End of cheque guarantee system

Primrose

I've just received a leaflet from Barclays Bank notifying me of the end of the Cheque Guarantee System with effect from 30th June 2011. (Cheque guarantees are where the cheques are given to a recipient with a debit/credit card showing a cheque guarantee hologram for £50, £100 or £250, with the card number written on the back of the cheque to show that the recipient has been shown the card).

It seems that all UK banks will be discontinuing this system after this date.

How can one safely sell products after this date, especially via private transactions if you don't get a guarantee that you will get your money?

With this move and the proposed longer term abolition of cheques it seems that the banks are providing fewer and fewer services and growing fatter and fatter at the expense of their customers.

opinions4u

How can one safely sell products after this date, especially via private transactions if you don't get a guarantee that you will get your money?

Debit card. Credit card. Cash. Cheque awaiting clearance for 6 working days until goods are released. Online transfer.

With this move and the proposed longer term abolition of cheques it seems that the banks are providing fewer and fewer services

That's not true though? Banks have innovated and introduced new services that have effectively made cheques redundant. ATMs. Credit cards. Debit cards. Online banking. Telephone banking. Faster payments.

pmduk

Cheques even with guarantee cards aren't particularly safe nowadays. You'll find lots of threads on here where people have lost money after accepting them.

coolesticeking

Yeah i've read threads where people have followed all the guidelines and still the cheque has come back as "Unpaid" due to lack of funds etc even when guaranteed!

EarthBoy

Primrose wrote: »

It seems that all UK banks will be discontinuing this system after this date. .

Are you serious, -is this really the first that you've heard of this? If so, you must have been living with your head in the sand for the last twelve months, if not longer. The banks announced this a long time ago, and it's been discussed on this forum at great length.

JuicyJesus

It's a pointless, expensive method of payment that opens banks, customers and businesses alike to fraud. Banks because a misused guarantee card used solely as a guarantee card is incredibly hard to stop being misused once it has been, customers because they have no purchase protection of any kind and are exposed to all sorts of fun should they have their book swiped and businesses because they can (as pointed out by other posters) still have supposedly guaranteed cheques bounced.

Anything that helps eradicate cheques in general is good in my book.

[Deleted User]

dont hear of many banks offering it anymore

CLAPTON

remind me

how many cheques were issued in the last 12 months?
what was their total value?
-remind me of any other industry that would reject such a volume of trade

what is the alternative for people without internet banking?
what is the alternative for small clubs, paying friends / family presents etc?

what protection does the user have if they use internet banking and mistype a single digit... what protection does the law give and what practical help do the banks give to retrieve the money....

when those issues have been resolved then maybe cheques should go

at the moment it's entirely about banks reducing their costs and transferring all risk to the customer and away from the banks themselves.. well what a surprise

JuicyJesus

CLAPTON wrote: »

what is the alternative for people without internet banking?
what is the alternative for small clubs, paying friends / family presents etc?

The answer to both is telephone and/or branch banking for the former and for clubs, and gift cards and cash for the latter. PayPal works too for quick inter-person payments, and has the bonus of usually clearing slightly quicker than a cheque. Many mobile phones now have some form of PayPal app or access to PayPal, and every home phone has access to phone banking?

what protection does the user have if they use internet banking and mistype a single digit... what protection does the law give and what practical help do the banks give to retrieve the money....

People are asked to confirm the details of the payment they just put in for a reason - to give one final check over the details they've input. It's not the banks' fault if people don't bother.

at the moment it's entirely about banks reducing their costs and transferring all risk to the customer and away from the banks themselves.. well what a surprise

As pointed out, much of the risk with cheques also lies with small businesses and customers. If a fraudulent cheque is paid in, the customer stands the loss. If a cheque bounces and the person who wrote it absconds, the customer/business stands the loss.

I do not, either, see an issue with banks reducing their costs. People in this country expect a very high level of service for no cost at all, and I don't see it as at all unreasonable if people who will not pay for their banking facilities can't use a payment method that is slow, outdated, insecure and in this day and age pointless.

Wasteofspace

Are you joking Clapton? My number one piece of advice when it comes to cheques is never use them!

Cheques are an absolute nightmare!

If the bank sends me a checkbook I take it to the branch and dispose of it.

The future is bright... https://squareup.com/

Helix

Wasteofspace wrote: »

The future is bright... https://squareup.com/

The problem is when and how will they bring it to the UK. Its fine in the US as they still use swipe and sign not Chip and PIN. I can't see how it can be brought over to the UK without them either coming up with a chip and pin adapter which will be bulky and costly, or the banks agreeing to allow transactions under a certain amount to be signed for.

NFC will probably take over before then anyway, although it hasn't got very far being built into cards. Hopefully when phones and other devices have it built in, it will begin to take off.