Cheques

[Creole]

Have they got rid of them now?

Went to my local petrol station and I was told, they're not accepting them now. It was so embarrassing as I haven't got a penny on me, but expecting some money next week.
I always pay by cheque, when I'm a bit short and expecting money mid month.

Have all shops switched to chip and pin or cash?

Asda have stopped taking cheques too. I use them when I am a bit short too,

Don't know but that's really out of order! Surely companies can't suddenly decide not to take cheuqes, or at least not without fair warning.

A lot of the shops round here have stopped taking them because of fraud. I'm just hoping tesco or sains are not one of them.

our asda is still taking cheques. our shell petrol station has stopped taking them though, although barclays havent sent me out a new cheque book yet, they probably got fed up with me writing them which took me over my overdraft limit. i normally end up using them about 3-4 days before i get paid, just to get our foodshop in. i really hope they dont stop accepting cheques everywhere, esspess tescos.

I noticed recently that a few stores had notices up saying they were stopping taking them - Somerfield was one.

Next & Woolies round here have stopped accepting them. Tesco will only accept them for up to £100!!

my asda only accept up to £80
sainsbos still taking as far as i know

i use my cheque book for the last week of the month most months!

havent tried to write a cheque in tescos so not sure about that.

i always go to sainsburys for my petrol because i know they will take them

Loads of places around here have also stopped accepting cheques including Asda! Really gets my goat - I don't see how they have the right to as it's a perfectly valid form of payment. I guess because so few people use them nowadays, that it's a pain for them to process them, but imho, it's all about service and it doesn't cost them that much to handle a few cheques.

I use them too a few days before payday and like the fact that they 'buy you time' as it were!

Our Asda Petrol Station still take them, and only upto £80 in store.
I need it mainly for petrol end of month

may i be so blunt as to point out that the problem is your income and expenditure, not the fact that shops won't take cheques. haing worked as a bank manager and having worked as a retial manager, i can pretty much say that the only times people use cheques (unless they're elderly and can't deal with anything else, and unless it's a postal payment) is when they have no money.

It is actually illegal to use a cheque in advance of money going in to your account.

thank you saint george, i wasn't going to mention that bit!

So next time I see someone writing a cheque I will be thinking - oh they must be skint. I have often wondered why people who could use a card spend ages writing out a cheque while the queue builds.

Although I use cheques all the time now for DS's school. Apparently they prefer them.

I like to go straight to the point dizzy plus many people just don't know

As they also don't realise that writing your cheque guarantee card number on the back (when sending in the post for example) doesn't automatically mean that the bank will honour the cheque. Musn't be in the same handwriting as the stuff on the front.

Didn't realise people have stopped taking them. I only use them to pay bills through the post, which isn't often.

I think most people use their overdrafts nowadays.

yes bozza. whenever i see someone pay with a cheque i think, well they must be skint.

i now work at m&s, and we only take cheques upto the guarantee limit. people get in such a flippin huff about it. i say well pay with your debit card then, but of course they won't cos there's no bladdy money in it.

I used to do that all the time...I was told that if you got a black pen and subtly joined up a few of the numbers at the bottom of the cheque , then it had to be processed manually and usually took at least five working days... It always seemed to work.*

I'm a lot better with my finances these days, but still use cheques for ebay, because I can't remember my paypal password.

• I'm sure this is very illegal and bad, and I am not advocating it in any way.

whsmiths aren't taking them either

But if you have an agreed overdraft and you know you get paid in two days time and by the time they bank it you won't even need your overdraft facility, why is it illegal? I would never write a cheque which would bounce!!

If you have an agreed overdraft and you are writing the cheque within those limits then fine - but then also why not use a debit card?

I mean it is illegal if you are writing the cheque in the knowledge that it would bounce if the expected pay (for example) didn't arrive on time.

aero- it's illegal because when you write that cheque you don't have sufficient funds to cover it. it's fraud. yes lots of people do it, but that doesn't mean it's ok. for all you know your pay could go in late, or you may not be paid the amount you thought etc etc. you should sort your finances out rather than relying on cheques to tide you over. when i worked in banking time and time again i had to deal with people who's accounts had gone tits up with writing cheques here there and everywhere.

I have a monthly shopping budget that covers all my food, cleaning stuff, nappies etc and the money goes in a seperate account, however I always pay for my shopping by cheque. I keep track of my money much easier that way. (may not work for everyone but it does me) Just because someone is using a cheque does not mean they are skint?

12 year gap - yes that does work

Most businesses stop accepting cheques simply because the banks charge more to process them. Cheques need people to deal with them - electronic payments don't (well not so many). It's a cheaper option to encourage people not to use cheques.

Also, by paying by cheque, you can hold on to your money (if you're not skint at the time) for longer for the reasons smbk describes. You should be able to do that. I just don't like the way they are taking away our choice of way to pay. Ah well......it's the way of the world I guess.