Number of cheques written falls
A revealing report regarding the use of personal cheques appeared today. Cheques are becoming less and less popular as cards and online banking take over our everyday payments.
There is an Association of Payment Clearing Services (Apacs) who have announced the volume of cheques being used in comparison to last years has dropped to 1.6 billion - that's a decrease of 9%.
Apparently the cheque has been on a slow decline since as early as 1991, and as it continues to deteriorate, many major shops have stopped accepting or are phasing them out such as Sainsbury's, Boots, Currys and M&S.
Even Tescos are joining in and will not accept cheques from the 20th February 2008.
Many utility companies such as gas, water and electric companies now try and get their customers to pay online or by direct debit, and offer monetary incentives to promote it.
So who still uses cheques?
Many people. Despite the increase in card and internet banking, cheques are still useful and there were 279 million of them written last year.
A lot of buyers and sellers using the online auction site eBay will use cheques to buy items, and some companies still pay their employees by cheque too. Many businesses have to use cheques for pay for deliveries.
It still beats carrying around loads of cash in your wallet or having to remember several usernames and passwords! Despite this, cheque users do get a rough deal having to fork out more money in bank charges etc... to pay this way.
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