Another Thought on Credit Cards

I am a subscriber of the SoloSez listserv, and there was recently a discussion about checks, and how annoying it is when someone writes you a check and it bounces. The response from several members of the list was that they did not accept checks for that reason, and they took cash or credit cards instead.

This view makes sense to me. As a businessowner, I want to have as much certainty as I can that the payments I receive will be honored, and that I can rely on them to offset my expenses. That said, I feel that credit cards have much the same downside as checks, because it is possible for a payor (the one using the check or the credit card) to retract their payment after tendering it. There is no certainty except cash (and even then, it could be counterfeit...), but except for some specific circumstances there are not a lot of clients that walk in to your office with hundreds and/or thousands in cash. I continue to accept checks, and I continue not to accept credit cards- but I think I understand a little better why people would do the opposite.