Choosing between paper and plastic isn’t limited to the grocery store anymore.

Representatives of Dallas County banks said they have seen a significant increase in the number of young customers who have abandoned cash in favor of debit cards. Checks have also taken a back seat to their plastic counterparts.

Selma BankTrust Treasury Management Services representative Roberta Leach said through publications she has noticed more and more of the younger customers turning to plastic.

“We don’t have any hard data for BankTrust, but in all of the articles we are reading related to the industry younger customers seem to be leaning toward electrical channels,” she said. “I think a lot of it has to do with ease of use.”

Cards, First Cahaba Bank head teller Pam Yarbrough said, are much faster than traditional paper checks.

“The cards provide easy access and are a lot quicker than a check,” she said. You can just swipe it through. It’s a very simple, very quick process.”

Check cards debit funds from the user’s account on the spot, thereby finalizing the transaction at the time of purchase, and bypassing the requirement to pay a credit card bill at a later date, or to write an insecure check containing the account holder’s personal information.

Because they debit the funds from the account immediately, they also make the process easier for businesses. This, Leach said, has caused some businesses to also eliminate paper checks from their process.

“You can swipe the card at the grocery store, or at the gas station,” she said. “More and more places are accepting debit cards whereas fewer places are accepting checks.”

The card, Leach said, can also provide cash if needed.

“It can really serve a double purpose,” she said. “You can use it as a traditional debit card, or you can actually use it to get cash as an ATM card or through cash back on purchases.”

There are certain disadvantages to using a debit card instead of cash, Yarbrough said. Younger customers who open their first accounts don’t always keep track on what is coming in and going out.

“A lot of the younger people who use cards don’t always keep a ledger,” she said. “That is one of the disadvantages because it is harder to keep up with than cash, where you know what you have to spend, or checks, which have a ledger in the book.”

This is especially tricky when certain transactions aren’t taken immediately. Also, debit cards purchases aren’t always limited to the existing funds of an account, a common misconception among customers.

Identity theft, she said, has also become a growing problem with online purchases.

“You do have to be aware of where you use the card,” she said. “There is always a certain amount of danger in having personal information stolen.”