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Check Processing & Payments Information

We Love the 80s: Checking Accounts Stay Solid for Three Decades

Posted by Heather Brautman | Tue, Oct 15, 2013 @ 08:04 AM

80sChick1It was a time when Madonna was known for her stacks of jelly bracelets instead of young beaus and the bigger the hair, the closer to greatness. Blue eye shadow wasn’t a fashion faux pas and greed was good. It was the 80s, and in that heyday of blaming it on Rio and parents just not understanding, CrossCheck was born. Three decades later, we’re still going strong (unlike Wham!) but we’ve seen a lot of change. Some good, some… we’ll let you decide.

Hair

Whatever hair you had in the 80s, you didn’t just make the best of it, you made the most of it, as the opening scene to the classic movie “Hairspray” demonstrates. We weren’t worried about the ozone layer back then, only how high our Aqua Net could get our locks. Today’s trend may be sleek and straight, as catered to by the outcropping of blow dry bars, but in the 80s, the tool of the trade was a crimper. Want your hair to look like ripple-cut French fries? No problem. You had to work to look good in the 80s, which included bangs blow dried straight up in the air and hairsprayed until they were crispy, as well as the always-hot look for men, the mullet.

Clothes

Message t-shirts may have made news headlines for the past couple of years, but they actually have been turning people into walking billboards for at least three decades. In the 80s, people wore shirts to advocate for causes, such as Act-Up, not hipster moustache irony. The term “mom jeans” wasn’t a negative descriptor – but “skinny jeans” were just something you wore when your diet was going well. The clothes of the decade were bright and bold, with fluorescent sweatshirts and multi-layers of scrunch socks making sure everyone stayed warm.

Music

Big hair and big clothes can, and did, lead to one thing – big music. The 80s brought an influx of bands unlike ever before, and not just because it was the men who rocked the hairspray, eyeliner, nail polish, and high heels. The only vestige left may be an emo boy band’s proclivity to gunked-up eyeliner, but many 80s bands are still around today. Icons such as Bon Jovi may have left their massive feathered coifs behind, but they’re still “Livin’ on a Prayer” in sold-out arenas across the country today. They may come to your city on nostalgia-themed tours, but Duran Duran, Motley Crue, and Lisa Lisa and the Cult Jam are still going strong, three decades into their run. Do you think Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, and One Direction will fare the same?

Television

These days, you’re hard pressed to turn on the television and not hit a police procedural drama from one of the “Law & Order” or “CSI” franchises. In the 80s, we were clustered around television sets watching another kind of drama – the family one. But it wasn’t upsetting, it was funny – it was the era of the sitcom. We tuned in to “The Cosby Show,” “Family Ties,” and “Growing Pains."

Electronic Payments

Everything is “e” these days, including email, e-grocery delivery, e-dating, e-pet adoption. So it may seem like one of the predominant payment forms from the 80s, paper checks, has gone away. Not so. While electronic payments such as PayPal and Bitcoin are skyrocketing, we’re seeing that checks have NOT gone the way of crimping and neon fishnet shirts. In fact, 9 out of 10 people still have checking accounts and use them. Of course, there’s nothing like moving forward, so if you’re interested in exploring e-checking, the world of desktop depositing and remote deposit capture can hold a lot for you. To misquote Frankie Goes to Hollywood (not Nike), we say “Relax” and “Do it!”

 

remote deposit capture

 

Written by Heather Brautman