Time to Cheque out

[R1Geezer]

It seems that banks are going to discuss the phasing out of cheques. I pretty well have myself already but I do occasionally have to write one when the recipient is from the stone age. Anyway will this be a giant leap for mankind and if so, in what direction?

[redcrx]

what charges (on top of the ones small companies already get charged for paying cash into accounts) will there be for the set up to enable card payments to be received?
It wont be free, you can bet that.

[Quinlad]

I'm self-employed and the day when people stop paying me with cheques can't come soon enough. Having to post/drop something off at the bank - in this day and age - is ludicrous.

[another-view]

Of course it won't be free. They are businesses, not charities.

[Panic Button]

By 2018 there will probably be a way to text, bluetooth or send money some other way.

At the start of the current decade I had no mobile phone or DVD player. I hadn't even been on the internet!
There is time for technology to solve this.

Don't ask me to choose the way though, I bought a Betamax video recorder in the 80's!

[anotheoldgit]

Cheques are most useful for those immediate payments, one needs to make from time to time.

Such as those tradesmen that don't send out bills and want paying on the spot, these persons don't carry card swipe machines.

Would one also be prepared to send out card details to people who they have not previously dealt with?

[Coobeastie]

A cheque has my account number on it but my card has its own number and the security number on the rear which if cloned could then be used at a cash machine, in a shop or over the internet.

The banks are always telling us to be wary when entering our pin numbers. If the person at the door has a card reader how are we to know if its not also taking a copy.

Can't recall the last time banks told us to be wary of people copying our cheques, but my wife did have her card cloned at a cashpoint.

[youngmafbog]

In actual fact therei are probably more cheques issued than you think. I worked for a cheque processing company recently and it was quite an eye opener, although most are company generated (share dividends etc) rather than personal.

The cost and effort is quite pheonominal plus for the green brigade amongst you lot, you do realize the cheques are transported all over thcountry ???

[joko]

theres room for both ways...as shown here, there are plenty of instances where cheques are still used and necessary.
i for one like to have both options available to me... i mean wheres the harm?

if waste of paper is the problem, they could be made smaller. maybe printed both sides if possible.

[LeMarchand]

I think this has far less to do with cheques being little used, as the figure quoted on the news (unless I misheard) was that even in 2018 they are still expecting 1.5 million cheques to be processed/day, than with ensuring higher profits and therefore higher bonuses for our old friends, the bankers.