It's the 21st century. Virtually all of my bills and all of my income from 3 different sources are automatically deposited or drafted from my checking account. My federal taxes will be automatically drafted on 4/15/20, and my state tax refund will be deposited any day now. Lots of people have access to your stuff already.
FWIW my wife and I both joined PF yesterday too. The gym we've been using is costing us about $300/year each. I've been writing a check once/year. Now we're paying $10/month for each of us automatically drafted from my bank account on the 17th of each month. I CAN pay cash each month if i bring it in by the 10th, but I'll just let them hit my checking account. It is a lot easier for them to be able to deduct from your bank each month than have to deal with collecting monthly payments from every member. In order to get in for $10/month they have to cut expenses somewhere. I'm sure you can find a gym that will let you pay yearly, but expect to pay 2X or 3X as much.
