are reported by the authors, Americans are reported to have written 66 billion checks, roughly 250 checks per year per person, or one check per business day per U.S. resident. The total value of these checks for 1997 was also reported to have been $77.8 trillion, or $1,177 per check, on average.

Roberds notes "checks' continuing popularity among individuals is that they are used to them and trust them. And if things go wrong, they know there is a paper trail they can follow to sort out the error."