But the councilâs are using cheque as a last resort. The actual process is the council tax payers will be encouraged to provide bank details, which the councilâs will then make a direct payment to
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So they should too, the sooner more companies stop using or adopting/accomodating cheques the better!
Why anyone would want a cheque, wait longer for their money and risk it getting lost in the post is beyond me. Just provide your bank details, job done.
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Virgin Media enters the chat.
Who only do refunds via cheque.
Cashed it with Starling into chase anyway.
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I donât suppose many people particularly want to receive cheques as such. More that some people donât want to send their bank details to companies, and some companies prefer not to store customers data when they donât need it.
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Iâd rather have a cheque and need to scan it in, than risk my near blind grandpa attempt a bank transfer in a mobile app he can barely see. Thereâs also zero chance of him remembering his bank details or being able to read them accurately.
Itâs an accessibility benefit for people who canât or wonât use online banking and Iâd rather have a cheque than be unable to transact in a way they can understand or do in a reasonable timeframe.
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Cheque imaging wonât help them then?
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This isnât how itâs working though, if you donât pay by direct debit then you have to apply for the payment directly with the council, and if you donât do that then itâll be added as a discount to your bill (as a last resort).
The application form asks you to provide bank details, with a cheque the very last resort.
The process might differ in some local authorities but in my local area they clearly donât believe cheques are more efficient. Thereâs a cost with cheques including the printing, postage and processing that is more expensive than other methods, and slower - especially since theyâre normally sent out via second class to try save costs for councils.
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Some companies may actually prefer issuing cheques. Keep in mind that the onus is then on the recipient of the cheque to cash it, which they donât always do, particularly for smaller amounts.
It can be a decent benefit to cash flow in some cases and the balance ultimately written off (i.e. extra profit) if the cheque isnât cashed.
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It helps me though, and means they donât have to wait till I can find time to post and lose a cheque, or have to ask them to cancel it.
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Some charities issue grants via cheque to vulnerable people. Cheque use is deffo declining but itâs not dead yet.
I guess itâs some kind of risk appetite thing as the tech is in existence elsewhere.
I use my HSBC account for surprise cheques now as I can scan them in from the app.
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But if youâre imaging the cheque into their account (presumably?) then you could also just provide whoever with your Grandpaâs bank details?!
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I think the point is that grandpa can send money to @Nightpaws via cheque without needing to struggle with online banking.
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Depends on the older personâs computer literacy and the bank they use.
Trying to explain to a computer illiterate person to move through multiple menus, select the right options, input the correct details and then (usually) use authentication keypads or other 2factor authentication is a lot harder then writing a piece of paper and popping it in the post.
For example, I decided to use the RBS app to set up new payee and after menu 7 presses, it starts asking to set up authentication biometrics (something ânewâ RBS is rolling out). Someone computer illiterate with have already struggled to get to that point, let alone then try to add biometrics, and then try and send the payment.
Writing a cheque is a whole lot simpler, and what they know how to do quickly.
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I agree for some people, but surely those people arenât likely to be pushing for cheque imaging because theyâre going to be depositing cheques over the counter or at the post office.
I donât disagree that cheque imaging is a ânice to haveâ feature, but for me it isnât a deal breaker. In the last three years Iâve deposited two cheques in, via Starling, and transferred them to Monzo.
Itâs no big deal, and IMO if youâre a heavy cheque user, like if youâre a heavy cash user, then Monzo isnât the bank for you. The benefits of living in a capitalist society is the plurality of options we have, rather than every company being a carbon copy of each other.
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Dan: I donât think the frequency of cheque use is really the right way to look at this. To me, the friction I experience when paying in a cheque, is what counts. That is my touch point with my bank.
Iâve just been arguing with Virgin Media about a billing error and finally convinced them Iâm right, Iâm feeling good about that, but they insist on paying by cheque and now Iâm going to have to go and figure out the frictiony Monzo posting process and figure out a stamp. These are not exactly Herculean tasks, but I could have just taken a picture and bam, I wouldnât have really had to think about it and it wouldnât have been yet another meaningless trivial busywork task on my endless list of such things.
Monzo was supposed to be the fast-moving startup bank that was taking a fresh approach to banking and making everything simple. It kinda feels to me like that era has ended and now itâs just raising funding and doing⊠I have no idea what⊠that doesnât meaningfully improve my banking experience anymore. Cheque Imaging is a pretty much perfect example of that.
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Thereâs still time. By the time the cheque arrives you could have opened a Starling account.
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Probably done a CASS too 
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Fast moving doesnât involve cheques. They are still in circulation and some businesses like you have mentioned, still insist upon then, but cheque use is down year on year.
Monzo will implement things that it thinks it needs, a few hundred people on a forum saying they want/need it, isnât going to move the needle. If they had a million customers leaving because they canât do it, then maybe. But the vast majority of people donât have cheques in their day to day lives.
Frequency is probably the most important part of this. If you got paid weekly by cheque, stamps and the hassle would annoy you enough to move to a bank that supported cheque imaging, if itâs for your once in a blue moon refund, then youâll find a stamp. (Or use a different bank)
The longer it goes without, it becomes less needed and less likely.
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Fast moving would be bang out the cheque feature and cross it off the list. Iâd agree with you more if a whole bunch of awesome other stuff had been added in the last couple of years, but from my perspective it feels like vanilla UK current accounts are not the focus anymore ÂŻ\_(ă)_/ÂŻ
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Lots of things have been added that are focussing on the future, not a dying payment form.