Costco Members May Not Know They Can Save on This Banking Service

When most people think of Costco, their minds may go to the delicious Kirkland products or the low prices at the warehouse club that allow them to get groceries and household items without running up big credit card bills.

But Costco offers many other benefits as well. In fact, you can actually use Costco to save on a banking essential.

Here's how Costco can help make banking cheaper

Costco can help reduce the cost of your banking because you can actually order checks through the wholesale club. Specifically, you can get both personal and business checks on the Costco website, through Harland Clarke Check Printing.

Harland Clarke provides free standard delivery for checks ordered by Costco members. Costco Executive members save the most and can order a box of 250 basic blue safety checks for as little as $14.96 -- a savings of 20% over regular Costco members. The regular price is still very affordable even for those regular members, too; they can get 250 checks total for only $18.70. By contrast, at Walmart, you'd end up paying $19.71 for 240 checks, and with some competitors, you'd pay even more.

Should you get your checks from Costco?

The reality is, many people still need to write checks for things, whether that's paying monthly bills that can't be paid online or writing gift checks to kids' teachers or for preschool tuition. And while some banks offer free checks, not all do. Ordering checks can get expensive if you use them regularly -- and you don't want to run out.

Taking advantage of Costco's discounted checks is a simple way to make paying for this banking service easier on your pocketbook. And Harland Clarke offers Costco members a wide variety of different check options to meet anyone's needs.

Although some of the fancy and personalized checks cost more, you can likely find exactly the designs you are looking for with the wide selection available. There are even Disney Princess checks and wildlife checks available for purchase.

Businesses can also get the protection they need with special high-security options, and there are even computer checks and forms available that Costco members get discounts on. The free shipping is a big perk, too, as many companies that sell checks online will advertise them for a cheap price and then load you up with fees and additional costs once you've gone through the process of inputting all of your information.

Of course, you'll want to shop around and compare prices -- especially if you're getting a specialized check or a unique design and you want to make sure you get it as cheaply as possible. But you'll likely find the discounts for Costco members make this one of the lowest priced options out there.

Costco has perks beyond just savings on bulk buys

The fact that Costco offers this service is just one more of the many perks of becoming a Costco member -- and it goes to show that you may end up surprised by all of the different benefits that your warehouse club can provide you beyond just extra-large bulk cereal boxes, giant containers of mustard, or cheaper electronics or household items.

If you give Costco's check ordering service a look next time you need to reorder checks to pay your bills, you may just end up with a little extra left in that checking account you're writing the checks out of.