Cheque Books.

I agree with MamaCaz. There's a poetry magazine I subscribe to where the editor wants payment by cheque. Won't use email either.
I don't mind sending a cheque but receiving one is a real pain. The local branch of our bank has shut and I don't want to travel ten miles to the next one just to cash a cheque for a small amount. I'm told the post office will cash cheques -is this correct?

The only way I can pay an amount from my Nationwide Savings Account into my current a/c is by way of a cheque that they issue to me, then I take it to the bank. Seems rather mad these days! I also, by one publisher, get paid by cheque though I suppose I could just give them details and they'd do a BACS. Only cheques I write are to the cattery when I take her in for the odd few days if I'm going away. Man there says he doesn't want a card machine as the bank charges too much for them.

I use cheques to pay my hairdresser who does not use the Payment Handset (or whatever they are called). Occasionally we have to use a cheque to pay the person who comes to mend something in the house, most recently a plumber.

This is a really interesting thread.

I looked at the heading in amazement and wondered for a moment what year it is!

Danish banks stopped issuing cheque books in the 1980s, though you can still get a bank to issue a banker's cheque, but you might well find that no bank will accept it.

When we bought a motor boat in the Netherlands in 2013, our Danish bank was willing to issue a banker's cheque, but no Dutch bank would accept one. As you could only withdraw a maximum of 1500 euros a day on a visa or mastercard, we finished up by asking our bank to transfer the price of the vessel to the bank account of the notary who was finalizing the sales' agreement.

I hope others who don't live in the UK will comment too. I would really like to know if there are other countries who still have cheque books.

While we are on the subject, Sweden no longer issues coins or paper money - I am not sure how that is working out, though. It was brought in to try to stop people moonlighting, but does not seem to have solved the problem.

Many of the tradesmen who carry out work for me, choose payment by cheque. Still write them but not as many as I used to. Still get new cheque books automatically when I near the end of current one. If they stopped payment by cheque I would be lost!

Yes, I still use cheques. I use them to give donations to charity, rather than give my card details to yet more people/companies. I do internet banking, and will transfer if people offer their details, but I don’t ask for them. I also occasionally use them for gifts. Cheques don’t have to be physically taken to the bank, so technology has again had an effect.

I so use cheques and find that I feel more confident in this form than online payments. It's also a good way to control outgoings & track easily, but also, can stop them if anything changes or you aren't sure. Technology is all fine ...when it's working. But for those of us less tech aware, getting older, it is sometimes more time consuming trying to navigate around the site inky to find you need to speak to someone & end up with a computer 'bot' which can't help either. We do need to have human contact to aide us, it's not always straightforward. Life is hard enough but when it's as crucial as your finances, it ought to be a service that works for all of us at every level. I hope cheques remain, I like and need to have control of what little I have!

seadragon

I was rather put out recently when DH received a cheque book for one of our 2 joint accounts and I didn't!! We each manage one of the accounts so I don't use the one he manages and he doesn't use mine but we could if we needed to. I presumed my cheque book would arrive later but it didn't so I went into the bank to order a cheque book for myself and they pointed out I could use DH's as either of us could sign the cheques. I felt a bit silly but at the same time quite angry as it took me back to the times when we had only 1 joint account - when I was the bread winner for most of our married life - and the same bank used to address our bank statements to my husband; not me!!! I was so busy I never got round to challenging it. I use cheques to pay local trusted tradesmen and also as gifts but am increasingly hesitant to use them because they contain our bank details when surely they could be encrypted in some way. BTW, although the bank teller said he would arrange for me to receive my own cheque book...it never arrived...

A bit off topic but my ex husband had all the utilities in his name despite me asking him to make them joint when we last moved, as I’d had trouble with them phoning and not being able to talk to me when he was abroad on business. (He came back before we were cut off!)
In tthe end it worked to my advantage as all the bills were in his name even after we separated!

You're quite right, Lilylaundry - lots of small businesses in my area (where there is a high proportion of older residents) don't find it useful to take on the expense of a card machine when the bulk of their customers prefer more traditional options, including cheques.

If it's not broke, don't fix it! Give people the choice they want.

nadateturbe

I still write cheques now and again. I would hate to think banks will stop issuing them.

Were lucky we still have a physical ban to pop into!! We bank for a charity and @christmas we can have up to £9k in coins mostly (!) Notes!!! The HSBC has set up in the new post office and I have warned them we may have several very big coin deposits to make and they looked horrified! The alternative? Drive a 30 mile round trip , park up , walk through eitherbolton or Preston carrying a bag with maybe £3_400 cash!!! Asking to be mugged! As we may make 10-15 tips of this magnitude it's appallingly bad, but banks just want our money , not our custom. They're rude ignorant uncaring and downright thick! The biggest insult? Talking time as if I'm not only 110 but dear AND. Stupid when I insist on banking over counter in privacy and not chucking it in coin counter in the WINDOW at the bank?!?!

I paid my council tax by cheque until Covid when I started paying online. Recently the online payment system failed so I wrote a cheque and took it to the post office then later found the online payment that claimed to have failed went through the next day! Just as well I noticed! I don’t always check my credit card statement that carefully but was looking for something in particular. I’ll be checking every month now and will pay council tax by cheque too since I clearly can’t trust their payment system! Our council recently went bankrupt so perhaps that had something to do with it! I tried the phone line and was put through to a council 200 miles away! Not trusting them at all now!

I have requested (3 times) from my bank a new cheque book. Even though they say they have sent them I am still to receive it.

seadragon

Your bank details, i.e. your name, sort code and account number are all on your debit card, as well as on your cheques. If anyone wanted to get those details, they could use either.

MamaCaz. That was an unnecessary put down for my husband and me. We are amongst the ‘rather mature’ small business owners but, contrary to your nasty statement about us not embracing new technology, we have a web site, which we update regularly. We accept cash, cheques, bank transfers, PayPal transfers etc., but what we don’t have is a card machine since most of our customers prefer cash, cheque or bank transfer. Perhaps it would be wise of you to think before being nasty in future. People who are ‘rather mature’ are neither idiots or backwards looking.

I think I have one lurking in the dark recesses of my odds and ends drawer. I have not used one for years and I pay all my bills mainly via Paypal. I never use cash either if I can help it. I go to the ATM to get cash out to put in with birthday cards to children of the family and for my hairdresser friend who cuts my hair.

Being housebound I cannot get cash very easily so I use cheques a lot to pay my home help, gardener and window cleaner etc. My bank First Direct sends a new book before I get to the last cheque. On line shopping is done by card. I don’t do on line banking.

I write a cheque once a month,I think it's a better way to keep track of my account. Very old fashioned 60 year old!

Theres one in the filing cabinet which occasionally sees the light of day. Since Covid I've moreorless given up on cash as well, which is strange because I used to be a cash person.

MiniMoon

Cheques are all well and good, but what happens you want to cash one, and there is no bank in your town? Does the Post Office cash cheques? DH had some business to do with TSB last summer, he had to travel 50+ miles to the nearest branch!
By the way, I think I've forgotten how to write a cheque, but DH still uses them occasionally.

I pay a friend who is also a car mechanic when mends my car by cheque. He says he prefers it as he can just scan it into his business account whereas, when people who pay him cash, he has to go take time out to go into the bank to deposit it.

I have got a cheque book and can still order them and paying in books

I pay the milkman and the window cleaner by cheque. Normally when you have about 5 cheques left in your book the bank knows( due to some magic of the numbers printed on the cheque) and will send you a new chequebook.

I was rather put out recently when DH received a cheque book for one of our 2 joint accounts and I didn't!! We each manage one of the accounts so I don't use the one he manages and he doesn't use mine but we could if we needed to. I presumed my cheque book would arrive later but it didn't so I went into the bank to order a cheque book for myself and they pointed out I could use DH's as either of us could sign the cheques. I felt a bit silly but at the same time quite angry as it took me back to the times when we had only 1 joint account - when I was the bread winner for most of our married life - and the same bank used to address our bank statements to my husband; not me!!! I was so busy I never got round to challenging it. I use cheques to pay local trusted tradesmen and also as gifts but am increasingly hesitant to use them because they contain our bank details when surely they could be encrypted in some way. BTW, although the bank teller said he would arrange for me to receive my own cheque book...it never arrived...

Cheques are all well and good, but what happens you want to cash one, and there is no bank in your town? Does the Post Office cash cheques? DH had some business to do with TSB last summer, he had to travel 50+ miles to the nearest branch!
By the way, I think I've forgotten how to write a cheque, but DH still uses them occasionally.

I used to pay my hairdresser by cheque but now do it by bank transfer so now there’s nobody.

Last year, my sister in law, who is a lot older than me, was struggling to get a new cheque book. RBS have shut almost all the branches in our county and she doesn’t do online banking. I had to go online to my RBS account to discover that they had set up a phone facility for customers during Covid. There was no way she could have found this out herself. Anyway, she rang them and spoke to a “real person”. A couple of days later she had the new cheque book and was able to send all her Christmas gifts! Not everyone wants to use online banking. Some of the older folk I know still don’t do anything online, in fact some of them don’t even have mobile phones.