Cheque delay
I paid a cheque into my local bank over the weekend, yet it will still take several days to clear and actually reach my account. This is even more staggering when the cheque was issued by the same bank that I was paying it in to. No doubt, in the ensuing days my bank will add these funds to all the other cheques they’ve had recently and make a fair few quid by investing the money before they finally have to let me have it. THIS IS MY MONEY!!! I can pay someone in Australia instantly over the web using my debit card, the money leaves my account right away and they get the money just as quickly. Yet if I actually make the efffort to go into my bank, and hand them a cheque drawn against one of their own accounts it will take a week. If you think about it, a cheque should be little different to cash. They are both promisory notes, neither of them has any intrinsic value in itself, merely the promise to pay.
I have questioned for some time now the need for cheques at all in the modern world. I can’t recall the last time I wrote a cheque for someone. They only operate in one currency, take days to hit your account and are a pain to validate for the recipient. Prone to going missing in the post and easy to steal and fraudulently use they really have no place in modern banking and transactions. Isn’t it about time that the retailers of the world united and killed the cheque. Just stop taking them.
No witty line to close, as this was a struggle as it was.