As the Personal Check Disappears, What Comes Next? The check. A thousand years later, this form of payment is finally disappearing.

The newest type of payment –the first to be introduced in the U.S. since the 1970s– is called instant payments, in which money moves from your account to another immediately. You may think you already use instant payments with services like Venmo, but you don't. Those payments come from a Venmo account rather than directly from your bank account, and the funds can take some time to move.

- By Alana Semuels

One of the first checks ever recorded was written in the 11th century in a marketplace in Basra, in what is today Iraq. 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.