Payment method cocktail in US

Local payment method and banking activities are a cocktail of checks, cash, credit cards, drive-through banking and paypal.

When I moved over  here, I moved with my habit of never having cash in my wallet. As there had been no reason for it, one can pay by card anywhere in Finland. If needed ATM is normally close by or one can ask for cash in store, which is then charged to the card. Using checks is something my mother's generation did in Finland but since then a vanished payment method. Any banking matters can be pretty much taken care through internet, even applying for a loan or sending an international transfer.

My husband has gotten good chuckle several times about me still not knowing the habit of carrying cash. Some old habits die hard :) Luckily so far we did not have to ever stay washing dishes or cleaning the taxi (or something similar) to be able to settle the bill. In the worst case, few times I have sent the check by mail afterwards for the service or goods.

Yes, checks are still in use here. I would not call it an active payment method but they are used occasionally. Trend is decreasing though. It was a humorous moment though when I realized that check is still in use. Had a flashback of early childhood memories from the time my mother would pay by check something.

Credit card is pretty much the thing here as a payment method.  For one it offers in general good security against fraud or theft. That requires of course that one can get a credit card. For a foreigner it means in most cases that one has to live first 6 months in the country and have account history for the same period. In some cases banks approve the application due to employer's reference or for a low credit limit and  with a slightly higher interest rate. One good banks to start accumulating the credit history is People's Trust FCU bank. They give credit card with low credit limit also to foreigners without prior 6 month credit record and they do not try to rip one off. There are several places, who are more than keen to smack huge interest rate to the credit card.

Having credit history plays a big role here. It impacts in the future what kind of credit offers one gets. Meaning what kind of interest rate or credit limit one will get, that depends on the credit score. Credit score is totally based on the credit history and represents the creditworthiness of the person. The higher the number, the better. Means that before taking a loan, one should have had a credit card for a while and pay pretty much everything with it to accumulate transactions to contribute to the credit score.

Making international transfer requires going to the bank in person at most banks. Normally it gets taken care though rather fast and with pleasant customer service. So, all together the customer experience is made worth showing up your face in the bank. Also, when keeping in mind that in US banks need for security reasons follow the monetary flows, I do not feel annoyed visiting the bank occasionally for that.

Internet banking services are growing but I think it will take some more years till they reach e.g. the level of what internet banking offers in Finland. Security plays a whole different role here. By that I do not mean just data security for the customers but banks are keen to secure their side of business in the transactions and make sure that what ever transactions are done, one is not giving loop holes for illegal transactions. As at the end the bank would carry at least partial responsibility.

Couple of neat services that are actively in use here and were new to me: drive-through bank and paypal.

One can get most of the regular banking activities done at the drive-through, even doing a deposit of a check. Since one goes to most places by car here, drive-through service can be applied pretty much to anything :)

Paypal is also widely in use, which is really handy. Lot of the 2nd hand trading takes place nowadays in the internet and paypal is used often as a payment method related to those transactions. Even buying from one person company (e.g. Etsy) / service provider is done often via paypal. It makes trading so easy! Also, again security is a great bonus in this case. One does not need to be surrendering the credit card details in such situation.