Dik T. Winter wrote:
In article (Neil Williams) writes:
On Mon, 30 Jun 2008 08:51:50 +0100, Martin Rich
wrote:
I doubt many people in Britain still use cheques to pay their credit
card bills, in preference to instructing bill payments by phone or
Internet.
I can't see cheques in the UK lasting another 10 years at all, to be
honest. In the US, though, my understanding is that many people still
get paid by cheque, which in the UK is almost completely unknown -
direct bank transfer is the usual.
I can't remember ever having seen a cheque used in the Netherlands. But
I know that cashing them can be a problem, so much so that cashing a
cheque that I received for a refund from the US would cost me more than
its value.
Cashing checks can be expensive in the US as well; the normal solution
is to deposit it in your own account because that's free. If you don't
have an account, you have to go to the issuing bank and pay a small fee
or (if it's a payroll check) go to a check-cashing store and pay a large
fee (only logical if the check is from a bank that's not local or not
open when you need the money).
Checks are, unfortunately, something you have to deal with in the US.
They're the default method of payment for nearly everything (except,
lately, for small to medium retail purchases), though more and more
places are starting to accept debit cards. Many non-retail transactions
simply can't be done with plastic, though that's gradually changing, and
the ones that can often have a "convenience fee" for using a credit or
debit card. Also, as noted, many debit cards have daily limits that
make using them to pay some things impossible. That leaves credit
cards, but that opens a whole 'nother can of worms, and assumes the
person has good enough credit to get one (and it isn't maxed out, as
many people's are).
S