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I still write checks, although the number is dwindling.
1. Because, as someone said earlier, some companies aren't careful about the amount they automatically withdraw. Some are slow to cancel an account. (AOL, anyone?)
2. I write checks to the IRS and the state. They're sent return receipt requested, but I don't print the bar code on the envelope. I always hope the US Postal service will, in its own unique way, take their time about delivering them.
3. Countrywide is a pain in the ass. I have a rental property financed through them (but not by choice--the #$%^ original company sold my mortgage to them). So whenever the tenant is late with the rent, a not unusual event, I can't get their check cleared fast enough for Countrywide. They start charging for electronic payments after the 6th. I don't know of another mortgage company that does that. They even called me once to bitch about the fact that they usually get paid by me around the fifth, but they want it by the first (penalty date is the 15th). Times must be tough at Countrywide.
When I can't get the rent check cleared by the sixth, I mail the bastards a check, because I'm not going to pay $5 for the privilege of paying electronically.
4. Workmen who repair your house tend to want a check upon completion of the work.
Other than that, I have a folder in my web browser, with subfolders labeled "First" and "Fifteenth." That makes it pretty easy to click off payments on time, without forgetting any.
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