MSE News: Cheques to disappear by October 2018

bylromarha

I'm all for it - as long as they develop a decent alternative.

rb10

wsheena wrote: »

i'd best tell my infant school to pull their finger out then hadn't i? and as for the gate company that sent me their invoice yesterday...should i be telling them i won't pay until they produce a 'new and improved' invoice?
er....no.

They do have nearly nine years to implement the alternatives.

The point is that the technology does exist for schools to work in this way, and it is likely that within the next nine years, your child's school will change over to accepting payments for meals and school trips over the internet.

glider3560

As a comparison, just using these as examples:

Barclays business current account charges 25p per cheque deposited.

RBS WorldPay charge £19.95 per month, inclusive of 350 transactions then 28p per transaction. This is for online payments made by credit/debit card.

Depending on the number of payments received, a school could easily save money by taking card payments (plus they would cut down on the amount of paperwork required).

snowman2_2

I get charged 18p for a debit card and approx 1.2% for a credit card transaction. Cash costs me 0.3% and cheques at 65p each. A cheque for £5 ends up costing me 13% to bank. Most of my big cheque payments could be made by BACS at 28p each. Not sure I will mis them that much.

Noble_Savage

Premier wrote: »

According to the BBC @ 16.24 today, the demise of the cheque would only occur "if adequate alternatives are developed"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8414341.stm

The MSE article appears to imply it's a done deal.
Has there been some very recent development on this?

No, it's always bene the case that cheques would go only if there were viable alternatives. But it doesn't make such nice dramatic headlines, does it? :rolleyes:

BigBouncyBall

i dont understand what is going to replace the cheque??

can someone tell me how i pay a plumber or electrician for essential work completed once cheques have been got rid of? I doubt they're going to like leaving me an invoice to pay and hope i do, nor am i prepared to pay cash or be marched upstairs to my computer to make a bank payment there and then.

I just dont see what would replace the current system.

BigBouncyBall

there's a reason the cheque has lasted over 300 years. It works.

i dont see how its any more costly or more effort to process now with modern technologies and computers.

jambosans

BigBouncyBall wrote: »

nor am i prepared to pay cash or be marched upstairs to my computer to make a bank payment there and then.

Why?

I don't think it is a great stretch of the imagination to envisage an adequate cheque replacement. I'm sure at some point people mourned the death of the cheque around the time of debit card implementation.

can someone tell me how i pay a my shopping at Safeway once cheques have been got rid of?

I feel the cheque has a more nostalgic value than genuine purpose - only catering to a niche selection of transactions. In nine years time if there isn't an adequate replacement I will write you a cheque for £10.

jambosans

BigBouncyBall wrote: »

i dont see how its any more costly or more effort to process now with modern technologies and computers.

Well it's a piece of paper. The process of cheque clearing can be (and is) automated but not entirely, therefore the transaction cost (in terms of staff, clearing systems, etc.) will be greater than that of a purely electronic transfer of funds.

james_joyce

The line of argument seems to be, 'cheques are dying anyway, so we are going to kill them'. I'm not convinced cheques are dying - maybe they are just finding their natural usage level, with the buyers and sellers who really benefit from them as others have mentioned. Perhaps the banks are talking up the idea of cheques dying out and the need to kill them off - to save themselves money? Incidentally I think I saw a website recently which accepted payment in postal orders but not cheques! Hopefully postal orders will carry on even if cheques are finally abolished.