As the personal check disappears, what comes next?

ONE OF THE FIRST CHECKS EVER RECORDED WAS WRITTEN in the 11th century in a marketplace in Basra, in what is today Iraq.

- ALANA SEMUELS

There, a merchant issued a sakk: written instructions to his bank to make a payment from his account.

A thousand years later, this form of payment is finally disappearing. Target in July became the latest retailer to stop accepting checks. It's just the latest sign that the check is nearing obsolescence: the average American writes just one check a month, down from three in 2016, according to a Federal Reserve survey. In 1995, the year of peak usage, Americans wrote 49.5 billion checks, which was 15 checks each month by every man, woman, and child in the U.S.

"I absolutely think that we are moving to a world of 'check zero," says Scott Anchin, vice president at the Independent Community Bankers of America.

From a security perspective, this is a positive. Checks are not a particularly safe way to send money. They have your account and routing numbers on them, sensitive information that criminals could use. They can be stolen in the mail and changed to be made out to different people or for different amounts.

Flawed as checks are, though, they haven't gone away entirely because many people still depend on them, especially to pay rent and utility bills. But experts say a new kind of payment may finally change that.