Target to stop accepting personal checks as of July 15

Target has announced plans to stop accepting personal checks by mid-July. (Getty Images)

Shopping at Target later this month? Plan to leave the checkbook at home.

The nationwide retailer has announced plans to stop accepting personal checks as of July 15, crediting a lack of shoppers that still utilize the payment method.

“Due to extremely low volumes, we’ll no longer accept personal checks starting July 15,” a representative for the company wrote in a statement shared with Nexstar. “We have taken several measures to notify guests in advance to aid an easy and efficient checkout experience.”

It isn’t just Target shoppers who are eschewing personal checks. The Federal Reserve has noted a steady decrease in the amount of personal checks written over the past few decades, with recent data showing there were only around 12 billion checks written in 2021, down from 20.2 billion in 2015.

Despite no longer accepting checks as of the 15th, Target’s spokesperson touted the several forms of payment the retailer does currently accept, as well as a few that were added in recent years.

“Target is committed to creating an easy and convenient checkout experience, and that includes providing our guests with numerous ways to pay, including our new Target Circle Cards (formerly known as Target RedCard); cash; digital wallets; SNAP/EBT; buy now, pay later services; and credit and debit cards,” the spokesperson wrote.

As of Friday, Target’s official website still listed “personal checks” among the company’s accepted forms of payment for in-store purchases.

According to the site, forms of payment that are generally not accepted in most cases are foreign checks, foreign currency, mall gift cards, “chamber bucks” (certificates issued by local chambers of commerce), money orders, cashiers checks, business checks and any merchant gift cards that aren’t Target gift cards or Starbucks gift cards (the latter for use at Starbucks shops located inside Target stores).