Payments by Cheque

The End of the Line for Payment by Cheque?

The demise of cheque payments seems to have gathered pace according to research by Creditsafe.

Their report indicates that a third of businesses will have stopped paying by cheque, and that one in nine will stop accepting cheque payments, within 12 months.

Despite being met with some surprise by onlookers who consider that in these times of financial difficulty any payment should do, the group insisted that payees were strongly against cheques because they were used as an excuse to delay payment. Some reported information such as dates and signatures being purposely left blank and of course the time involved in visiting the bank to pay the cheque in.

In the retail sector, many larger businesses including M&S, Morrisson, Asda and Boots have already waved goodbye to the cheque, citing it as time wasting and restrictive to the flow of customers through the checkout.

Creditsafe’s sales and marketing director, David Knowles, said: ‘We could be witnessing the beginning of the end for cheque payments. They are viewed by many businesses as inefficient, time consuming and a security risk compared to BACs transfers and card payments. Increasingly businesses want traceable, efficient payment systems that do not need to be physically processed.’

If you would like any advice on making and accepting cheque payments in light of this report, pleaseĀ contact us.

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