UK banks to phase out 'cheques'

[marmar]

from the Guardian UK:




Cheques to be bounced into history
UK banks set to vote tomorrow to phase out 300-year-old tradition of paying by cheque

Patrick Collinson
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 15 December 2009


Do you pay the milkman by cheque? Slip a surprise cheque in a Christmas card to a grandson or granddaughter? Or maybe you simply don't trust direct debits when dealing with gas and electricity companies?

In the future you'll have no choice but to pay electronically, by plastic, or go online if, as expected, Britain's banks vote tomorrow to phase out the tradition dating back more than 300 years of payment by cheque.

Cheques cost up to £1 each to process – and the number written has been falling steadily. As recently as 2002 a typical consumer in Britain was writing 31 cheques a year, but the number fell to 14 by 2008. Big stores such as Marks & Spencer have already stopped taking cheques, and the Payments Council, which sets strategy for UK payments in Britain, says they are now used for fewer than one in 25 purchases.

Scandinavian countries and Ireland have already voted to phase out cheques, and a board meeting of the Payments Council tomorrow afternoon expected to set an "end date" of 2018 for cheque clearing in Britain.

It wants consumers to switch to cheaper and faster electronic payment processing and says it will use the eight-year transitional period to ensure alternative arrangements are put in place.

"Mapping out how the UK might move to a society where, by 2018, there is no need to use a cheque for any type of payment is no small task," said council spokeswoman Sandra Quinn. "Even if the board decides to set a target date, we are clear that we would need to continue to engage with as many other bodies as possible to understand their concerns and requirements. The demise of the cheque in 2018 is only feasible if interim targets are set and met and it can be demonstrated that no one will lose out." ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/dec/15/cheques-bounced-out-history

[Libertas1776]

1. Does that include

those big novelty checks? If so, then this is truly a dark day for humanity :P

[marmar]

2. You mean those big giant checks, like the one they give you if you win the Lotto?

I don't that will fit in the check reader deposit slot at the Skank of America ATM.

[The Straight Story]

3. Eventually we will have a cashless society - and then those that control computers/data bases

will control us.

[PeaceNikki]

4. As a database expert,

I'm ok with that somehow. :P

[madinmaryland]

6. As another database expert, if you are ok with that, then you will be ok with this...

:D

[roamer65]

5. ...and then they can make you an "unperson" with a few keystrokes.

Orwellian, isn't it?

[Luminous Animal]

7. Barter or,

like some communities already do... create your own currency.

[David Zephyr]

8. In the works for a long time. With interest rates so low, banks may charge you to keep your money.

.

[Fuzz]

9. 666 the number of the beast, or how the fundies will spin this.