So cheques will not be needed at all by 2018??? So how will I then pay for...

[Miggsie]

the plumber
the washing machine repair man

...I suppose as businesses they will have to carry around a little card reader?

What about:

my cleaner
school meals
DD dance school
DD's french teacher

will they all have to register for card readers?

Will I have to carry loads of cash around to pay them?

Several million cheques are still written each year...it's hardly a minority interest service is it?

With my cynical hat on I think it is more to do with the banks wanting to sack the staff who currently sit and process cheques.

Oh, and every time you use a card reader, don't the banks get 10p or something???!!!

see cheques to be ended: here

the problem with direct bank transfer is people are reluctant to give you the account code and other details you need. They don't realise they give them out every time they pay by cheque - somehow they think it is a risk.

One problem though is if you put in the wrong number by mistake - the money goes into the wrong account.

oh dear, we so we are all going to have to drag ourselve into 21st century...its not so hard really is it. we just have to get used to a new way of doing things...shock horror. i dont think i have written a cheque in months. when you do write one i am a nervous wreck about when the payee is going to get around to cashing it ie often not straight away.
i think old people do struggle with this stuff. but the 'old' people in 2018 will be nine years younger than the 'old' people of today.

I also live in a country with no tradition of cheques, where everything is done by debit card (for retail), cash or bank transfer. Bank transfers are by far the most common method of payment, and it's incredibly easy.

Companies always give their account number and sort code when telling you how to pay, and I use telephone or online banking. Online has the advantage that it's available 24 hours, but I like the human touch of the phone service, and that works without a fast internet connection as well. Obviously for regular payments you'd use direct debit instead.

There's also a system for home deliveries (for instance for internet orders) whereby the delivery company - FedEx or whatever - is authorized to take the payment in cash and pass it on to the company. That saves time if you're in a hurry, as you don't have to wait for the bank transfer to clear, which can take a few days.

By comparison cheques seem prehistoric. Why would I want to fiddle with a piece of paper that could easily get lost/chewed/wet and has to be physically paid in to the bank?

I can't imagine how some of my elderly relatives are going to manage without cheques. They don't DO computers or mobiles ffs, some not even bank cards.

I can see there could be alternatives for schools and small businesses but it's things like birhtday presents - I use cheques a lot for this sort of thing and tbh I feel really uncomfrtable about saying to a friend, "Oh Jane, could you let me have your bank account details so I can transfer £5 for little Johnny?"

So buy a present, then.

Presents aren't practical for those who don't live near me, purpleturtle. Have to be postable too. Got rellies and friends all over the country. There are vouchers I suppose but I think that with cheque they can spend how wish rather than within constraints of voucher. DS gets loads of book tokens which is v kind but problem is that he doesn't actually like reading ...

I have a business where my sales are made in a field (literally - shows and events) often with no mobile signal in the area. I accept cheques and cash, and don't have a card reader as at the majority of my events it wouldn't work.

I am wondering the same as Bramshott...without an internet connection or mobile signal, I won't be able to take card payments, and my sales will drop loads if I have to rely on people having brought enough cash with them.

Threetimemummy - what do you mean, it just takes longer? I couldn't make people go to the bank to pay for my products they take away on the day!

I am always amazed to see anyone pay with a cheque. When we lived in Germany they phased cheques out about 8 years ago.

You get a bank payment transfer slip from the plumber/cubs/joiner... and hand it into your bank, or transfer the money online. All you need is the bank account no and the sorting code of your bank, very simple.

Even sending money abroad is simple.

well I remember the outcry a few years ago when chip and pin was rolled out properly across the country "OMG - how will all the old people cope"...........well judging from the queues of old dears in Morrisons merrily pressing their pins into the machine - perfectly well.

Actually most of the older people I know (and I know a lot through church/area I live in) coped perfectly well with the changes there - unlike many of the >> younger people who were up in arms about it.

Perhaps it's because actually they've seen more technological changes in their lifetime of a dramatic nature than I expect most of us will ever really see.

I think the only time I write cheques are:

-DC's school trips
-DD's gymnastics (pay monthly but amount varies according to how many sessions she does that month)
-my pilates (pay in 6 wk blocks, I never know when the next "payment due" day is so always have my chequebook in my pilates bag)

None of the above recipients have card payment facilities and I can't imagine them getting them.

My father won't even use his debit card (doesn't 'trust them') - he'll be utterly stuck without cheques. We've recently moved to Aberystwyth and I'm amazed at the number of local shops that don't accept cards - only cash or cheque in at least two separate hairdressers and several other stores. Had to go to the cashpoint after the haircut to get cash and go back! Can't see how paying by mobile phone would work in rural places like here where the signal is virtually non-existant.

lets not forget this isn't happening now they're talking about 9yrs time.

Think back 9yrs - even since then stuff has moved on, wi-fi - especially free wi-fi - unheard of, mobile coverage - while still not UK wide is FAR better than it used to be. Chip and pin etc etc.

I think the difference is with a cheque the seller gets the "money" in their hand when they hand over the product or service. In that sense it is like cash. Ok - it might bounce but that is less likely.

With bank transfer they seller is relying on the buyer to make the transfer - there is a bigger element of trust. The buyer either has to do it before getting the product or service, or after (unlikely to have that facility in the shop or business ?) - leaving more opportunity for fraud on either side.

So I don't see how that works as an alternative. That means you fall back to cash or debit/credit cards with all the comments made previously about that in small businesses etc.

but a cheque can be cancelled before it's cashed, and (the reason why we stopped using cheques years ago) the seller has 6 months to cash it. So the buyer never know when it's actually going to go out of their account.

OK you could argue it's up to the buyer to make sure they leave the money there, but if we're saying that it's going to be people that can't/don't want to use online banking services I can't see them checking their account regularly to make sure it's gone out.

They just seem so old fashioned and slow to me.

I suspect it is the perceived security of having a payment in your hand that makes people happier to have a cheque rather than wait for a bank transfer.

At the end of the day, either the buyer/receiver of services has the money and the intention to pay or not.

For those concerned about double signaturies, there are some bank accounts set up with dual authority required, often charity bank accounts.

One issue that worries me is that if a bank puts the money from a cheque into the wrong account, it is the banks fault and they have to rectify the mistake.

If you send money electronically and put in the wrong number (using computer banking) the onus is on you to get the money back and the erroneous recipient does not HAVE to send the moeny back to you so if you accidently pay money into an acocunt with a not very homest person and they don't retrun it you lose that money.

This has happened, and the bank has no responsibility to help you.

And when my window cleaner comes to the door, I will say "I'll put through a transfer"...and he will just hope I remember!

I use cheques for swimming lessons, milkman, paper bill, after school club and school stuff.

I suppose I could pay for all of that with cash but I very rarely have more than £10 in my purse as I don't like to carry much cash around.

I think some people are very wary about giving out bank details for transfer. I wanted to send some money to my sister and asked her for her bank details and she was reluctant cos she thought I could access her account. She's 31!!

But it's fine for you to send her a cheque with your account details on .

I use cheques for the milkman (our weekly milk useage tends to fluctuate so a direct debit wouldn't be any good), various toddler groups we go to, Book People, builders... I also used them to buy a fairly large amount of Premium Bonds recently when I inherited some money, because the Post Office kept on refusing my card.

No, I don't write them as often. But I probably do write a cheque every week. I also accept them as payment for Barefoot Books and the jewellery I make. I can't see how mums working at part-time businesses like toddler music groups or the various direct selling franchises aren't going to be hit. I know it's a long time ahead, but I bet 'suitable alternatives' won't be found - they'll just expect us to get used to using electronic payments and card readers. And they're probably waiting for the elderly people who don't want to pay money like that, to die off.

purpleturtle - tell me about it - that's exactly what I said - she's not giving any more information than is on a cheque! Not to mention the fact that I'm not going to rip off my sister!

Its not just old people who don't trust new technology!!

potplant - ime older people are generally more accepting of new stuff than younger people - maybe (as I mentioned earlier) because they've lived through SO many "new" things that are totally different from what they once had that for them it's just "another" change.

I tell you we're a nation of wimps these days, can't hack the weather, or travelling by public trasnport, or god forbid even bringing money transactions into the 21st century

my nan and inlaws do not have credit cards, would never use telephone or online banking and rely heavily on cheques. they also live a significant distance from their local bank - lots of people do not live close enough to a bank to conveniently pop in and out several times a week. some weeks i write loads of cheques for brownies, school trips, school book club, hairdresser (they don't take plastic!), repair men etc - and I am also paid lots of cheques

I am also in charge of the rainbow accounts and a PTA member - both these REQUIRE 2 signatories, how is that going to work?

i cannot charge my rainbows subs by direct debit, as terms differ in length and people join mid term etc. cheque saves carrying cash and I think they should stay

i really do not want to go back to the days when old people paid cash everywhere and carried/stashed loads of cash around the place.

I'm a gardener and rarely see some of my customers,so 90% of my wages are paid by cheque.I would not be happy about giving a dozen different people my bank details.A lot of my customers are elderly and don't have computers,so I'll have to ask them to pay me cash and hope they've been to the nearest cashpoint [12 mile round trip away].

my cleaner
school meals
DD dance school
DD's french teacher

direct debit usrely.

i pay window cleaner via paypal !