Save the Cheque!

Extant

withnell wrote: »

If you want to transfer from an interest paying current account to another account, a cheque will mean your money is not earning interest for a shorter period than for a BACs transfer!

Way too many variables in this.

Some banks will allow your funds to remain earning interest or offset on day two of the BACS cycle (e.g. first direct, Barclays offset) with credit on the third day, where it then, of course, earns interest in the receiving bank. Some banks may not pay interest until day 2 of the 2-4-6 rules when it comes to cheques.

This is far from a definitive matter, and is mostly made moot with the increasing availability of FPS.

ahai1

I will take the last 3 posts one at a time. The people who run the craft fairs if they can accept cheques then they can accept BACS as BACS is simple that a child could operate it so that is a poor excause. It is down to people not wanting to do simple things for example when I go to the bank sometimes people are doing things at the branch which they could do on phone or online. If a tradesman can accept a cheque then they can accept a BACS transfer as it is not that complicated all day they do is give out a bank account and a sort and the person just transfers them money. It is a pyschological thing as people think when they got the cheque they have the money the thing is that the cheque is meaningless unless the other person has the money.

As for the cheque guarantees there is not much point as a lot of retailers have banned them and the staff don't know how to use them.

If the retailer thinks that the cheque is guaranteed then it turns out it is not that is the fault of the retailer and not the bank.

The last comment by Withnell is a odd as the way cheques take 3 days like BACS and with faster payments it is quicker to get money into your bank account then it used to be.

I still think that it is a problem for people budgetting as cheques can be taken to the bank any day and people can get overdrawn as they don't know when the money is going to go out.

Extant

BuddyBonthenet wrote: »

I use cheques to when I'm booking a table at craft fairs and events - usually about £10/15. Often these events are run by one or two people to raise money for local charities, schools, churches, etc.

How would those of you who want to scrap cheques suggest I do this if there were no more cheques?

There's a lot of different ways for you to this already, and there will be even more as time moves on.

Let's make it clear, though - it's not about just scrapping cheques, it's about managing their decline. There will come a point when it does become necessary to stop offering the service due to costs and low usage. But the goal is there to make sure that those that rely on cheques now a) will have alternatives and b) won't be "trapped" in an outdated mode of payment. It's outlined in the National Payments Plan, if you care to research it.

Extant

Milarky wrote: »

Ditto LSTB now, and NatWest I think...

This is a personal Bête noire for me. That banks issue cheque books with debit cards omitting the cheque guarantee function is totally self-serving. They then reject the odd £20 or £30 cheque written (probably fraudulently) taken by merchants because - they assume (wrongly) that a debit card has in-built CG functions. This is completely wrong. Anyone whom the banks thinks is unsuitable for CG on their debit card should be not be issued a chequebook. If they were sincere about preventing fraud (as opposed to just covering themselves against loss) they wouldn't give chequebooks to such people.

How do you figure? Cheque guarantees only go up to £250; people use cheque books for amounts beyond that. Should we deny them the ability to do so, and not issue them a cheque book if they so request them?

A cheque itself is not a guaranteed form of payment, hence the existence of cheque guarantee cards - cards which weren't widely available until the 1970s. How do you think people managed with cheques before then?

Cheques require you to either have some trust in the drawer or just wait for it to clear. You shouldn't pass on goods without the cheque clearing first. Even with a £250 cheque guarantee on the back, a cheque for £30,000 from someone with no funds is still useless.

You're also somehow connecting up fraud to being given a chequebook but no cheque guarantee - this is a risk issue, not a fraud one.

Oh, but then they couldn't discontinue issue of CG cards quietly en masse could they? Oh, now I see! The banks want to have their cake (elliminate cheque use/acceptance) and eat it (do so, but at the expense of their customers) Nice one!

How have the banks moved to eliminate cheque acceptance? Banks still take and issue cheques, retailers are the ones who have decided to stop.

And as said above, the banks actually put a lot of time and effort into resolving payments issues, including the future of cheques. Go look up the National Payments Plan and read - you'll see that there wasn't even consensus to withdraw cheques or cheque guarantees.

But you just keep raging at the entire financial services sector, one cheque at a time!

Extant

ahai1 wrote: »

I still think that it is a problem for people budgetting as cheques can be taken to the bank any day and people can get overdrawn as they don't know when the money is going to go out.

Ever heard of the phrase "balancing a cheque book," or noticed those little tables for debits and credits that banks tend to print in their cheque books...?

Milarky

BarclaysManager wrote: »

Go look up the National Payments Plan and read - you'll see that there wasn't even consensus to withdraw cheques or cheque guarantees.

But you just keep raging at the entire financial services sector, one cheque at a time!

Snide...

As for this 'National Payments Plan'.. just a few choice quotes exposes the pretty neatly for what they are about...

Priority Areas
Cheques
There is broad agreement from all categories of
respondents that cheques are in long-run decline; that
the decline needs to be actively managed;

We will now embark on this work with a sense of urgency
as we are confident that substantial economic benefits
will flow from a programme of activity to manage down
the volume of cheques.

Cheque Guarantee Card Scheme
There is strong support for reviewing the future of the
Cheque Guarantee Card Scheme. It is felt that the rapid
fall in cheque volumes in the high street makes a review
a matter of urgency

We share this view and will initiate an objective review of
the Scheme in early summer 2008. The scope of the
review will include analysis of the impact on users of
closure and other changes to the Scheme, and of the
costs and benefits of the different options. We will aim
to complete the review by March 2009.

When the term 'objective review' is used in this context my bull5hit detector goes off the dial. What they really mean is; they've already decided to phase out CG cards to help 'manage down' [high BS content there] cheque use but have to go though the motions and pretend - by use of the word 'objectve' - that their self-serving actions fulfil show higher public function.

[Thanks for pointing me to the well-spring of your genius..]

BuddyBonthenet

BarclaysManager wrote: »

There's a lot of different ways for you to this already, and there will be even more as time moves on.

Let's make it clear, though - it's not about just scrapping cheques, it's about managing their decline. There will come a point when it does become necessary to stop offering the service due to costs and low usage. But the goal is there to make sure that those that rely on cheques now a) will have alternatives and b) won't be "trapped" in an outdated mode of payment. It's outlined in the National Payments Plan, if you care to research it.

Such as? If I use a Postal Order that costs more than twice the price of a stamp, so I'd be out of pocket. Sending cash through the mail would be foolish. What other different ways are available?

ahai1

The only thing I know about cheques is writing them and taking them to my branch wehn I get one other then that I don't know about the cheque. So I have no idea what you are talking about.

BarclaysManager wrote: »

Ever heard of the phrase "balancing a cheque book," or noticed those little tables for debits and credits that banks tend to print in their cheque books...?

Extant

Milarky wrote: »

Snide...

As for this 'National Payments Plan'.. just a few choice quotes exposes the pretty neatly for what they are about...

When the term 'objective review' is used in this context my bull5hit detector goes off the dial. What they really mean is; they've already decided to phase out CG cards to help 'manage down' [high BS content there] cheque use but have to go though the motions and pretend - by use of the word 'objectve' - that their self-serving actions fulfil show higher public function.

[Thanks for pointing me to the well-spring of your genius..]

This point would be valid if cheque guarantees were widely used and cheques weren't in natural decline anyway. Cheque usage has dropped year on year since 1991. It's no surprise when people have been getting better access to their accounts in the recent years - internet banking, telephone banking, mobile phones, better ATMs that allow transfers, greater availability of debit cards, etc.

And considering cheque guarantee cards are being phased out relatively recently, how do you explain the decline in usage between 1991 to, say, 2000 (before banks started dropping cheque guarantees)?

Banks have done little, if anything, to create this trend: market forces have. If banks genuinely wanted to get rid of cheques, what makes you think they wouldn't just do it?

opinions4u

BuddyBonthenet wrote: »

Such as? If I use a Postal Order that costs more than twice the price of a stamp, so I'd be out of pocket. Sending cash through the mail would be foolish. What other different ways are available?

Online transfer.
Bill payment at a Halifax ATM (could easily be replicated by others).
PayPal.

The list is a hell of a lot longer.