> And it's pretty common for elderly people to use them to pay for groceries.
Interesting. I'm not even sure a grocery store / supermarket would accept a cheque here.
> My housekeeper doesn't accept Paypal/Venmo, so she's paid with a check as well
Here it'd be either cash in hand, or a bank transfer (same as rent, really). All you need is their IBAN (International Bank Account Number) and BIC (Bank Identifier Code), and most mobile banking apps will let you set up a monthly direct debit. You can sometimes run into issues if their bank account is in a different country to the bank you're transferring from—it's unlawful to discriminate between IBANs in different countries, although it tends to goes unpunished—but there's usually workarounds to that.
All you need is their IBAN (International Bank Account Number) and BIC (Bank Identifier Code), and most mobile banking apps will let you set up a monthly direct debit.
What is this dark magic?!?! lol. The US is comically awful at consumer banking.
And actually just to add to the last question of your comment. We'd also pay for doctors bills by either cash, card, or direct debit. Healthcare in Ireland isn't perfect (long waiting times—but you can go private for quicker care), but it's relatively cheap (free under a certain income, in the cases of certain long-term medical conditions, and above a certain age), and heavily subsidized.
My sister recently had a stay in hospital, and then later an emergency room visit. As far as I'm aware, it all totaled less than €200 (half of which will be refunded by insurance, and another 20% of the remainder as a tax credit), which was all paid for partially by card (to the GP who referred us to the hospital), and partially by bank transfer (to the hospital).
Interesting. I'm not even sure a grocery store / supermarket would accept a cheque here.
> My housekeeper doesn't accept Paypal/Venmo, so she's paid with a check as well
Here it'd be either cash in hand, or a bank transfer (same as rent, really). All you need is their IBAN (International Bank Account Number) and BIC (Bank Identifier Code), and most mobile banking apps will let you set up a monthly direct debit. You can sometimes run into issues if their bank account is in a different country to the bank you're transferring from—it's unlawful to discriminate between IBANs in different countries, although it tends to goes unpunished—but there's usually workarounds to that.