Cheques: does anybody still use them?

[ahinton]

The problem with (and like many people I use a combination of all methods) BACS type transfers is that one has to be constantly thinking about looking at various bank accounts etc to check that the payments have been made...... tedious in the extreme and takes the mind away from writing music.

"What's not to like about direct transfers" ? .......... heres one thing.
I have several places to put money , a "Tax fund" account (that used to pay interest in the dim and distant past), Current accounts and sometimes elsewhere. When opting for BACS or similar systems one has to decide where the money will go. Like many self employed people my earnings fluctuate widely from month to month, sometimes I have no money whatsoever or even minus and at others have what seem like huge sums, that's the nature of being freelance and sometimes working a big projects etc SO one of the things that is useful is to be able to juggle where things go BUT without having to spend more than an unnecessary moment sorting it out. In the "old days" I sent an invoice, got sent a cheque and then decided where to put it, now with a mixture my choices are considerably reduced unless I spend time which I would rather spend on music looking at effing accounts. It's much easier for the folk paying BUT a pain in the arse for others.
There ARE situations where it works much better BUT sometimes I go and work at festivals in countries where they will only pay cash / cheque which seems fine by me.

As I said, I'm in the same boat as you are - self-employed and freelance - and I prefer non-cheque payments and have no trouble keeping track of those that I do receive (cash is always nice but hardly ever happens these days). I'm 150 miles from the nearest branch of my bank and seven miles from the nearest NatWest, so I'd have to put cheques in the post a second time before I could get the money; being two miles from my nearest post office, that's far more onerous to me than accepting direct payments.

[amateur51]

You asked if I would accept it written on the side of a Jersey cow and I said that I would under certain circumstances. I'd not accept it on a banana, I'm afraid; sorry. You'd better go buy that cow and make the necessary transportation arrangements.

I think the point of the A P Herbert story was that provided all the necessary details are present, the means of transmission need not be specified

[JFLL]

A handful of people deserve the same respect as everyone else.

And if 1 billion cheques were written last year (#46), that ‘handful’ must have written an awful lot of cheques each.

[Alain Maréchal]

what's not to like about direct transfers?

For one thing, the fact that it presupposes both parties have online banking, otherwise the recipient will not know they have been paid until the statement arrives.

Also, although the U,K, is perfectly entitled to go its own way, I can assure you that cheques are very much alive and well in France - without even a guranatee card (drawing a cheque if there are insufficient funds to meet it will ensure you are banned from holding a bank account for five years) so the cheque works well enough.

[ahinton]

For one thing, the fact that it presupposes both parties have online banking, otherwise the recipient will not know they have been paid until the statement arrives.

Online banking is not a prerequisite for direct transfers; I don't even use it myself, actually. One can make such transactions by telephone. From my point of view, the idea that someone paying me will fund the cost of an envelope and a £0.50 postage stamp for the inconvenience of having to mail it to me and then I have to do the same to mail it to my bank makes it a hopeless case, frankly - and that's even without allowing also for mailing time (twice) and the risk of cheques being lost in the mail. The recipient of a cheque still doesn't know if he/she's been paid until the cheque clears and, unless a telephone enquiry is made of the bank, those payees also have to wait for a statement to find out.

Also, although the U,K, is perfectly entitled to go its own way, I can assure you that cheques are very much alive and well in France - without even a guranatee card (drawing a cheque if there are insufficient funds to meet it will ensure you are banned from holding a bank account for five years) so the cheque works well enough.

Don't I know it! Until fairly recently, it was hard to use credit cards in many outlets in France but this is fortunately changing fast - and direct transfers are as possible in France as they are in UK (although I imagine that the bank charges will be higher). I always use a credit card where possible in France, just as in UK and I can now pay taxe foncière and taxe d'habitation online using a UK credit card. Pardon my saying so, but French banking is pretty expensive and punitive! I don't even have a French bank account and, although this is frowned upon by some, it's still possible to manage without one.

[ahinton]

And if 1 billion cheques were written last year (#46), that ‘handful’ must have written an awful lot of cheques each.

A substantial number of them would, I imagine, have been "written" (i.e. issued) by large corporations rather than individuals.

In my experience, a lot of people don't use direct transfer and continue to use cheques because they don't realise how much more convenient the former usually is and have been used to cheques for long enough not to have thought to change; the faster payment system for BACS is a relatively new phenomenon (such transactions used to require broadly the same clearance time as cheques) but it's made direct transfers much more attractive since it's been available (sums above £10,000 are not yet possible via this means, however).

[amateur51]

Online banking is not a prerequisite for direct transfers; I don't even use it myself, actually. One can make such transactions by telephone. From my point of view, the idea that someone paying me will fund the cost of an envelope and a £0.50 postage stamp for the inconvenience of having to mail it to me and then I have to do the same to mail it to my bank makes it a hopeless case, frankly - and that's even without allowing also for mailing time (twice) and the risk of cheques being lost in the mail. The recipient of a cheque still doesn't know if he/she's been paid until the cheque clears and, unless a telephone enquiry is made of the bank, those payees also have to wait for a statement to find out.


Don't I know it! Until fairly recently, it was hard to use credit cards in many outlets in France but this is fortunately changing fast - and direct transfers are as possible in France as they are in UK (although I imagine that the bank charges will be higher). I always use a credit card where possible in France, just as in UK and I can now pay taxe foncière and taxe d'habitation online using a UK credit card. Pardon my saying so, but French banking is pretty expensive and punitive! I don't even have a French bank account and, although this is frowned upon by some, it's still possible to manage without one.

I don't suppose that the cheapness or otherwise of French banking figured large in your plans to decamp there at some time, ahinton?

[VodkaDilc]

In my experience, a lot of people don't use direct transfer and continue to use cheques because they don't realise how much more convenient the former usually is and have been used to cheques for long enough not to have thought to change; the faster payment system for BACS is a relatively new phenomenon (such transactions used to require broadly the same clearance time as cheques) but it's made direct transfers much more attractive since it's been available (sums above £10,000 are not yet possible via this means, however).

It does seem difficult to persuade some people that we use cheques because we prefer them. I use direct transfer for a small number of regular transactions, but cheques for the vast majority. It does sound somewhat superior to suggest that we do not use the direct system because we do not realise how much more convenient it is.

[Cavaradossi]

but it's made direct transfers much more attractive since it's been available (sums above £10,000 are not yet possible via this means, however).

Depends on the bank, The Co-op & Santander allow payments up to £100.000 in one transaction.

[MrGongGong]

In my experience, a lot of people don't use direct transfer and continue to use cheques because they don't realise how much more convenient the former usually is .

I'm a bit fed up of folk telling me that some things are "more convenient" when they have no idea whatsoever what I might find "convenient".
Surely different things suit different folks ?
I'm currently in the middle of a project where teenage composers create pieces for a very well known orchestra , most of the work I do with them on the orchestration we do via the internet, emailing and using a shared space website etc BUT for some of them (and these are mostly 15 / 16 year olds who have grwon up with technology) the virtual connection does't work, so we meet somewhere and do the work face to face. It's much more "convenient" for me to insist that they ALL use Sibelius and email me the file and we work on it online BUT that simply doesn't work for everyone ..........

It's more "convenient" to substitute a piano for a harpsichord BUT it doesn't always sound right

[french frank]

It does seem difficult to persuade some people that we use cheques because we prefer them. I use direct transfer for a small number of regular transactions, but cheques for the vast majority.

Yes, I do too.

Direct transfer is convenient in a very limited number of cases. Not for most.

[Alain Maréchal]

French banking is pretty expensive and punitive!

I believe I am charged 4Euros per month for my bank account: not too punitive. Taxes and utility bills are debited directly so I can see no need to use a U.K. credit card. Electricians and plumbers seem happy to be handed a cheque, or receive one by post. I'm happy to be paid that way if I shop or otherwise incur an expense for somebody else: I just walk along to the bank and pay it in. The system works very well.

As for "The recipient of a cheque still doesn't know if he/she's been paid until the cheque clears" - I would suggest dealing only with reputable people. I've held a U.K bank account for 47 years and have never paid in a cheque that didn't clear.

[JFLL]

A substantial number of them would, I imagine, have been "written" (i.e. issued) by large corporations rather than individuals.

Since most ‘large corporations’ would probably not use cheques to pay other large corporations, then it’s reasonable to assume that many of these cheques were written in favour of individuals or small businesses. And if these people prefer to be paid with cheques, they may well prefer writing cheques. That still leaves a lot of individuals using cheques, either because they prefer receiving them or writing them, or both. In any case, more than a ‘handful’.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I wanted to buy a fairly pricey gift for Frau A. from Currys, but wanted to diguise its passage through out joint bank account. Without boring you with the details, I worked out how to do it by using a cheque rather than a card. The rigidity of the pen-pushers who run Currys (which should be Curry's) did not allow then to accpet a cheque, even though I was quite prepared to wait for it to clear. Clearly, they could not care less about their customers, but in taking this arrogant line, they lost a good sale.
I cannot be alone.

[ahinton]

I don't suppose that the cheapness or otherwise of French banking figured large in your plans to decamp there at some time, ahinton?

Indeed it did not! That said, however, it's a factor to bear in mind, just as it is anywhere and it behoves each of us top find the best way to go about financial matters even if, for some, that means wanting to use cheques; all I ask is that I get left out of any requirement to use cheques.