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Can the cheque be saved?

13

Comments

  • i just got a cheque book again after YEARS, i'd be damned if they were going to take them away from me, after i fought tooth and nail (read fluked) my way back into an account with 'grown' up features again.

    i've received my cheque book and guess what?

    will be using it to pay off as many of my bills as possible
    She LEFT me, she LIED, and she made me foot the BILL ! :mad:
  • 456789
    456789 Posts: 2,305 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    izools wrote: »
    The Barclays Prepaid Electron Gift Card comes to mind. I used to use the old Mint Electron Gift Cards instead of cash - and it's much better than giving gift vouchers. Always got a big grin and thanks in response. Much cooler than having to wait for a cheque to clear, too.
    Sounds cool but only goes upto £300 and costs £3 to purchase!
  • huw01
    huw01 Posts: 402 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    I hope it can be saved, I quite like writing the odd cheque out. I still feel that I have some authority when I write a cheque.

    I remember when the payments council mooted this their spokesperson said " most people in their twenties never write a cheque " . What a feeble excuse, when I was in my twenties neither did I because I lived at home. Once I got my own place and finally grew up and realised that I needed plumbers, sparkies etc then I also realised that I needed my cheque book.

    I still think that they will still need a paper based system as a fall back for when terminals etc go down. I'm still awaiting the paperless office 20 years after they said it had arrived. We also now know how slow it's taking for some institutions to implement faster payments. It'll take more than eight years for them to come up with an alternative that will fully replace cheques.

    I also cannot see the government allowing cheques to be phased out completely until what time a suitable alternative is available otherwise more cash transactions will take place which will be a nightmare for HMRC to keep track on. If you need to pay your plumber £80 say, whilst you still have an option to pay him by cheque rather than having to withdraw cash from an ATM - then in all probability you will write a cheque. Now if that option is no longer there and the option is cash or alternatively a terminal which will require a mobile or other device for connectivity and a plumber with sausage fingers to operate it. The chances are that more cash transactions will take place. Thus more undeclared income and less taxes being paid to Her Majesty's Reveneue and Customs.
  • olly300
    olly300 Posts: 14,738 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    One payment method you forgot is payment by mobile phone. A few companies at the moment, the last one I saw was a charity, allow you to do this.

    And if you are a business where it's not viable to allow payment by other methods when cheques cease to exist, then you should only deal in cash. If that loses you business then you need to work out another payment method......
    I'm not cynical I'm realistic :p

    (If a link I give opens pop ups I won't know I don't use windows)
  • mjm3346
    mjm3346 Posts: 47,324 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Cheques used in High Street shops and for online shopping accounted for 3% of the total spend in 2008.
    Hardly a massive demand and I think that was when the supermarkets were still taking them.
    Cheque guarantee cards are on the way out, it is usually more expensive to pay bills by cheque than DD and it such a waste of time having to pay a cheque into the bank and wait for clearance instead of getting the money paid in direct.
  • huw01
    huw01 Posts: 402 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    edited 17 February 2010 at 7:25AM
    olly300 wrote: »
    And if you are a business where it's not viable to allow payment by other methods when cheques cease to exist, then you should only deal in cash. If that loses you business then you need to work out another payment method......

    Listen , plumbers, sparkies, plasterers, washing machine repairers, white van men etc will relish the chance to deal only in cash. They will not go out of their way to have handheld terminals etc - why would they ? If you've got a blocked drain or a leaking tank chances are that you'll be desparate to get someone there asap - you're not going to shop around for someone who offers a range of payment methods. If there is no viable paper based alternative then HMRC have got a real problem on their hands
  • huw01
    huw01 Posts: 402 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    mjm3346 wrote: »
    Cheques used in High Street shops and for online shopping accounted for 3% of the total spend in 2008.
    Hardly a massive demand and I think that was when the supermarkets were still taking them.
    Cheque guarantee cards are on the way out, it is usually more expensive to pay bills by cheque than DD and it such a waste of time having to pay a cheque into the bank and wait for clearance instead of getting the money paid in direct.

    I agree that the demand has dropped, paying high street shops and supermarkets by cards is more convenient. However, you will still need some paper based system for those sole traders. I'm not just on about plumbers but a lot of small businesses still rely on cheques. For example in agriculture - farmers, farriers, stone wallers, labourers, mobile mechanics, contractors etc ( the list could go on and on) rely on cheques to earn their keep. Now that is only a few examples in one industry - multiply that a thousand times. People seem to forget that there is a world that operates beyond the supermarket checkout.

    It's interesting that there are no plans to phase out bankers drafts in place of an electronic version !
  • opinions4u
    opinions4u Posts: 19,411 Forumite
    huw01 wrote: »
    It's interesting that there are no plans to phase out bankers drafts in place of an electronic version !
    It would be so good if a bank had a system of electronic transfer that moved funds quicker than a bankers draft.

    The could call it something like Faster Payments, or Clearing House Automated Payments System or something innovative like that if they introduced it!
  • Old_Wrinkly
    Old_Wrinkly Posts: 5,182 Forumite
    Like LeeSouthEast in an earlier post, the only cheques I've written in years have been the ones that the banks themselves have forced me into doing, in order to open some supposedly online accounts. :mad:
  • I write cheques out all the time. For the kids dance clases/school trips etc. i would not allow them to carry cash to school and i don't do the school runs so i find its the easier option.
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