Cheque guarantee cards no longer work, and even when they did they didn't guarantee a sum that large, not for years. Quite a few people come a cropper in hotels, as most large chains will no longer accept a cheque either. There are a few that won't accept cash, in case it is a way of money-laundering. Money laundering is usually the problem, I gather. Keeping an electronic trail of how large sums of money are spent is far easier than working your way through lots of bits of paper. I think I worked out that I use 2 or 3 cheques a month - but the thought of all of our money being tied up in banks accounts and not being able to go shopping when the banks computer systems go down - which they have, twice lately - is enough to make me want to keep cheques as a back-up.