"We only accept cheques drawn on UK banks via a mail order..."

[Paul Cram]

I can pay cheques in to my bank viai the app on my mobile phone. No need to visit the bank. Just as well as it is 240 miles from where I live.

 

Streling drafts should be available from your bank. They may be expensive.

Edited December 13, 2020 by Paul Cram

[Guest WM183]

Ahhh. Yeah, I don't know if banks here even issue them anymore? Worth asking next time I am by a branch though.

Amanda

[D.Platt]

My wife surprised me this week,on Monday she insisted on sending a cheque in response to a advertisement for shoes in a magazine, I said why not just phone them and use your card, but no she posted it off, big surprise they were delivered on the Friday !!

[Penlan]

44 minutes ago, Paul Cram said:

I have written cheques regularly for things although all are model railway related.

In west Cornwall, cash and cheques are a regular way of paying, and certainly in the recent Covid times, paying people who've brought our shopping etc., (our house is full of over 75's) is easiest done by cheque.
As mentioned elsewhere (Charities), with Remembrance Day Wreaths, donations etc., a lot of that has been by cheque in our Village, I think at the last count around £2,500 was in Cheques.  There was a positive "Don't encourage cash donations" by the 'RBL Poppy Appeal' too. 
Many people are reluctant to share their account details for bank transfers (via internet accounts etc.,) 
Of course a lot of 'outlets' will only accept card payments - Pubs, shops.. -, and that's OK.
I pay a lot of mailed purchases via PayPal, and have not had any problems there,
I also pay some regular services via PayPal - Window Cleaning, Milk Deliveries, etc.,
There's at least three outlets near me who only accept cash, fast food operations......
When it's mentioned about moving to a cashless Society, there is much laughter at this prospect 'Way down West'.

Edited December 13, 2020 by Penlan

[Compound2632]

I continue to use cheques as much as possible as part of my one-man-stand against the corporate greed of the banking industry. 

[jcm@gwr]

20 minutes ago, spamcan61 said:

That's odd, the few cheques I've had to deal with in recent years have been posted to the bank (First Direct) no need to physically present them in person.

 

Santander Bank has the option to put them in via their ATM machines.

[Miserable]

I had this discussion with the DVLA, trying to change the taxation class of a vehicle - "We don't do cards for this payment.... cheque or postal orders". I haven't written a cheque in 10 years, nor had a cheque book since then. I didn't know postal orders were still a thing! The postal order cost £12, and they wouldn't accept it because it was 1p out. Another £12.....

[Asterix2012]

44 minutes ago, Quarryscapes said:

I haven't had a chequebook since 2008, and the bank won't issue me with one. It does mean there are a few small suppliers who won't get any business from me unfortunately. 

 

I have only been presented with a handful since starting up Coast Line Models, I'd prefer not t get any as the bank is a long way from home and doesn't even keep normal business hours anymore, so actually taking a cheque to be paid in means having to take half a day off work! 

My bank lets you scan a cheque to pay in, might be worth investigating with yours.

 

I also got a tax rebate this year by cheque.

[Sheffield]

Cheques are still fairly common in France. I used them quite often.

[ROSSPOP]

Cheques will be back when the power cuts start !!

 

I still use them a dozen times per year and I`m with the internet bank FirstDirect .

 

Waiting for my Christmas present from Scorpio Models who still prefer cheques.

[tetsudofan]

If you use online banking in your own country you should, in theory, be able to do an online transfer direct to the bank account of the person you are dealing with in the UK.

 

Barclays (my banker for 50 years and employee for 18 months) offers such a service but I have not had to use it as all my overseas purchases are done by credit card.

 

If your bank offers such a service you would have to contact the person you are going to deal with in the UK and get their bank account details such as IBAN and BIC details as shown on their UK bank account. Maybe bit of a hassle but once you have the details it should be a safe and secure way to make the transfer.

 

Keith

[Invicta]

1 hour ago, DavidCBroad said:

Until Covid Local Councils had to have two signatures on cheques so our Parish Council and Local Charity still pay by cheque, if you don't accept cheques then you don't get our business.

I haven't paid by cheque for about 3 years, but I am for ever counter signing the damn things.

They are good for traders in that they have the money before sending the goods, with credit cards the purchaser can often get a full refund and with PayPal the money can be snatched away again leaving a hole in your overdraft.   Selling cheques are good, buying they're bad.   Hows that for a balanced answer!

Working for a County Council, most of our payments are made by BACS, but as a signatory on an office petty cash account, I still hold a cheque book for that, and both have to cash cheques at a local bank and write cheques to make payments fairly regularly- maybe once or twice a month. The vast majority of our purchasing though is either done through our central ordering and payments system and paid by BACS, or done locally on corporate purchasing cards.

Away from work, it must be nearly 10 years since I even had a chequebook, much less wrote a cheque- although I have received a few in the last couple of years to pay in.

[Guest WM183]

To put into perspective how little checks are used here, I have dual US / Dutch citizenship. I reside in the Netherlands and have for years, but as a US taxpayer, I did get the 1200$ USD Covid stimulus relief payment back in the beginning of the summer. It came by check, because... no idea.

 

I had to get a different ID to open an account at the only bank in the country which still takes checks at all, and had to open said account by appointment- delays associated with this took around 2 months. I then had to mail the check, certified mail only, to the bank's check redemption location and pay a 75 euro fee to get it deposited to my account at all. This took, oh... 6 weeks or so.

So, 3 months, 75 euros, and a new bank account to deposit a check here.

Edited December 13, 2020 by WM183

[4630]

6 minutes ago, WM183 said:

So, 3 months, 75 euros, and a new bank account to deposit a check here.

Paying in a foreign currency cheque drawn from a bank based in another country into a different financial institution in your ‘home’ country has always been a bit more problematic though. 
 

In my experience - I worked for a financial institution for the first 25 years of my working life from 1977 - it’s not impossible, but always involves some time delays and inevitably fees.   Even the technology changes since then hasn’t improved matter much, from what I understand from Mrs 4630 who still works for the same institution. 

[Guest WM183]

1 hour ago, 4630 said:

Paying in a foreign currency cheque drawn from a bank based in another country into a different financial institution in your ‘home’ country has always been a bit more problematic though. 
 

In my experience - I worked for a financial institution for the first 25 years of my working life from 1977 - it’s not impossible, but always involves some time delays and inevitably fees.   Even the technology changes since then hasn’t improved matter much, from what I understand from Mrs 4630 who still works for the same institution. 

 

Yes, but the fees and process are the same regardless of the source of the check. No Dutch banks want to deal with checks anymore, and I believe the only one which currently does at all - with the fees as listed above - is ING. 

[Kylestrome]

3 hours ago, caradoc said:

But my 90-year old Mum still uses them regularly and has no desire or intention to use online banking. Presumably any such folk in the Netherlands were simply given no choice in the matter ? 

 

In Germany (and I've no doubt in the Netherlands too) we've relied for decades on direct bank transfers (Überweisungen) which are easily accessible to ninety year olds without internet. Since the advent of IBAN and BIC it's also a simple matter to make payments internationally except to Britain. PayPal has made life a lot easier in recent years and I hardly ever need my credit card except (you've guessed it) for some payments to Britain. Vive la différence!

 

David

Edited December 13, 2020 by Kylestrome

[Bucoops]

Used to be the only cheques I would regularly write was to pay rent. Finally this month they have realised it doesn't cost them anything to have a direct transfer so now I'm down to the odd one here or there.

[friscopete]

My wife ,ex bank staff ,refuses to go electronic ,so she uses cheques.

[chris p bacon]

From the other side.

 

As a society approx 50% of our renewals are still by cheque, we also offer electronic means of payment by Card and bank transfer but cheques are still preferred by some.

Paying in isn't an issue as they go via the Post Office which will accept most banks as long as it is in the correct envelope (which they supply) We rarely have issues with Cheque payments but we do with electronic. Either the BACS payment goes astray even though the details are correct, or the payment provider for the card payments decides to hang on to the money for many weeks but still issues us with the charge.

 

As annoying as it might be, the ability to take cards for a small trader is expensive. So if they opt for the cheaper and easier option for them, that's their prerogative. 

 

[Compound2632]

5 minutes ago, chris p bacon said:

From the other side.

 

As a society approx 50% of our renewals are still by cheque, we also offer electronic means of payment by Card and bank transfer but cheques are still preferred by some.

Paying in isn't an issue as they go via the Post Office which will accept most banks as long as it is in the correct envelope (which they supply) We rarely have issues with Cheque payments but we do with electronic. Either the BACS payment goes astray even though the details are correct, or the payment provider for the card payments decides to hang on to the money for many weeks but still issues us with the charge.

 

As annoying as it might be, the ability to take cards for a small trader is expensive. So if they opt for the cheaper and easier option for them, that's their prerogative. 

 

 

The move away from cheques and cash is all about cutting costs for the big boys, not the convenience of the customer or the small business. Witness the mass closure of branches.

[RFS]

8 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

The move away from cheques and cash is all about cutting costs for the big boys, not the convenience of the customer or the small business. Witness the mass closure of branches.

 

It's the customers moving away from cheques and cash that's triggering all the bank closures. That's because it's far more convenient for us to do our business electronically as well. Can't remember when I last wrote a cheque, let alone last walked into a bank. 

 

DVLA did send me a refund recently via cheque, but with HSBC I was able to pay it in from home using my mobile phone (ie you send them a photo of it!). 

Edited December 13, 2020 by RFS

[Compound2632]

6 minutes ago, RFS said:

It's the customers moving away from cheques and cash that's triggering all the bank closures. That's because it's far more convenient for us to do our business electronically as well. Can't remember when I last wrote a cheque, let alone last walked into a bank. 

 

No, it is actually social irresponsibility on the part of the so-called high street banks.

[chris p bacon]

7 minutes ago, RFS said:

It's the customers moving away from cheques and cash that's triggering all the bank closures.

 

I'm afraid to say you are incorrect. My town of 13,500 (increasing to 16,000) lost it's last bank 2-3 years ago. it was very heavily used by people as well as traders, The bank gave a presentation to the Town Council about the closure and admitted that it was a profitable branch but branches did not fit with how they wanted to operate.  It was suggested that they would lose customers but they again admitted that customers don't change banks so any loss would be negligible and of no worry to them.

 

What was interesting about the closure was that the banks use an ancient piece of legislation that says they don't have to announce closure until the last day. This is to stop a "run on the bank' which used to happen in the days of small local banks. As they announced the closure some 2 weeks in advance they acted as though they were doing everyone a favour!

[Jonboy]

I work for a wholesaler supplying small retailers nation wide via carrier delivery. For their trade account payments we dropped from 10 or so cheques a day to 1-2 a month over the last 16 years. This was with minimal effort to encourage them from our part.

 

Over the last three years it was simply a case of complete a paying in slip, putting cheques in an envelope and popping through the banks local branch letterbox as I cycled past in the evening...

[Andy Hayter]

Well my use of cheques has increased enormously courtesy of my bank's intransigence in solving why a major seller's security system does not recognise my address as belonging to the card they issued me.  Before they will start they insist that I have to verify my existence - the next time I visit one of their branches.  

 

*ing halfwits.  They know I live in France.  They have no branches here.  I have to travel to the UK in the midst of a pandemic to verify that I am who I am.   The last time I did travel to the UK (2017), I did not find a branch of their so called banking service.

 

So I am now joining the group to make their lives as unnecessarily expensive as I can by paying for as much as possible by cheque.

 

I have no other option with the seller, since their security system will not accept my cards.