waldziuchna

At the bottom of your check is your bank account number. This would be very useful to some very bad people.

On the back of your Visa is a telephone number that connects you to an army of lawyers that will get you your money back in case of false charges. Also Visa/MC/Amex/whoever will call you and verify large or unusual purchases (happened to me when I bought my computer).

Oddly enough, on NPR they were just saying that England is going to phase out checks (or cheques to the Brits) by 2018. Too costly, slow, and cumbersome for institutions.