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

[KeithMacdonald]

5 hours ago, cctransuk said:

Are you sure about that?

I don't pay a fee for BACS transfers - either to me, or from me.

I didn't pay a fee to receive an IBAN payment, and the payer gave no indictaion that he did either.

My understanding is that IBAN is simply an international version of BACS.

John Isherwood.

 

I concur, we have customers that don't get charged a fee for IBAN transfers (neither do we).

[Andy Hayter]

20 minutes ago, tetsudofan said:

 

We are talking about a supplier sending his details to his customer.... not to some unknown odd gob.

 

Keith

A "customer" who he may well never have met or indeed heard of before.  

I buy from all over the web and the suppliers have no idea who I am - even if I come back with repeat business, which I often do.   To all intents and purposes I am just an odd gob when I place my first order.

[Compound2632]

2 hours ago, frobisher said:

Every single one of our burger vans in Orkney has contactless payment so it's really not that expensive... So much for being a backward rural area...

 

How many?

[Wheatley]

23 hours ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

I don't think it's just rural areas. You should see the students panic when they go to pubs and clubs in cities like Liverpool and Manchester, and find that most of the boozers don't have cashless or insist they have to spend over £20 to use their card. It's really only 'Spoons that are cashless.

 

"Can I pay by phone app?"

"On yer bike son!"

 

That's major cities. I doubt the average small town business in Lancashire or Yorkshire are going to be very tech friendly.

 

 

Jason

Must be a north west thing, you all still only just getting used to electricity and all.  All the pubs around here in rural Yorkshire take contactless, and I can only think of one eatery nearby which doesn't. 

[adb968008]

7 hours ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

I had one when I was a student and the fees were crippling.

...

Remember all those companies giving out free, high interest credit cards to everyone including the cat?

 

https://abcnews.go.com/Business/cat-credit-card-offer-weird-credit-stories/story?id=19740206

 

 

Jason

I once enrolled my cat at university.

it got a student ID, Library card, NUS Card.

 

it was purrfect. 
 

Place of birth was Felixstowe. I even got our cats paw print on the ID card.

 

Following registration the cat ran for election to the student union General secretary at uni... funnily enough someone else had a similar idea at a different campus.. he ran his dog, but got disqualified as he didnt get the ID cards...democracy in action.. the cat came 2nd in the election.

 

We got upto quite a lot at uni, but tempered it a bit when we got a phone call from the Mirror and the Sun. A student set up an art exhibit at campus with tins of cheap tesco baked beans on a tree to show student poverty. A few of us up to our tricks made off with “a few”,  after the student nightclub closed one night. We though nothing of it, turns out student, got an “ A” as the university marketed the poverty and students taking beans it for all it was worth, we became campus heros, and saw the story in national papers.. still have it somewhere. (The paper not the beans). Accumulated about £2000 in food vouchers sent to the uni from the papers readers I recall. All i got was a few free pizzas, and er.. enough baked beans to last a while. Your showing your age when all you remember of your frequently drunken cohorts name is “Malky the Alky”..., last time I saw him was behind an 86/2 heading to Manchester, never knew what became of him.

 

returning to cheque books... my cheque book still has “19__” in the date section. Thats how many cheques I write.

Edited December 15, 2020 by adb968008

[maico]

On 13/12/2020 at 20:01, Kylestrome said:

 

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

 

I make IBAN (International Bank Account Number) payments to German dealers, why can't it be done in reverse?

[Stephen Freeman]

7 hours ago, maico said:

 

I make IBAN (International Bank Account Number) payments to German dealers, why can't it be done in reverse?

Of course it can. Mind you the chances of the intended recipient actually knowing his BIC and IBAN details to give them out, let alone having heard of SEPA is another matter.

[meil]

12 hours ago, Andy Hayter said:

A "customer" who he may well never have met or indeed heard of before.  

I buy from all over the web and the suppliers have no idea who I am - even if I come back with repeat business, which I often do.   To all intents and purposes I am just an odd gob when I place my first order.

Oh dear you really don't understand do you. Knowing only the sort code, account number and name you can only pay money to that account, which is why BACS transfers work and are widely used. When you use a cheque you are giving them your bank details rather than them giving you their details.

Edited December 15, 2020 by meil

[RedgateModels]

On 13/12/2020 at 16:30, Stephen Freeman said:

There are a few one-man traders who only accept cheques -Masokits (Peter Clark) springs to mind, personally I try to avoid taking cheques in payment due to the inconvenience of dealing with them, perhaps I write  two per year maximum, there are easier ways these days.

 

I've stopped accepting cheques, it's electronic payment or cash for me now. I've only got a local post office where they can be deposited - well, sent off to the bank in a little envelope. Had a couple go missing over lockdown so now it's Paypal/Internet banking only.

 

Might mean a couple of older chaps will struggle to pay me, but so be it. Even my 87 year old Dad has set up telephone banking and sends money to me when I buy stuff online for him no problems.

[Crosland]

18 hours ago, Crosland said:

 

Eh? First you agree the checque is the least secure but then seem to say you prefer it.

 

You don't give your bank details to "odd gob". You give them to the same reputable traders who you would pay by cheque.

 

Sorry, I obviously stated that last bit the wrong way round. When you are dealing with a trader, they give you their bank details for you to pay into. It's totally secure as far as your details are concerned.

 

When you pay by cheque, you give them your bank details, along with a copy of your signature.

 

If you are worried about fraud, a cheque is far less secure than paying someone by BACS.

 

If you want someone to pay you, with just sort code and account number they can do very little other than pay you..

[Nick C]

18 hours ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

I had one when I was a student and the fees were crippling.

 

However you need to have something which those credit cards are linked to such as a house as collateral. Many people don't own property. I certainly don't.  

 

They don't give credit cards to everyone, apart from the ones which have a very high interest rate. Which are virtually loan sharks.

 

Remember all those companies giving out free, high interest credit cards to everyone including the cat?

 

https://abcnews.go.com/Business/cat-credit-card-offer-weird-credit-stories/story?id=19740206

 

 

Jason

 

I had my first credit card just after I graduated, and didn't pay any fees on it at all - I certainly wasn't a property owner then, nor a high earner. Nor have I paid any fees on any cards since. 

 

It was recommended to me at the time by several people, as a way to build up a credit rating - set up a direct debit to pay it off in full every month without any intervention on my part. Which then meant a few years later I had a reliable credit history and could therefore get a mortgage at a not-so-crippling rate...

[Mike Harvey]

20 hours ago, Crosland said:

 

Did I say anything to the contrary?

 

Did you read the bit where I said "You either pay a fee, or lose on the currency conversion, or a combination of the two." You WILL get stiffed on the currency conversion by using high street banks, especially if they do not charge a separate fee.

 

No, I understood exactly what you wrote. I do not pay a direct fee as I stated, or a combination of a fee and the currency transaction. I recognise that I do not get the current trading rate for the exchange. The point of my question, poorly expressed, was "where can you make a small currency exchange at zero cost?". Your answer is now clear. Nowhere.

[meil]

6 hours ago, Crosland said:

 

Sorry, I obviously stated that last bit the wrong way round. When you are dealing with a trader, they give you their bank details for you to pay into. It's totally secure as far as your details are concerned.

 

When you pay by cheque, you give them your bank details, along with a copy of your signature.

 

If you are worried about fraud, a cheque is far less secure than paying someone by BACS.

 

If you want someone to pay you, with just sort code and account number they can do very little other than pay you..

Actually there is something they can do and that's set up a Direct Debit. However the Direct Debit Guarantee means that if they do the Bank will/has to give you your money back. There is no quibble over it either.

[maico]

8 hours ago, Stephen Freeman said:

Of course it can. Mind you the chances of the intended recipient actually knowing his BIC and IBAN details to give them out, let alone having heard of SEPA is another matter.

 

Kylestrome living in Germany doesn't seem to think so for some reason...

[frobisher]

21 hours ago, Jonboy said:

I dunno, Jeremy Clarkson printed his in a newspaper column to prove this point, someone promptly signed him up for a £500 a month direct debit donation to a charity....

 

But that actually required some additional information which he didn't realise was in the public domain...

[Willie Whizz]

Internet banking is great, saves so much time and effort ...

 

Until something goes wrong and you find you need to speak to a real human being.  Finding someone on the so-called "telephone help desks" who actually understands your explanation of the problem, let alone knows the answer to it, is a major challenge since most such staff are working from "scripts" and "flow-charts" rather than from actual knowledge gained from years of experience and/or by studying for banking qualifications. (Until the start of the 21st Century you could practically guarantee every full High Street branch of every major bank had at least one staff member who was ACIB-qualified and could explain even obscure things like [as one totally random example] why - legally - you were supposed to write the amount in words and figures on a cheque starting as far to the left-hand side as you could).    *

 

Of course, you could ask for the problem to be escalated to a more senior person in the Call Centre - but they won't do that willingly because it counts against their efficiency statistics, and the more senior person (if you get that far) is likely to regard you from the outset as a nuisance who won't take "no" for an answer without an explanation.

 

So you drive several miles to find a Branch that's still open, possibly making your first visit for years - only to find that almost all such front-line expertise was stripped-out in the early-Noughties when all 'back office' processing was centralised; all that's left there now are cashiers (never enough) and customer service officers (= salespeople).  I don't doubt that they will genuinely do their best to help you, mind you - but the trouble is they're mostly governed by  'Rumsfeld's Law':  they don't know what they don't know.

 

 

*  [If anyone is sufficiently interested, the case is:  London Joint Stock Bank Ltd v MacMillan and Arthur (1919). "The duty which a customer owes to a bank is to draw cheques with reasonable care to prevent forgery, and if, owing to neglect of this duty, forgery takes place, the customer is liable for the loss."    Nearly 50 years since I learned that at night-school!]   

Edited December 15, 2020 by Willie Whizz

[Stephen Freeman]

It is some time since  I studied Banking law etc and do not wish to re-acquaint myself unduly suffice to say I still. Have the right to use the initials (ACIB) after my name do not think that most bank  employees have these days, I could see the writing on tbe wall 24 years ago, glad to have got out of it.

[woodenhead]

11 minutes ago, Stephen Freeman said:

It is some time since  I studied Banking law etc and do not wish to re-acquaint myself unduly suffice to say I still. Have the right to use the initials (ACIB) after my name do not think that most bank  employees have these days, I could see the writing on tbe wall 24 years ago, glad to have got out of it.

I got part way through ACIB before I lost interest as I was not working in branches, only recently have I realised that the strange people who I used to share classes with at night school who were doing CIMA were the one's who were going to be earning decent money and being the brains behind many companies.

[Mike Bellamy]

Another ACIB here - started with correspondence course with the Rapid Results College and then at local tech college. Lloyds also ran revision courses at Easter using University Halls of Residence for accommodation. For Accountancy for example, I had a week at Reading looking at accounts all week from 9am until late into the evening with a number of mock exam questions. We went back home and did the ACIB exam the next week and sailed through with a pass. Problem was that a few weeks later I had forgotten everything I had been taught !  For a number of years, Regional Staff Managers had been promising promotion to those who gained the ACIB qualification but they had so many pass because of the revision courses that they couldn't fulfill those promises or afford the costs. 

 

I was told that I couldn't use the letters ACIB after my name as I didn't keep up my subscription to the Institute - I got nothing from it except a Journal I didn't want which went in the bin . . . . . . . 

[scottystitch]

Interestingly enough, I received a refund of Special Delivery postage costs from Royal Mail the other day, and it was in the form of a cheque. 

 

As my bank is in anotehr town, a few miles away, I'm not sure when I'll be allowed to deposit it, but that's by the by.

 

Best

 

Scott. 

[woodenhead]

Rapid Results college - those string bound packages of reading hell.

 

They are still going but are now focussed on Environment and Health and Safety.

[Stephen Freeman]

10 hours ago, Mike Bellamy said:

Another ACIB here - started with correspondence course with the Rapid Results College and then at local tech college. Lloyds also ran revision courses at Easter using University Halls of Residence for accommodation. For Accountancy for example, I had a week at Reading looking at accounts all week from 9am until late into the evening with a number of mock exam questions. We went back home and did the ACIB exam the next week and sailed through with a pass. Problem was that a few weeks later I had forgotten everything I had been taught !  For a number of years, Regional Staff Managers had been promising promotion to those who gained the ACIB qualification but they had so many pass because of the revision courses that they couldn't fulfill those promises or afford the costs. 

 

I was told that I couldn't use the letters ACIB after my name as I didn't keep up my subscription to the Institute - I got nothing from it except a Journal I didn't want which went in the bin . . . . . . . 

At one time before inflation really took hold the Institute let you take out life membership for 10 times the annual sub, which at that time was £8.00, so seemed a good offer and used the prize money from passing to pay for it. Must have saved a bit over the years though it's only recently I managed to persuade them that I really didn't want a magazine, still a member though of course.

[Crosland]

1 hour ago, scottystitch said:

Interestingly enough, I received a refund of Special Delivery postage costs from Royal Mail the other day, and it was in the form of a cheque. 

 

As my bank is in anotehr town, a few miles away, I'm not sure when I'll be allowed to deposit it, but that's by the by.

 

Do you have a post office? They take cheque deposits https://www.postoffice.co.uk/everydaybanking and offer other services.

 

Does you bank not provide (or supply on request) paying in envelopes. They even used to be pre-paid but ours are no longer.

 

[Stephen Freeman]

On checking I see that I may still receive a magazine, just that it will be less often, at least it will be re-cyclable.

[Stephen Freeman]

4 minutes ago, Crosland said:

 

Do you have a post office? They take cheque deposits https://www.postoffice.co.uk/everydaybanking and offer other services.

 

Does you bank not provide (or supply on request) paying in envelopes. They even used to be pre-paid but ours are no longer.

 

On the rare occasion somebody insists on paying by cheque, I too can pay it in at the (not very) local Post Office, the local Bank Branch closed some years ago and is now a Bookies (make of that what you will). Yes it was profitable before they stripped out all the business accounts and forced all (well most) of the private customers online or elsewhere.