I’ve had a checking account at all times since I was 18 years old. I haven’t always kept much money in it, but I don’t know what I would do without one. I guess I would have to go to town every time I needed to pay a bill, and buy money orders and send them in for the bills that weren’t close by.

That’s exactly what my in-laws do. I got involved in a nerve-wracking ordeal with them a couple of months ago because of it. They had let their satellite get cut off and not paid the bill, and it got sent to collections. Then they decided to get it cut back on, but the company wanted some sort of banking information from them before they would do it. But they don’t have a checking account, credit card or anything. They had a savings account in the not-so-distant past, but they closed it out.

I finally talked my mother-in-law into getting a prepaid debit card to use. They said they could put my debit card on the account, but I said no way. I know how that goes. If they didn’t pay their bill, it would come out of my checking account, and I wouldn’t know anything about it until it was a done deal.

In this day and time, everyone needs some kind of credit or debit card, or at least a bank account. I know some don’t like dealing with banks, but it makes life so much less of a hassle. But some people just don’t get that.