Save the Cheque!

Extant

PROLIANT wrote: »

In my opinion yes, I may be wrong so BM, you are the industry professional so I will listen and stand to be corrected if I am wrong.

What benefits, though?

I am seeing your point around convenience for the takeaway, etc. but that could easily be replaced.

PROLIANT

BarclaysManager wrote: »

So is a cheque book.

I keep it in the house.

PROLIANT

BarclaysManager wrote: »

What benefits, though?

I am seeing your point around convenience for the takeaway, etc. but that could easily be replaced.

Cash-slow - delay a payment to a payee.
Mail order - if they do not handle DC/CC.
Family/Friends - if I decide to pay them back.

Mrs_Ryan

Before I got my cheque book, I wanted to go to a concert. The concert was being hosted by a small company and you could only buy tickets through them, not Ticketmaster or anyone like that. The only type of payment that this company would accept was a cheque. They didnt take cards and stated that anyone sending cash would have it returned with no ticket.
I couldnt find anyone with a cheque book - OH had a £100 CG card with HSBC but no cheque book bizarrely - and my bank wanted to charge me £10 for a banker's draft. My mum wrote me one but it got lost in the post so I never did get my ticket :mad: I havent actually wrote a cheque in a while though... I tend to use my card.

Extant

PROLIANT wrote: »

I keep it in the house.

So, it is admittedly not a practical payment method apart from these one offs such as takeaways and the below.

PROLIANT wrote: »

Cash-slow - delay a payment to a payee.

I'm not sure what you mean, but you're not supposed to be making payments without cleared funds for your instructions, if you mean writing cheques and waiting the few days for it to show on the account.

Mail order - if they do not handle DC/CC.

Problem would be solved by just accepting a direct transfer, which is typically cheaper for businesses anyway. Pretty easy to get inward direct credits for free on a business/commercial account, but cheques cost up to 75p depending on the account etc.

Would also be solved by the previous point about increased competition in the card handling sector.

Family/Friends - if I decide to pay them back.

Pay by cash or transfer. Pay by transfer and you save them a trip to the bank to deposit the cheque or a stamp to send the cheque to the bank. Easy and faster.

Extant

Mrs_Ryan wrote: »

Before I got my cheque book, I wanted to go to a concert. The concert was being hosted by a small company and you could only buy tickets through them, not Ticketmaster or anyone like that. The only type of payment that this company would accept was a cheque. They didnt take cards and stated that anyone sending cash would have it returned with no ticket.
I couldnt find anyone with a cheque book - OH had a £100 CG card with HSBC but no cheque book bizarrely - and my bank wanted to charge me £10 for a banker's draft. My mum wrote me one but it got lost in the post so I never did get my ticket :mad: I havent actually wrote a cheque in a while though... I tend to use my card.

What a hostile business. Imagine how much business they cost themselves doing that.

Perfect example of cheques only "holding on" because people insist on them, though.

PROLIANT

Well, I can't argue any of those comments, I will have to burn my cheque books and leave it at that.

Mikeyorks

PROLIANT wrote: »

Agreed, once GPRS or EDGE enabled Hand-Held POS is made affordable and reliable.

Aren't we virtually there? I signed for a high value parcel last week at the front door from a standard courier company. Had promised the originator an immediate Email on receipt. But just happened to click on the tracking link he'd sent me ... to find the precise time of delivery + scan of my signature was already on the central tracking system. And the van was still outside.

A couple of days later I had a new meter fitted outside. On completion the fitter tapped all the data into his palm top with the stylus ... dragged the technical data into place from a menu .... read the Serial number with the barcode reader built into the end of the palmtop ... and transmitted the whole lot.

There's more than enough technology already there to accept local payments? And you don't need interactive links, unless you want authorisation whilst face to face. You can just capture the data .... and then download from your PC at the end of the day.

Quicker than the delivery of '26 with rice' .... in a Geordie accent

Francesanne

I prefer to use cheques when buying from ebay. Don't want to use paypal.

Mikeyorks

PROLIANT wrote: »

I will have to burn my cheque books and leave it at that.

I wouldn't rush that?

Despite the plethora of pictures of 'blue skies' and the constant talk of 'mapping' ....... all of which paints pictures of the bureaucrats at work ..... I read the Payments Plan shortly after it was made available. And particularly remembered a section relating to setting an end date for cheques / clearing :-

Respondents were divided on whether it was appropriate to set a target date for the closure of the cheque clearing at this stage. In broad terms, large businesses, financial institutions, payment schemes and payment infrastructure and service suppliers supported an end date, while government and regulators, consumers and SMEs opposed setting an end date.

I'm uncertain as to whether the Govt reticence relates to it's own position as a receiver of millions of cheques per annum - via it's various agencies. And that amplified by the fact those agencies still issue considerable numbers of cheques .... despite they call them Payable Orders / Warrants etc.

Or whether - despite their response was a year ago - they look at more recent initiatives in the banking arena and therefore determined to keep their powder dry on any finite date? After all the requirement to 'eliminate float', predominantly BACS, was initiated close to 10 years ago. But it then took until 2005 before the OFT eventually mandated that had to happen for 2007 ...... and the result is Faster Payments. Which is still being conducted on a 'join if you please / don't set an end date / pretend it's hugely susceptible to fraud and keep the limit low and customer uninformed' etc basis by most Banks.

So despite others will tell you (and have) that cheques are hugely susceptible to fraud ... it appears the latest systems are even more prone!

So follow the Govt lead ..... and keep the cheque book if it suits your financial MO. I bet it will still be useable in 2020+.