Using Cheques

[Eric Mc]

davepoth said:

They won't ditch them. The difficulties involved are too great (especially the international issues when people send a cheque) which will mean what will happen in the end is that you will take the cheque into the bank and it will be verified by the bank clerk rather than being sent for clearing, basically exactly what happens at the paying in machine, just without the cheques being sent to London before you get the money.

That's whjat they were saying on Money Box on Saturday. Effectively, anew document which looks like a cheque and behaves like a cheque but will not be called a cheque. You will need to order them individually and they will be processed and cleared at branch level. All sounds exteremely cumbersome to me. I expect that there will be an individual charge for each transaction too.

The main entities which will lose out with the demise of the cheque will not be businesses - but non-profit organisations (such as smaller charities and clubs) or individuals. Most cheques I write are not made out to businesses but to family members or small clubs, societies and charities.

As I said earlier, I don't write many cheques, but well over half my clients (mostly smaller businesses) still use cheques to pay me.

[Hugo a Gogo]

very rarely see a cheque here in germany

all done by transfers, electronically or written out on a little slip (not a cheque)

[Shuvi Tupya]

Eric Mc said:

The main entities which will lose out with the demise of the cheque will not be businesses - but non-profit organisations (such as smaller charities and clubs) or individuals.

I cancelled my two charity direct debits after i got charged £70 for not being able to afford them one week. Cheques are now the only way i donate to charity!

[condor]

I use cheques quite often - pay the credit card bill with one each month, various transactions at the Post Office and times when I need to send money through the post.

[davepoth]

Eric Mc said:

davepoth said:

They won't ditch them. The difficulties involved are too great (especially the international issues when people send a cheque) which will mean what will happen in the end is that you will take the cheque into the bank and it will be verified by the bank clerk rather than being sent for clearing, basically exactly what happens at the paying in machine, just without the cheques being sent to London before you get the money.

That's whjat they were saying on Money Box on Saturday. Effectively, anew document which looks like a cheque and behaves like a cheque but will not be called a cheque. You will need to order them individually and they will be processed and cleared at branch level. All sounds exteremely cumbersome to me. I expect that there will be an individual charge for each transaction too.

The main entities which will lose out with the demise of the cheque will not be businesses - but non-profit organisations (such as smaller charities and clubs) or individuals. Most cheques I write are not made out to businesses but to family members or small clubs, societies and charities.

As I said earlier, I don't write many cheques, but well over half my clients (mostly smaller businesses) still use cheques to pay me.

They'll cop out. If it looks like a cheque, and as far as the customer is concerned works like a cheque, and will be how cheques received from outside the UK will be processed, it'll be a cheque. The banks are gently back-pedalling from their "KILL THE CHEQUE" stance since they have a few years to do it. What this was always about was killing the cheque clearing system, which hasn't made any sense since all the branches got computers in them.

[F i F]

Fittster said:

The kind of people who use internet forums won't miss them. The elderly who aren't technoliterate will suffer from this measure.

Exactly, we have an elderly relative who has trouble getting out, every so often when she needs a cash top up we take along a few hundred in folding, she writes us a cheque, she sticks cash in her safe, job done. Not sure how we would do this.

I can understand the argument of imposing a charge if somebody wanted to continue with cheques, but expect the charges would not be reasonable.

This sounds to me like one of those proposals where its time is not yet here. Points at digital radio switch proposed timing. That won't happen on time either.

[ShadownINja]

How will someone on the move eg plumber accept payments from private individuals?

[Engineer1]

Fittster said:

The kind of people who use internet forums won't miss them. The elderly who aren't technoliterate will suffer from this measure.

No, lets say I want to send money to someone as a gift, or I want to pay some extra money over and above the usual payment off my credit card, I want to leave a payment for a service in a reasonably secure way with a cheque I can put it in an envelope and ask a mate to pass it on I can get a neighbour to pass it on or even just put it in a safe dry place outside.

Payment by cheque also does give you control over how and when the money comes out, we have received utility bills that have been massively higher than expected and the automatic nature of direct debits has taken the bank account lower than expected. BT will happily sling an extra £180 onto your phone bill for a call out which you can argue back off, gas and electric companies have been known to miss read meters. If you are really tight on funds then a cheque means you query the bill before they take the money.

I also receive payments from customers by cheque.

The cheque or cheque equivalent has a place and will for years to come, how else can you securely send money between individuals?

[thatone1967]

Shuvi Tupya said:

Eric Mc said:

The main entities which will lose out with the demise of the cheque will not be businesses - but non-profit organisations (such as smaller charities and clubs) or individuals.

I cancelled my two charity direct debits after i got charged £70 for not being able to afford them one week. Cheques are now the only way i donate to charity!

You would have thought given the circumstances (ie for charity) they could have been a little more understanding....

fking hate banks!

[Liszt]

ShadownINja said:

How will someone on the move eg plumber accept payments from private individuals?

I know stuff about this but cannot say. I can say that the banks are thinking of ways to move money from one person to another a lot easier *AND* safer from a fraud perspective.

Anyone know if postal orders are due to be phased out as well?

[Shuvi Tupya]

thatone1967 said:

Shuvi Tupya said:

Eric Mc said:

The main entities which will lose out with the demise of the cheque will not be businesses - but non-profit organisations (such as smaller charities and clubs) or individuals.

I cancelled my two charity direct debits after i got charged £70 for not being able to afford them one week. Cheques are now the only way i donate to charity!

You would have thought given the circumstances (ie for charity) they could have been a little more understanding....

fking hate banks!

Me too. I Now don't have any credit facilities at all, These days I would borrow from one of the those 'quick loan' type places rather than go overdrawn and get hammered with bank charges!

[Kermit power]

ShadownINja said:

How will someone on the move eg plumber accept payments from private individuals?

They're talking about phasing cheques out in 7-8 years.

Think what mobile phones could do 7-8 years ago. Think what they can do now. Imagine what they'll be able to do in another 7-8 years from now.

I would expect there to be a simple, secure means of simply transferring money from one person to another via phone messaging of some sort by then if not sooner.

What percentage of the banking population by 2018 aren't going to have mobiles, or the internet, or a debit card, or access to a bank branch or some other way of paying for things that isn't a cheque?

[Alfa numeric]

ShadownINja said:

How will someone on the move eg plumber accept payments from private individuals?

The plumber I called a few months ago gave me an invoice with his bank details on it and asked me to quote the invoice number on my payment. As soon as we reach a critical mass of people who use internet banking the cheque will go the way of the telegram.


Edited for spectacular mis-spelling of the word "cheque"

Edited by Alfa numeric on Tuesday 14th December 15:05

[ShadownINja]

Kermit power said:

ShadownINja said:

How will someone on the move eg plumber accept payments from private individuals?

They're talking about phasing cheques out in 7-8 years.

Think what mobile phones could do 7-8 years ago. Think what they can do now. Imagine what they'll be able to do in another 7-8 years from now.

I would expect there to be a simple, secure means of simply transferring money from one person to another via phone messaging of some sort by then if not sooner.

What percentage of the banking population by 2018 aren't going to have mobiles, or the internet, or a debit card, or access to a bank branch or some other way of paying for things that isn't a cheque?

Good point. Should be interesting! I recall they were running vending machines that allowed you to pay via your mobile phone.

[strudel]

Payment by mobile will be here sooner than you think. It's already pretty common in Africa.

[BeeRoad]

I still use cheques for business payments. Businesses that provide a good and timely service get paid with a direct bank transfer, those that don't get a cheque in the post.

[sassthathoopie]

singlecoil said:

Not enough choices, what about "use cheques to pay bills by post, not often but it does crop up from time to time"

This

[Mr E Driver]

Where is the option 'I have written a couple of important cheques this year'

I have written a cheque to a council dept and three cheques to the DVLA for retention of number plates.

[Oakey]

What about those that are all working on the snide in telesales who get paid by cheque, don't declare anything and promptly run out at lunchtime to The Money Shop to cash it in? How will they cope? The entire shady advertising industry will collapse!

[Mojooo]

Cheques have been on the way out for years

When I worked in a large supermarket about 5 years ago, over the period I was there (about 6 years) the amount of cheques/cash decreased whilst the numbers of card useage rose.

Plumbers and the like will have to take cash or carry mobile card readers around. or some other new technology.

Cheques are messy to handle for many and its no suprise big retailers ahve started refusing to accept them.