Banks phasing out cheques?

Oldbiggles

The proposal by Banks is that cheques will disappear sometime in 2018, but some banks are saying they will no longer guarantee cheques, (even when a debit card is shown) after June this year.
It seems to me that once again Banks are working in their own interest and disregarding the wishes of their customers.
They seem to forget that it was the Banks that led the way when they wanted employees salaries paid into their coffers directly by employers rather than them paying their employees with a wage packet.
Now they have their mucky fingers on the cash they seem to think it belongs to them and not their customers.
Most cash machines only allow a certain amount of money to be paid out each day. If for instance your daily allowance is £250 but you want £1000, what will you be expected to do.....keep coming back 4 days on the trot to get your own money?
It’s also been suggested that some vulnerable people (disabled, pensioners etc.) will find it difficult as they can’t cope with electronic transactions, and some smart bank spokesperson has suggested that they could be issued with vouchers….DAHHHH!!!!:rotfl:
What something like cheques perhaps?????????:mad:

soupdragon10

Although I don't now write many cheques it's very useful in emergency situations for example I had to call a plumber out to a waterfall coming through the ceiling. No time to get to the bank (and I'd no idea what it would cost).

He doesn't have a card reader, and like to pay when the job is finished. At present I write a cheque - but in the future?????

biscit

...he gets a card reader, or only gets custom with people who have bundles of cash.

Owain_Moneysaver

biscit wrote: »

...he gets a card reader, or only gets custom with people who have bundles of cash.

Or, quite likely, move to a bank giro system where you instruct your bank to put the money in his account, instead of him/his bank/CC processor asking for the money from your account.

Then there are the 'secondary' ways of payment like Paypal and Amazon gift vouchers.

dmg24

If someone is capable of writing a cheque, I don't see why they would not be capable of using a debit card.

Kite2010

" If for instance your daily allowance is £250 but you want £1000, what will you be expected to do.....keep coming back 4 days on the trot to get your own money?"

Visit a branch of the bank (if one exists locally) and get a counter-withdrawal?

twocvbloke

I haven't seen my chequebook in about 4 years, I know it's in a box under my bed, but I have absolutely no use for it, so under the bed it stays...

PinkLipgloss

Must admit I have never written a cheque! I tend to use debit card/ Internet banking for money transfers etc.

However I do agree with the point about the inconvenience of withdrawing large sums of money - it is far from ideal to be visiting an ATM machine several days in a row withdrawing 250 pounds at a time.

Whilst living in Scotland I typically worked from 7:30 until around 7pm and was not close enough to branch to visit during my lunch break (besides my break was only 45 minutes and I had stuff to do during that time).

I typically had to get my husband to visit a branch to withdraw cash before he started work or ask him to finish early so that he could do so.

When I lived in Japan I could withdraw any amount I liked from my account using an ATM (as long as I had the funds to cover it!). However I do appreciate that they have a much lower crime rate than the UK.

Here in Madrid they have the same annoying daily ATM limit. Furthermore the banks tend to close at 2pm :eek:

soolin

This could well be an age thing. My grown up sons have never even had a cheque book, they wouldn't know what to do with one. All their transactions are done with cash or debit cards and even online transfers.

My pensioner mother on the other hand uses cheques occasionally as she has no online access.

unluckychappie

I find cheques are a very useful methods of payment, as I do with Paypal, Debit and Credit card, CHAPS, BACS and all the rest. Some years ago it was muted that cash was to be phased out, as a percentage of payment it has gone down but in absolute terms it has increased, and is still with us.

I know a number of people working on cheque phase out projects in two of the Clearing Banks, and both projects are stalling as no replacement system has been constructed - so no need to worry yet. The cheque system is relatively expensive for the Banking Industry, hence their enthuasiam for its demise. Operating branches is even more expensive, although the relentless closures have appeared to stopped - due to customer pressure. Perhaps the same could happen with cheques.

aheaton46

dmg24 wrote: »

If someone is capable of writing a cheque, I don't see why they would not be capable of using a debit card.

Most of the issue is with people who currently accept cheques. Small traders, workmen etc are presumably going to need card machines in their vans - and of course the banks charge for this privilege.

I look after the accounts for a small charity. Almost all our payments are by cheque, and have to be countersigned to prevent fraud (good practice for any such organisation and recommended by the charity commission). We don't have a debit card. There's nothing in place to deal with this scenario yet.