Cheques....

[ToraToraTora]

How long before they become a thing of the past? I use about 2 a year, no supermarkets take them, I imagine not many shops do now either.

[murraymints]

I asked Barclays for a new cheque book...to postal pay some things occasionally...you'd have thought I had asked for a moon rock !..Got one though....there are some things I would never do dd on for the mess it can cause when errors are made...council tax is one !

[youngmafbog]

cheques will eithr die out with those that use them or as I have pointed out earlier will see their demise because the computer systems and sorters simply no longer work.

They are not in good shape, I know this because they were not in good shape when I had a short contract with them and that was quite a few years back now.

There are alternatives that do not involve a computer (at least to the user) so the odd few that use cheques will just have to use one of those.

As for the bloke in business for 40 years, guessing he will be retiring or drop down dead shortly and I doubt the new owner will have the same affinity for cheques.

Of course there is another way the Banks could 'force' a change and that will be when Bank charging for current accounts returns. When I had an account in the US with Chase Manhattan Bank you paid for an account that required any sort of manual service (ie a cashier). this will probably happen here, especially with the regulatory bodies getting tighter on how Banks can use deposit money and the probability we will all have to pay for the feckless few on authorised overdrafts

[ToraToraTora]

Yes good point I suspect cheques will continue to exist but the banks will phase them out by charging ever more exorbitant fees for cheques and indeed banking services. I know a few septics myself an they often remark how they get charged for what they call a "checking account"

[keyplus90]

Yes it is less and less used now a days but depends who you are. Businesses still use them as one of my client writes over 200 to 300 cheques every month. I receive cheques from my clients when they want to pay my fee. However I personally only write a couple of cheques a year at the most.

[Barmaid]

I largely get paid by cheque. It's annoying. Someone has to physically put the cheque in the envelope and send it to me. Someone then has to physically open the envelope. I have to go and collect it from the office and then physically walk to the bank and pay it in. Then i have to wait for it to "clear", which seems to take as much or as little time as the bank decides.

Now if someone were just to pay it direct into my account I would be SO much happier. The quicker they go the better imho.

[jno]

couldn't you offer them a small discount for doing so, barmaid? (And keyplus.)

[craft1948]

I collate entries for various sporting tournaments and all the entries require a covering cheque.

[emmie]

ymg i will ask him if he is about to drop dead any day soon, what a daft comment, he has been in business since a young man, he is only just 60 as far as i know, him and his missus run a damn good business, have loads of good customers and know their patch well.

[emmie]

there won;t be a new owner either, if and when they quit, the place will close, i am pretty sure of that.

[spudqueen]

I work in a Post Office and quite a large number of customers pay their bills by cheque. Yes, mostly the older population, but they get confused when trying to pay things over the phone (it's always an automated line and they can't always hear what is being said), and the Post Office is more convenient than going to an office or their bank. There are quite a few bills you can pay by cheque at the Post Office - council tax, tax bill, electricity, gas, water, telephone. And I personally got given a cheque last week when my Aunt wanted to give me a gift. She's in her 80s, doesn't own a computer and obviously didn't want to carry around £2000, so giving me a cheque was the obvious way of doing it. And very nice it was aswell!

[belindabee]

"The cheque is in the post " Take that away from businesses and our little country would grind to a halt !

[sherrardk]

I only use a cheque as a deposit to book the local hall (for kids birthday parties). It's a dead account and I sign it on 'behalf' of my husband. Totally worthless.

[bednobs]

this thread has just made me remember i need to find my cheque book for a cheque i need to write tomorrow!

[SlackAlice]

I have a postal savings account, deposits can only be made by personal cheque. So I at least write one cheque per month.

Eventually I suspect these type of savings account will die out if cheques are withdrawn.

[Psybbo]

I pay charities by cheque, I am loth to pay by card

[joko]

there is plenty of need for cheques!
just because you personally don't use them doesn't mean nobody does.

there are many circumstances when there is no other way

the only way they will disappear is if a suitable replacement in invented - all the other ways are very inconvenient in some circumstances and for some people

if only there was some way you could pay someone, anyone, anywhere - without needing to buy and carry round a small machine, or have access to a computer or broadband and have to set up internet banking, or a phone etc ... you know just something simple, like a slip of paper, you just fill it in and hand it over, and its a good as money and ... oh wait ...

[naomi24]

I would find life without cheques difficult.

[sherrardk]

I'm curious to know what the cheque users use cheques for when they can't use cash or the internet. I haven't had a 'working' cheque book for years and apart front the hall booking (which is a fraught system including a complicated key collection routine).

[rockyracoon]

School bus company only accepts chqs, not always got the cash when going to mass (well actually need it for take away) and school stuff that needs paying but hasn't been put on Parentpay.

[rockyracoon]

Oh yeah, forgot the lawn people, I always give them a chq, I just won't bother to ring them and pay them by card.