A bank gives us a secure place to hold our cash. It allows us to keep track of the growth of our most important assets, the product of our work, and gives us a means to make this asset grow. Bank use also contributes to your credit history, and may open up many financial opportunities from the ability to seek advice, to managing your retirement plans, to helping you secure a loan for a major purchase such as a house or car. Banks also give you the means to write checks against your cash in the form of a checking account, so that you may easily make purchases without the need to carry cash. And banks pay interest on your deposits (in your savings accounts and certain types of checking and money market accounts) and CDs.