MSE News: Cheques to disappear by October 2018 2 December 2009 at 2:28PM edited 16 December 2009 at 5:59PM in Budgeting & bank accounts 138 replies 13.6K views

Former_MSE_Guy

This is the discussion thread for the following MSE News Story:

"Cheques will be phased out by 31 October 2018, the UK's Payments Council said today...."

Read the full story:
Cheques to disappear by October 2018

Thanks to MoneySaver never-in-doubt for starting this discussion directly below.

never-in-doubt

Interesting story that was just on the news (yea, at 4am lol)

The year by which the use of cheques is to be phased out in the UK could be announced later. The board of the UK Payments Council, which oversees payments strategy, is meeting to discuss whether the cheque clearing system could end by 2018.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8414341.stm

97trophy

Cheques tend to still be popular among parents paying for school trips, meals or music lessons, as well as payments to tradesmen, such as plumbers, who do not carry chip-and-pin machines or who would rather not give out bank details.

That sums up my experience (as a parent) to a tee.

D1zzy

Just trying to imagine Grandma (hopefully she will still be around in 2018) - paying by card (never used one) or mobile phone...........

Extant

There's a reason that any such plan would be for years in the future - although alternatives exist now, they will be enhanced, developed etc. and further options may become available.

shayward

Many traders don't like having to deal with debit and credit cards because the banks charge them 2.5% of the transaction value.

Pushing people from cheques to debit cards not only saves the bank that hassle of processing the cheque, but also earns them extra income.

noh

shayward wrote: »

Many traders don't like having to deal with debit and credit cards because the banks charge them 2.5% of the transaction value.

Pushing people from cheques to debit cards not only saves the bank that hassle of processing the cheque, but also earns them extra income.

They dont charge 2.5% of the value on debit cards. They are usually charged a fixed amount.
Banks charge traders for processing cheques too.

Joe_Bloggs

I have figured out why this apparently aimless announcement was made. It going to be left to the ingenuity of the British public to come up with an alternative to the cheque.
If you want to be paid for something then you are going to have to tell them your account number and sort code. The payee can use telephone banking or the internet to transfer the money.
J_B.

rb10

Whilst I'm all for the decline of cheques, I do wonder how they can withdraw them completely in 2018. According to the forecast of cheque usage on the BBC article, there are expected to be around 300,000,000 cheque transactions in 2017.

It'd be a seriously large jump, to go from 300,000,000 in 2017 to 0 in 2018. They really can't expect people to change their habits so suddenly.

Noble_Savage

rb10 wrote: »

They really can't expect people to change their habits so suddenly.

Which is why, perhaps, they're talking about it eight years in advance?

INT1

Can't wait until cheques are gone, so old fashioned. Electronic banking is so much more efficient.