A cash check is a type of check by which a drawer orders a bank to debit a specific account and pay the money to a beneficiary in cash. Cash checks may be personal checks or bank checks.
The recipient does not need to have a bank account in order to cash a cash check. Cash checks can also be used to transfer money to recipients whose bank account details are unknown to the sender. When used as deferred checks, cash checks can function as an investment vehicle.
A bank-guaranteed cash check made out to your own name can be used to draw money from your own bank account in cash while traveling abroad, when this makes more financial sense than withdrawing money at automated teller machines (ATMs) using a debit card. This may be the case, for example, when you want to withdraw a large amount of money at your destination country and low limits on ATM withdrawals make this inconvenient or expensive.
Cash checks are not widely used in Switzerland, in part due to the relatively high fees which Swiss banks charge for the issuing and cashing of checks. It is worth noting, however, that bank checks issued by Swiss banks are widely accepted worldwide.
More on this topic:
Swiss checking account comparison
Guide to using checks in Switzerland
