 Now, the history of the check goes back to the 11th century, almost a thousand years before the invention of the debit card. Speaking of which, Quinn says a debit card isn't that different from a check. It's just replaced the paper messaging part, if you will, with the digital. But the function is still doing the same thing. But Quinn says checks will probably stick around for a while because they're especially handy for large payments, things like the down payment for a car or a house.