MSE News: MPs call for return of cheque guarantee cards

Cheques are dead people need to get over it and move on.

If you can use a cheque guarantee card, you can use a debit card.

I don't think I've ever used a cheque guarantee card, but cheques are still useful.
Since the advent of internet banking and utilities encouraging Direct Debit I use cheques a lot less. However they are still useful for making payments to small businesses/one man bands who can't justify the expenses of card machines or if you need to pay them through the post. Many people are still reluctant to hand out their bank details to allow you to send an online payment, and to make an online payment you need to have a secure internet connection, which is not always the case if you are away from home.

NFH wrote: »

If people really want to retain this costly and archaic paper-based payment system, then they should pay for it.

Most cheques are written to people with other than personal accounts and the account holders will have to pay for cheque deposit. This will be reflected in higher item prices. As for everyone else...

Impose annual fees on cheque guarantee cards and a fee for each cheque written and deposited, and consumers' habits will quickly migrate to payment methods that are more efficient and less costly.

For payment to people or groups without card processing facilities, i.e. bank transfer, you only have to enter one number incorrectly once on a large electronic payment to cancel out all the money you've saved from not paying a realistic chequebook fee. The Bank Account board right here gives an example every so often.

If banks actually had checksumming on the sort code+account number combination, or did some at least fuzzy check of the account holder name, or even gave a well-defined window in which FPs could be reversed, they might approach the consumer friendliness of cheques. Top this with the ability to confirm any direct debit set up on your account so someone with your account details can't immediately abuse it.

Oh, and that paper trail comes in handy when someone messes up. UK cheque fraud's very low, too: faking real stuff is harder than just recording and replaying the right keys where you shouldn't.

Cheques are slow. But they work. And although everyone insists that his life is so important and hectic that everything has to be done yesterday, sometimes it's worth waiting for what works.

/midweek rant :rotfl: