MSE News: Treasury Committee to reopen cheques enquiry

Culex

NFH wrote: »

"In particular, pensioners who are less comfortable with the internet still rely on them" - what about telephone banking if they're not happy with the internet? I don't see why an expensive clearing system should be maintained for a stubborn minority who refuse to use telephone banking or internet banking.

Fiddlesticks!

How can one make a protest against paying a bill by sending the payee an Internet transfer written on the side of a cow?

How can one send a company the statutory fee for a subject access request under the Data Protection Act 1998 except by cheque or postal order? Postal orders are more expensive and do not have any means to verify if the payment has been taken.

Mamzie

NFH wrote: »

"In particular, pensioners who are less comfortable with the internet still rely on them" - what about telephone banking if they're not happy with the internet? I don't see why an expensive clearing system should be maintained for a stubborn minority who refuse to use telephone banking or internet banking.

What if they are hard of harding, how would they manage then? I konw my dh would hate to use the internet - yet would struggle even more with Telephone banking as he has hearing loss.

Most of the small sports clubs our children go too get paid via cheque.

rb10

Niksan wrote: »

Will that mean ISA transfers will come out of the stone age? Or will banks themselves still use the cheque method?

Many banks are already using BACS transfers for ISAs, rather than cheques.

Mamzie wrote: »

Most of the small sports clubs our children go too get paid via cheque.

Doesn't mean that's the only way that it's possible to do it.

They could equally well give you their sort code and account number and get you to transfer the money directly to their account. This really is a case of 'cheque is the way we've always done it, so we can't be bothered to change'.

NFH

Culex wrote: »

How can one send a company the statutory fee for a subject access request under the Data Protection Act 1998 except by cheque or postal order?

This is obvious. The company publishes its sort code and account number, and you send the payment directly to their bank account. There's no need to send around archaic pieces of paper in the post.

NFH

Mamzie wrote: »

What if they are hard of harding, how would they manage then? I konw my dh would hate to use the internet - yet would struggle even more with Telephone banking as he has hearing loss.

There's a third way to instruct your bank to make a BACS/FPS payment, which is a visit to a branch. After all, by giving a cheque to someone, you are putting the onus on the payee to visit their bank, which they might not routinely do, so this just reverses that onus. When cheques are abolished, the banks may introduce a postal system of securely instructing BACS/FPS payments.

rb10

NFH wrote: »

When cheques are abolished, the banks may introduce a postal system of securely instructing BACS/FPS payments.

There already is such a system. I can write a letter to my bank requesting that they make a BACS/FP payment to a specified account, and they will do it for me.

NFH

rb10 wrote: »

There already is such a system. I can write a letter to my bank requesting that they make a BACS/FP payment to a specified account, and they will do it for me.

Indeed, but the banks will most probably introduce a more sophisticated system for this with some kind of authentication other than a signature, e.g. a long list of PINs that you can use only once each and which you cross off after each use. This method is what banks in some countries (e.g. Germany) use as two-factor authentication for online banking.

Paulgonnabedebtfree

Consumerist wrote: »

I can see that happening. :rotfl:

Funnily enough Consumerist, 70+ of my customers (window cleaning) currently pay me by bank transfer. I have no access to their accounts as in the direct debit system. The only access they have to mine is to pay into it electronically. It does actually work quite well. The customer sets up my sort code/account number on the bill payment section of their bank account. When a payment becomes due, they log in to their bank account (via web or telephone banking) and make the payment. As part of the bill payment setup they use a reference number that I supply to them (based on their house number/name and postcode) so that I know which customer has paid. Simple really. At least it was until Santander decided that they would no longer show the references - effectively leaving me to guess who had paid. So now I have all bank transfers going into a Co-op account and I keep on the Santander account as I can deposit cash and cheques 24/7 at the local ATM. Unlike Paypal and similar services, bank transfers are free so long as you don't use the CHAPS method.

Many of my customers still pay by cheque. Some don't trust the internet. Some wouldn't know where to start as they've never even owned a computer. A very few even struggle to remember who I am when I turn up to clean for them. It is for such customers that cheques are needed really.

I will have to push more for electronic payments in the coming years - before the probable abolition date. I can think of about 40 of my customers who would struggle with this (mostly the elderly). I will not re-start doorstep collecting as I've not done this for years. As things stand at the moment, the only understandable alternative for these people is the rather expensive postal order system.

Fortunately, the type of customer who will struggle are the ones that are normally at home when I visit. Also, I will make it clear to any strugglers that they can pay for two cleans at once if they are out when I call in order to save them money on P.O.s.

Paulgonnabedebtfree

Culex wrote: »

Fiddlesticks!

How can one make a protest against paying a bill by sending the payee an Internet transfer written on the side of a cow?

How can one send a company the statutory fee for a subject access request under the Data Protection Act 1998 except by cheque or postal order? Postal orders are more expensive and do not have any means to verify if the payment has been taken.

I hope no-one tries to stuff a herd of Fresians through my letterbox. Sometimes I can get as many as 10 cheques in a single delivery.
Anyway, I'm a vegetarian .

Milarky

This [STRIKE]is like an episode of Faulty Towers[/STRIKE] reminds me of the story the 'controversy' of metrication - - officially used to standardize the foot to the millimetre/metre in 186something - finally given the go ahead in the mid-1960s ahead of our joining the 'common market' - children like me actually learning metric units at school before 1970 - decimalisation in 1971 - Joining EEC in 1973 - deciding we hadn't really joined by mistake in 1975 Referendum [High Point] - Mrs T becoming PM in 1979 - early 1980s and 'we want our rebate' - suddenly Europe is the problem - opt out, opt-out, opt-out, opt-out kicked-out [ERM leading to Euro membership] social legislation/WTC - not for us [15 year opt-out] - Britannia waives the rules - finally it's 2000 and someone remembers we agreed to price cheese in grams by this date - panic ensues as the [STRIKE]flat earth[/STRIKE] metric martyr society reforms and threatens to bring down the government - then an earthquake starts [not an actual one, like in Japan] and the camera shakes violently amidst the clamour of 'they want to steal our llbs, again! - everything goes black - then you wake up with a sweat - your not in an episode of Dallas, it's far worse - it's real - this is 2011 and there's only seven years left to save the beloved British cheque!