Tag Archives: bank cheques

Last year 1.1 billion cheques were issued, 620 million were personal cheques and 493 million were made out by businesses.

Back in June I wrote about the cessation of the cheque guarantee scheme and the U-turn the Payments Council had taken in relation to cheques. It was genuinely feared that cheques and cheque printing would be phased out by 2018 and be replaced with?

With what?

Last week I was delighted to hear and read that the Payments Council is now reviewing the re-introduction of the cheque guarantee scheme this is where cheques to the value of £50.00 and £100.00 are honoured by the Bank.

Although chip and pin is very much part and parcel of our everyday lives we still have the problem of writing personal cheques for things like school trips, book clubs, subscriptions or pay the domestic plumber.

Cheque printing is still an integral part of many businesses?

Many companies will pay their suppliers via BACs but there are local government departments and educational institutions who by outsourcing cheques and payments will generate manual cheques and they are an important component in their payment stream.

But what if making payments by cheque and electronic means is becoming… well a bit of pain..

Using an electronic & Cheque payment solution/Payments Bureau will save you time and money. A service that prints and personalises cheques including the signatory all in one pass to APACS and C&CCC (Cheque & Credit Clearing Company)

Printing and personalising cheques can be a costly exercise and also a security issue!

Using an end to end service affords flexible credit and cheque outsourcing and fulfilment that satisfies the following:-

outsourced cheque printing & mailing
outsourced credit printing & mailing
no minimum or maximum data quantity
no specific file format required

Using a Payment Bureau service gives flexibility to outsource regular and one off payments and can be used for:

Bacs
Faster Payments
Cheques
Direct Debit
Remittances

The automation of payments and collections can be administered without costly software.

A payments bureau is ideal for combining cheque and electronic transactions from one secure payments file and in the event of your system failing ensures that all your important payments and collections are made on time.

Cheques and cheque printing along with Bacs payments can work effectively.

So before we say good bye to the cheque book forever spare a thought for the importance it still retains in our everyday lives.

For all your cheque and payment processing drop Digital Print Management a request to call and we can discuss the best and most cost effective solution for processing your payment!

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Cheques and cheque printing, Finance Printing, Print Management

Why Cheques Matter to British Industry!

August 25, 2011 Caroline Leave a comment

The Payments Council on the 12 July announced that cheques will continue for as long as the british customer need them and until such times a viable and a more effective alternative is found.

During their research, the Cheque and Credit Clearing Company found that over half of consumers with bank accounts were using cheques as a method of payment; although 60% of the consumers asked said they were writing fewer cheques compared to three years ago. The main reason for the consumer to write a cheque was to pay a bill by post this represented 36%; while paying tradesman in the home 24%; paying clubs/societies 14%; donations to charity 14%; as a gift 38% and finally as a refund 25%

The C & CCC reported that in business over 80% of companies at some point over the last year wrote and received a cheque.

32% of UK businesses sited that the reason cheques were written was to enable them to better manage their cash flow; compliance with the payee’s request to be paid by cheque represented some 25%; and finally, the ability to control which employees are allowed to make payments on behalf of the company was 23%.

But despite the good news for the continuance of the cheque scheme, figures show that there is a steady decline in cheque usage 11% for the 2010 compared to 13% in 2009. This has largely been attributed to retailers and petrol chains stopping the acceptance of cheques and moving to chip and pin from 2005 – 08.

If you compare the rise and fall of cheques; a total of 1.1 billion cheque payments were made in 2010 of which 620 million were written by consumers and 493 million by businesses. Cheque volumes were down by 72% from the peak of 4 billion transactions in 1990!

Although the general trend is downward for cheques it is still good news for the accredited cheque print suppliers in the UK and also for british industry and consumers generally.

Digital Print Management can provide cheques in any format – books, A4, cheque remittances. Our service also extends to providing a full outsource cheque printing and mailing solution and a fully automated payments bureau for regular payments.

Call us or drop us and email if you need guidance on getting your company cheques printed!

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Managing Print Costs

Why it's good news for cheques…

July 26, 2011 Caroline Leave a comment

at least until 2018?

Following the cessation of the cheque guarantee card on June 30th this year by all major high street Banks and 3 weeks after the abolition it seemed an appropriate time to de-mystify what the cheque guarantee scheme stood for and why cheques will still be in use at least until 2018.

Leading up to the abolition of the cheque guarantee scheme Jeremy Vine in his Radio 2 program had a lively topical discussion on the subject.

Amazingly, few people understood the cheque guarantee scheme and there was widespread concern among the British public that by losing the cheque guarantee card, consumers would not be able to continue to pay bills as had been customary and in all probability cheques would follow suit and be abolished altogether in the not too distant future too!

What was a guaranteed cheque?

A guarantee card used by businesses and retailers to guarantee a cheque to the value of £50, £100, 0r £250. For a cheque to be guaranteed, it had to be handed over with the card carrying the shakespeare logo or hologram and the retailer had to comply with the guarantee scheme.

Why was the cheque guarantee card withdrawn?

Over the last twenty years the use of guaranteed cheques has fallen dramatically in 2010 86% of consumers did not write a guaranteed cheque and nearly 22% have never written a cheque! The use of guaranteed cheques has fallen by 65% in the last five years alone and in 2010, of the 1,113 million cheques written only 7% or 82 million were actually supported by the cheque guarantee scheme.

The guarantee was often not an essential part of the transaction and was void if the cheque was posted. The average transaction value of a personal cheque was £392 but the maximum guarantee limit on a card was £250 with 88% of cards only offering a limit of £100 or less!

Over the previous six months leading up to June 2010, only 350,000 businesses received a guaranteed cheque.

(Source: payyourway.org.uk)

Can I still write a cheque after June 30th 2010?

As consumers and businesses we can still write and accept cheques without the guarantee. We can decide if we are prepared to accept a cheque; you will still be able to make payments such as person to person payments and bill payments.

What’s going to happen to the cheque?

Although cheques are in decline, the Payments Council has set a target date to close the central cheque processing system in 2018 on the proviso that there are adequate alternatives to the cheque in place. 2016 is likely to be the deciding date for the future of the cheque.

In the UK more and more of us are paying with a chip and pin card for our goods and services. In business the usual protocol is BACS or CHAPS

(for more urgent payments) or direct debit and standing orders

I am pretty sure most of us write personal cheques I continue to write cheques for school events, trips, book clubs is a favourite when the children come back with another book collectors club magazine, membership for the athletic club is another example where the only way to pay is by cheque so for such small amounts it is difficult to foresee what the alternatives are likely to be be?

Good News…

As of July 12th 2011 the Payments Council announced that “cheques will continue for as long as customers need them and the 2018 date for closure of the cheque clearing scheme has been cancelled.

For any advice on cheque printing, bank cheques or security printing please get in touch!

Let us know what you thoughts are on the above? Do you have any concerns about cheques being replaced? Are you still using cheques?

Please drop us line or phone us.