Facility to guarantee cheques with plastic card to be withdrawn

The Payments Council has set June 30th as the date from which the facility to guarantee a cheque using a plastic card will be withdrawn.

Given the sharp drop of the use of guaranteed cheque payment in the past five years, estimated to be around a 65 per cent decline, the Payment council has issued this pdf of frequently asked questions and their answers downloaded here, which should explain the process.

Within the fact sheet are a number of statements that reveal the guarantee to be non essential. For example, a statement withn reads: "In 2009, 69 per cent of consumers did not write a guaranteed cheque. Four million consumers still use guaranteed cheques regularly but often when the Guarantee is not an essential part of the transaction. For instance, customers often put their card details on the back of a cheque when they are posting it to a business but, in fact, the Guarantee only applies if the customer is physically handing over the cheque."

Some High Street retailers and petrol stations no longer take cheques as a form of payment.

According to UKpayments.org.uk, research shows that in the past six months only a quarter of all businesses surveyed (350,000) had received a guaranteed cheque.