Cheques: does anybody still use them?

[MrGongGong]

I am self-employed and I do not use a business account. ahinton is being a tag-nut as usual.

.

How long before a certain character comes out and starts going on about how we are committing fraud ?
I'd give him ........... 20 minutes

[Vile Consort]

I find I've used 17 cheques in the last two years - which surprises me. They are mostly to the window cleaner, plumbers, organists' associations, etc., who are too small to set up merchant accounts in order to accept cards. In the case of the organists' associations, the account charges would be 75% of their total income.

I can understand why small businesses don't like to be paid electronically. As someone else said up-thread, it's a nightmare trying to work out who the money has come from, especially if the nature of your business is that all the payments are all rather similar and you are too small to have the process automated.

Even big organisations don't exactly encourage electronic payments: they send you a bill with a credit slip at the bottom asking you to pay by cheque. There's no mention of a web site where you can pay by card, and it's not at all obvious how to pay reliably by electronic transfer - nobody wants to find they have paid £2500 into British Gas's bank account but they deny having received anything from YOU because you put the wrong set of numbers in as the reference.

Also, electronic transfers are irrevocable, and if you find you've transferred funds into the wrong bank account, there is no way of getting them back. It's quite nerve-racking paying four- or five-figure sums!

[Beef Oven]

How long before a certain character comes out and starts going on about how we are committing fraud ?
I'd give him ........... 20 minutes

Ah, the dreaded typo! I meant 'I am self-employed and I use a business account'

[ahinton]

I am self-employed and I do not use a business account. ahinton is being a tag-nut as usual.

Would you care to explain what's supposed to be meant by that? And, while you think about how to do this, please consider Mr GG's remarks about problems in tracking and accounting for transactions when different payment methods are used when you think of what it would be like to try to run a business and personal banking transactions without being able to separate them immediately.

[Madame Suggia]

I tend to leave payment to staff.

[MrGongGong]

Would you care to explain what's supposed to be meant by that? And, while you think about how to do this, please consider Mr GG's remarks about problems in tracking and accounting for transactions when different payment methods are used when you think of what it would be like to try to run a business and personal banking transactions without being able to separate them immediately.

You mean you separate your life ?
extraordinary
I do music
sometimes I get paid
sometimes I don't

I use a car to go places, sometimes it's for things I get paid for
sometimes not
I have an accountant, he works out how much is for each ......... I pay him to deal with that nonsense as i'm not sure that splitting myself into two things is healthy or desirable

[Beef Oven]

Would you care to explain what's supposed to be meant by that? And, while you think about how to do this, please consider Mr GG's remarks about problems in tracking and accounting for transactions when different payment methods are used when you think of what it would be like to try to run a business and personal banking transactions without being able to separate them immediately.

No, go away.

[Beef Oven]

You mean you separate your life ?
extraordinary
I do music
sometimes I get paid
sometimes I don't

I use a car to go places, sometimes it's for things I get paid for
sometimes not
I have an accountant, he works out how much is for each ......... I pay him to deal with that nonsense as i'm not sure that splitting myself into two things is healthy or desirable

Same here.

[ahinton]

I find I've used 17 cheques in the last two years - which surprises me. They are mostly to the window cleaner, plumbers, organists' associations, etc., who are too small to set up merchant accounts in order to accept cards. In the case of the organists' associations, the account charges would be 75% of their total income.

I can understand why small businesses don't like to be paid electronically. As someone else said up-thread, it's a nightmare trying to work out who the money has come from, especially if the nature of your business is that all the payments are all rather similar and you are too small to have the process automated.

Even big organisations don't exactly encourage electronic payments: they send you a bill with a credit slip at the bottom asking you to pay by cheque. There's no mention of a web site where you can pay by card, and it's not at all obvious how to pay reliably by electronic transfer - nobody wants to find they have paid £2500 into British Gas's bank account but they deny having received anything from YOU because you put the wrong set of numbers in as the reference.

Also, electronic transfers are irrevocable, and if you find you've transferred funds into the wrong bank account, there is no way of getting them back. It's quite nerve-racking paying four- or five-figure sums!

No more so than when large cheques that you issue to others or cheques that others issue in your favour get miscredited, both of which have happened to me in the past, albeit rarely. Years ago, for example, I paid a cheque into my account at a NatWest branch and a few days later flew to New York, only to discover on my arrival that my bank had cancelled all my cards because the amount had not credited and I had run up an unauthorised overdraft to the tune of £4,500. The fault was entirely that of Nat West but was not so easy to deal with from that distance; it was most embarrassing and inconvenient and I had to borrow funds from all and sundry while in US. My bank was correct to act as it did and, when I returned, I had to hammer NatWest for compensation which they were initially most reluctant to provide, just as they were reluctant even to provide so much as an apology. I got a reasonable sum in the end but only after writing to the Chairman's office.

At least my bank provides fully itemised statements so I that can always see the source (though obviously not always also the payment method) of all credits to my account.

[ahinton]

No, go away.

Then don't explain what you don't want to - I merely asked if you would care to and, if you wouldn't, that's fine by me - but I'll go away only when FF decides to ban me from the forum; sorry if that's inconvenient for you

[ahinton]

You mean you separate your life ?
extraordinary
I do music
sometimes I get paid
sometimes I don't

I use a car to go places, sometimes it's for things I get paid for
sometimes not
I have an accountant, he works out how much is for each ......... I pay him to deal with that nonsense as i'm not sure that splitting myself into two things is healthy or desirable

No, I don't but, just as you yourself stated earlier that you like to be able to tell easily the sources from which funds that you receive have come, it's surely of equal importance to be able to separate out business receipts and expenditure from personal ditto, isn't it?

[Beef Oven]

Then don't explain what you don't want to - I merely asked if you would care to and, if you wouldn't, that's fine by me - but I'll go away only when FF decides to ban me from the forum; sorry if that's inconvenient for you

Go away.

[ahinton]

Go away.

You are getting repetitive, which does you no favours, especially since you cannot even be bothered to do yourself the courtesy of suggesting where you might like me to go, when, for how long and why (and no, unlike my previous question, that is not an invitation, in case you needed me to explain that to you) - although explain all of that and send me a fat cheque that's guaranteed not to bounce and I might give it some consideration...

[MrGongGong]

No, I don't but, just as you yourself stated earlier that you like to be able to tell easily the sources from which funds that you receive have come, it's surely of equal importance to be able to separate out business receipts and expenditure from personal ditto, isn't it?

That's not exactly rocket science
I find that putting it all in a bag (or a series of bags for different things)
and then once a year splitting it up works fine
I made a decision years ago NOT to become a company and NOT to do the whole VAT thing
why complicate things ?
and I DO work in multiple countries etc but it's really not that complicated and it certainly wouldn't be any easier with a "business" bank account which would just create more cashflow problems

[Beef Oven]

You are getting repetitive, which does you no favours, especially since you cannot even be bothered to do yourself the courtesy of suggesting where you might like me to go, when, for how long and why (and no, unlike my previous question, that is not an invitation, in case you needed me to explain that to you) - although explain all of that and send me a fat cheque that's guaranteed not to bounce and I might give it some consideration...

Please go away.