“Please make cheques payable to”

[asatelliteisnttoofarright]

I went for a private healthcare appointment recently and just got the invoice in the post.

It says that the preferred payment method is a cheque! I’m in my 20s and have never written a cheque before. AIBU to think they need to update their payment terms?

Do you not have mobile banking?

I think we can pay in up to £2000 by cheque on our banking app. Above that we pop in to a branch.

i used to buy fags with them when I’d run out of money 🙈 they’d all be smoked by the time the cheque bounced 😭

You are able to see bacteria with your eyes?
Fantastic.

Yes, sounds ridiculous!

What's wrong with a link to pay.

Not written a cheque since 2008 and before that it was 2002 (found my old cheque book recently).

Ive just helped a close friend set up Internet ans app banking. I didn't mind her giving me cheques as I pay them in via my app. However, she was keeping large amounts of cash in the house to pay her gardener, cleaner and mobile hairdresser. The only one who insists on cash still is the hairdresser! It makes me very suspicious tbh!

I don't think everyone can do this. I've just checked mine and I'd have to send it by post. Apologies if anyone else has already posted this (and for the unintentional pun)

Just dug my cheque book out of the drawer and I see the last time I wrote a cheque was 2022 to the Sea Scouts! I think they were selling bedding plants to raise money and you had to place orders by post with an accompanying cheque.

I have paid in quite a few though. Late FIL used to give us cheques for things. Mind you he was in his 90s and didn't do the Internet.

AS and until we find a way to replicate what they offer (and there's no sign of that yet) then yes.

I’m in my 60s and haven’t used cheques in years. I don’t like paying over the phone either as you have to give all your card details to a stranger. Online banking is by far my most preferred method, so I’m with you.

Yet your job involves making old fashioned phone calls (which I suspect the rest of us probably hate receiving).

When companies or organisations take card details over the phone they usually make some IT adjustment, whereby they can't hear or see the numbers. They usually tell you that this will happen and when to start reading the number.

About cash money....

I live in Australia and in the past couple of years I've noticed how many people pay by cash. It's been obvious in the supermarket, the local pub and even my local coffee shop. Until not long ago, most people paid by phone or card.

We were on holidays last year and used to go to the same pub for dinner, great food and good prices. What surprised me was how many people in front of me were paying cash for their orders. It was so obvious I "mentioned" in passing to the cashier and she confirmed 50% of payments were cash, which was incredible. The town is a top holiday destination in Sydney with thousands of people visiting.

I don't know why, or pretend to know why it's happening. But I've been withdrawing cash and have a cushion just in case.

And just as I predicted. “Thank you for calling the business office, there is nobody available to take your call, leave your name and number and we’ll call you back” NO!!! I don’t understand how businesses can operate like this in 2026

So it’s okay for you to hate receiving a phone call, but not for me to dislike having to make one because it’s bloody inconvenient?

I don’t understand why the letter had to come via post as opposed to via email either.

Various reasons. Due to bank charges a lot of small businesses have started joining in with a campaign about preferring cash.

Also people budgeting, withdrawing spending money in cash as it seems more real and you can't go around tap, tap, tapping before waking up the next day and seeing a string of notifications from your banking app that you really did spend THAT MUCH last night.

I don't know if it is still the case, but a couple of years ago there was a Tiktok craze for performative envelope budgeting, where you withdrew all your money in cash and put it in pretty envelopes labelled rent, gas, groceries etc so you could make videos sliding your pretty fingernails across pastel coloured envelopes.

It could be everything you've said. But the turn around from literally everyone paying with a phone or a card to see so many people paying by cash in the last couple of years is really noticeable.

Yeah it’ll be tax avoidance. If any business is cash only or prefers cash, it’s to cook their books.

That’s good to hear. A few year’s ago I had to keep telling the guy on the phone at my local takeaway to not repeat back my card info as anyone in hearing distance could jot them down. He’d say ok , then carry on repeating them back 🤦‍♀️

Yes, but I live abroad and have overseas bank accounts and receive large sums of money in different currencies from different countries so this is how I deal with them.

I was just trying to help the previous poster I originally quoted. 😊

Why are they using the phone - invented in the 1800s, instead of email, invented in the 1979s ?

Very old-fashioned.

I recently got compensation from Royal Mail for a parcel that went missing, and they sent me a cheque
It was only about £20, so by the time I'd got to the post office, relaxed in the queue, waited fucking aeons for them to find a paying-in envelope and got home again I was probably out of pocket (I'm freelance and tend to work on hourly paid projects, so time is literally money!).

Maybe you could name the private hospital?

There are so many different ways to pay.

Some consultants want payment directly, via their PA.
Some hospitals belong to one of the national patient billing companies- you create an account and log-in every time you receive an invoice, paying by CC.
Some smaller hospitals work like the one you have experienced.
Some ask for payment on the day before you leave the building.

Personally, I find BACS a PITA unless it's a regular payment, as a new payment needs setting up online using a card reader to verify it etc and it's far quicker to pay by card.

The issue with emails can be security. many hospitals now have to set up encryption so you can log in to see either your results and pay invoices.
Not all smaller private hospitals will have done this- I assume.

I no longer have to use a card reader for new payees. I bank at Nationwide.