Apologies dear readers for my tardy, brief and frankly lacking posts of the last couple of days. I've had other things on my mind (mostly trying to quell my anger around politicians and their aides).
However, it's a new day and I have something else to rant about 😀
Cheques. Remember them? About 10 years ago there was a plan to phase them out in 2018, but that got pulled when people realised that a lot of people, and primarily the elderly were, and were likely to continue to be dependent on them. You don't see them very often these days (we even pay our window cleaner and milkman via online banking (OLB) and Direct Debit respectively), but when you do the circumstances fall into one of two camps. You're either a payer or a recipient.
As a payer you have to pay for something via cheque. "What?" I hear you say. Surely there aren't places that don't accept card payment these days, and where the amount is too great for cold hard cash?
Leaving aside the increasing distaste amongst most people for coins and folding paper in favour of contactless - I last withdrew cash at the beginning of March and still have all of it in my wallet), it's true that some places still don't or won't accept card payments. Primarily the reason given is the setup and fees associated with managing card payment that means that some, often smaller companies don't like the financial hit. However, this has been offset in recent years by systems such as iZettle that run off credit card sized readers that can attach to you phone (think Christmas market traders for instance). These can be set up at low cost although I accept there's usually a "per transaction" fee. So the argument that it's too expensive to take card payments doesn't really hold water.
The second scenario is when you're lucky enough to be the recipient of a cheque. If you're unlucky, this might be to offset payment you've already made, but the best occasions are when it's someone just giving you some money - it happens! But then the realisation hits you, that you've got to pay the darned thing in before you can get hold of that lovely moolah. and that's where things might become tricky.
I've recently been sent a cheque as a donation to the cricket club where I'm secretary. A lovely gesture (thank you to the donor, even though they're unlikely to be reading this). I'm also expecting a cheque from someone who doesn't do online banking so bank transfer is out, in respect of payment for something that I've already paid for on their behalf.
I've been a customer of my bank's OLB system almost since they rolled it out years ago. Despite some of the scare stories, I'm an advocate of OLB. I find it incredibly convenient, easy, safe and secure and increasingly feature rich. However, they don't cater for the paying in of cheques which feels like a big gap in their offering. I tweeted their customer service Twitter account this morning to enquire whether there was any likelihood of them having such a feature in the foreseeable future. To their credit they responded within minutes, but their response was negative - it's not something they are planning, at least any time soon.
They did suggest, not very helpfully, that I could visit one of their branches or pay it in via a Post Office, but obviously that wasn't my point. For one thing this would entail a physical visit to said branch or the Post Office, which rather flies in the face of encouraging online banking. But a visit to a bank it will have to be. However, with increasing branch closure (not to say reducing Post Office branch closures) and currently reduced opening times due to the Covid-19 pandemic, visiting branches is becoming increasingly challenging, especially if you have to work. It's a good job I'm retired and have the time to go.
Some banks do have this functionality within their OLB offering - it usually requires you to take a photo of said cheque and attach as an image, but that's got to be easier and quicker than getting in a car and driving to the nearest branch. Assuming it's still there and open of course.
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| Photo: wiseguys.co.uk |
Banks where you can pay in cheques with your phone
- Halifax
- Barclays
- Lloyds
- HSBC
- Bank of Scotland
- Starling
Banks where you can't pay in cheques with your phone
- First Direct
- Monzo
- Nationwide
- Natwest
- RBS
- Santander
- TSB
#isolationlife
#stayhomesavelives
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