Sending and receiving money w/ Venmo is free- PayPal charges to receive money. None of my kids write checks- my youngest does not even have a check book as he uses Venmo for everything. His landlord even uses it so he can pay his rent easily.
@jym626- you do not give your secure info to individuals. You open a Venmo account with that info and they do all of the transactions. No individual gets your info. You can even send money to people who don’t have Venmo if you have a telephone # or email address. It is very easy to use and great for splitting checks, etc.!