Jennifer Kingson writes for the New York Times about what's happening to checks in the US.

Checks are still used more often than either credit or debit cards, so it is too soon to write their obituary. But the declines reported recently by big banks - as much as 10 percent from a year ago - are so steep that checks over the next two decades are likely to become as prevalent as electric typewriters.

Jennifer Kingson writes for the New York Times about what banks are doing now that they're free to also participate in the American Express and Discover card networks, what American Express and Discover are doing to court them, and the potential impacts on cardholders and merchants.

As consumers migrate to cards from cash and checks, "the merchant is looking at the reality of every year paying more and more money for card payments, and it's untenable," Mr. Robertson said. "It's just going to lead to merchants going berserk."