I'm in the UK and mostly use online banking. It is easy enough to send money electronically to someone you know. I've just paid my son's university house rent by transferring the money to him and then he has a payment set up to pay the landlord.
We've just got a new system in the UK where you can pay someone via mobile phone:
Paym
I think this is a good idea because you don't have to know the transferee's bank details and they don't know yours (which would happen if you gave them a cheque). For example, my son might use it to pay his share of the utility bills on his shared house.
Generally I pay everything with my credit card but I pay off the whole amount each month by direct debit so I don't pay any interest. I am a bit dubious about using my debit card, especially online, because of the direct access to my bank account. With a credit card you have time to contest dubious transactions before the balance is payable. There is also better legal protection as, under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 for payments of between £100 and £30,000, the credit card company has joint liability if something goes wrong eg the supplier goes out of business before delivering the goods.
I do keep a good eye on our family finances and balance our accounts a couple of times a week by downloading statements from the bank to Money software (no longer sold but I use the sunset version which so far is still okay). The main advantage is that I can make provision for future payments and transfer money from savings if necessary.
We've just got a new system in the UK where you can pay someone via mobile phone:
Paym
I think this is a good idea because you don't have to know the transferee's bank details and they don't know yours (which would happen if you gave them a cheque). For example, my son might use it to pay his share of the utility bills on his shared house.
Generally I pay everything with my credit card but I pay off the whole amount each month by direct debit so I don't pay any interest. I am a bit dubious about using my debit card, especially online, because of the direct access to my bank account. With a credit card you have time to contest dubious transactions before the balance is payable. There is also better legal protection as, under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 for payments of between £100 and £30,000, the credit card company has joint liability if something goes wrong eg the supplier goes out of business before delivering the goods.
I do keep a good eye on our family finances and balance our accounts a couple of times a week by downloading statements from the bank to Money software (no longer sold but I use the sunset version which so far is still okay). The main advantage is that I can make provision for future payments and transfer money from savings if necessary.