I saw the phrase "cut them a check" in a recent post on the Southwest Airlines disruptions and it got me wondering how widespread the use of cheques ( or "checks" ) is around the world now.

I wrote my last cheque more than 20 years ago, and it is probably about that long since I last banked one.

Here in Aotearoa/New Zealand the banks stopped issuing or accepting cheques in mid 2021, but long before that they had become rarely used ( in 2019 for example, for every cheque written in this country, there were around 130 electronic transactions ).

I gather that they are still used in the US, though I'm unsure how widespread their use is.

So, are cheques/checks still in use where you live, and if so, how common would you say they are ?

I used a cashier's check to use on the down payment of my car in 2019, and even used a personal check when I was renewing my passport last year. I'm in the US btw.

Funny how times have changed, I spent two years flying single pilot night freight transporting cancelled checks in the mid ‘80s

Their use was widespread in the US then, I think that has dwindled significantly but I still use them occasionally, probably write a dozen every year for when certain businesses don’t accept credit cards or want to charge an excessive fee to do so

Government still sends cheques for tax refunds or other government related rebates.

Other than that, I usually only use cheques as a blank sample when setting up a direct deposit/withdraw account.

We still use them in the casino business, far easier that cash for large jackpots.

In personal use, maybe one a year.

ACDC8 wrote:

Government still sends cheques for tax refunds or other government related rebates.

Other than that, I usually only use cheques as a blank sample when setting up a direct deposit/withdraw account.

I'm guessing from your username you're in Canada. Does the tax department there not offer payment directly to your bank for tax refunds? Or is it just that people have not taken up the option?

BTW, I've just realised I didn't ask in my original post for people to clarify which country your answer relates to ( if you are happy to share that information).

Kiwiandrew wrote:

ACDC8 wrote:

Government still sends cheques for tax refunds or other government related rebates.

Other than that, I usually only use cheques as a blank sample when setting up a direct deposit/withdraw account.

I'm guessing from your username you're in Canada. Does the tax department there not offer payment directly to your bank for tax refunds? Or is it just that people have not taken up the option?

Yes and yes. ACDC8 does live in Canada and you can sign up for tax refund direct deposits. And yes, cheques are still used in Canada. Those calls from the 19-th century asking for them back are annoying though.

WildcatYXU wrote:

Yes and yes. ACDC8 does live in Canada and you can sign up for tax refund direct deposits. And yes, cheques are still used. Those calls from the 19-th century asking for them back are annoying though.

Thanks for the clarification, much appreciated, but I don't understand your comment about asking for them back ? Do you mean if they have bounced ?

Annoyingly still used in Hong Kong though there's no reason for them to be as plenty of alternative payment methods are mainstream.

Granted I only used cheques two-three times in the past two years:
1. had to order cheques to sign up for a dental plan that only accepted payment by cheque
2. received a check for a refund of water/gas service deposit one of which was frustratingly sent to a wrong address

Kiwiandrew wrote:

WildcatYXU wrote:

Yes and yes. ACDC8 does live in Canada and you can sign up for tax refund direct deposits. And yes, cheques are still used. Those calls from the 19-th century asking for them back are annoying though.

Thanks for the clarification, much appreciated, but I don't understand your comment about asking for them back ?

It is just a saying. If I say that the past called and asked for an item back it means the item is obsolete. Paying by cheques is obsolete.

WildcatYXU wrote:

Kiwiandrew wrote:

WildcatYXU wrote:

Yes and yes. ACDC8 does live in Canada and you can sign up for tax refund direct deposits. And yes, cheques are still used. Those calls from the 19-th century asking for them back are annoying though.

Thanks for the clarification, much appreciated, but I don't understand your comment about asking for them back ?

It is just a saying. If I say that the past called and asked for an item back it means the item is obsolete. Paying by cheques is obsolete.

DOH! sorry, now that you've said that, it was obvious.

For large amounts, in casinos, fine. But for food, get out of here! I hate checks with every fiber of my being in retail! How dare you!! Use a card like an adult. You are holding up the line, Maybell! This is why I use self-check at the grocery store.

Get off my lawn, whippersnapper! *shakes fist*

WildcatYXU wrote:

Kiwiandrew wrote:

ACDC8 wrote:

Government still sends cheques for tax refunds or other government related rebates.

Other than that, I usually only use cheques as a blank sample when setting up a direct deposit/withdraw account.

I'm guessing from your username you're in Canada. Does the tax department there not offer payment directly to your bank for tax refunds? Or is it just that people have not taken up the option?

Yes and yes. ACDC8 does live in Canada and you can sign up for tax refund direct deposits. And yes, cheques are still used in Canada. Those calls from the 19-th century asking for them back are annoying though.

I'm not impatient to get my refunds/rebates, so cheques via snail mail is good enough for me. Besides, its a nice feeling when you open up an envelope to find a nice juicy cheque for $1.26

I can vaguely remember my mother using them 35-40 years ago! Travellers cheques lasyed until around the turn of the century, I guess? Remember using them in eastern europe mid-90’s at least.

Never seen one in the Netherlands in the 41 years I’ve been around.

Seen them used in England around 2000, though not sure if they still use them.

I live in France, they are still widely used, mostly by elderly people, but also for the "big sums".
For the last ten years, I used to handle between 150 and 200 cheques a year for my business, a couple for my personnal use, and I write between 2 and 5-6 of them every year maybe?

- For the business, I live and work in a hilly/mountainous area where there are a lot of farms and house that are in remote places. I did a lot of boiler maintenance and repair, so there were a wide range of sums, with odd numbers depending on the parts I was using.
Cash wasn't so convenient because I had to keep lots of change, plus I had to legally keep more books.
Phone connection can be quite horrible and there's no operator that has an overall decent coverage. So mobile payment terminals aren't worth it.
Bank transfer is a hassle since there's a 3 days wait before you can do a transfer online, otherwise people have to go to the bank, and they tend to forget either way so you have to remind them after waiting for a while.
Cheques are quite convenient. You print the invoice at the end of the intervention, and leave with money in your hands. Everyone is happy, neither the clients nor I have to remind the other, I can wait for a couple of days before putting it in the bank so they have time to transfer money between accounts if needed.
- I carry a cheques book with me. I have used 11 of them since 2020. From what I can read on the stub, it's been used for a couple of payments down the road, as a guarantee for a couple of rentals, to pay for a big sum of money as internet bank tranfers are often limited to 1000 euros here, otherwise you have to go to the bank...

There's no perfect payment medium, and cheques don't make any exception. They are a pain to deal with on a regular basis as it's a lot of handling.
However they can be quite usefull, as all you need is a pen and usually an ID card. No phone or internet connection, no loads of cash or change to carry around. It's also reassuring for elderly people that aren't (and at this point never will be) too familiar with technology.

I actually don't understand all the hate. It does require to go to the bank once in a while or send a physical mail, but is it that hard? It's not like it happens every day of the week. Heck, for the common man, I'd be surprised if it happened 5 times a year.

Kiwiandrew wrote:

I saw the phrase "cut them a check" in a recent post on the Southwest Airlines disruptions and it got me wondering how widespread the use of cheques ( or "checks" ) is around the world now.

I wrote my last cheque more than 20 years ago, and it is probably about that long since I last banked one.

Here in New Zealand the banks stopped issuing or accepting cheques in mid 2021, but long before that they had become rarely used ( in 2019 for example, for every cheque written in this country, there were around 130 electronic transactions ).

I gather that they are still used in the US, though I'm unsure how widespread their use is.

So, are cheques/checks still in use where you live, and if so, how common would you say they are ?

Funny you should mention this, my wife was doing a clean up and found my old National Bank cheque book, the last cheque I wrote was October 1999. She had never had a cheque book in Norway and didn't know what a cheque was until she moved to New Zealand.

My first manager at NCR sold the last cheque processing machine delivered in NZ back in the late 90's, even then the banks that bought them had made the decision that these would be the last machines ordered. It was two banks ANZ and BNZ if I remember correctly that process and cleared cheques for all the banks in NZ. The swift uptake of EFTPOS made cheques obsolete.

The next step will be removing paper currency and coins. I very rarely use cash, if I do have it I get rid of it as quickly as possible,

Spain – I’ve never seen one being used here in the last 25 years. Now my bank offers instant transfers for 5 euro so what’s the point.

I’d like to see a workers face when he’s presented with what’s basically an I.O.U. Trust me, I’ve got the money

Denmark phased out the use of cheques 5 years ago (January 1, 2017) and the system used by banks to clear them was disabled at the same time.

In Australia they are fewer than 0.2% of transactions. 80% of cheques are tender by people over 65yo, and the other 20% people over 50.

Banks want to get rid of them. I have a chequebook in a drawer, but it’s at least 5 years, maybe longer since I wrote a cheque.
My bank still offers chequebooks, but charges $10 for a book of 50.

I never gave a check in my life, or at least for how long I can remember. Made me curious when the first ATM was installed: 15 September 1976(!). And from 22 April 1982, it became more widespread. I was born in 1977, so basically all my life there were ATM's. And in 1997 internet banking was introduced and I adopted it quite soon afterward.

I know of nobody who actually uses checks anymore.

I’ve only ever done these once or twice, a very long time ago. Now it is done by more modern methods.

classicjets wrote:

Annoyingly still used in Hong Kong though there's no reason for them to be as plenty of alternative payment methods are mainstream.

Granted I only used cheques two-three times in the past two years:
1. had to order cheques to sign up for a dental plan that only accepted payment by cheque
2. received a check for a refund of water/gas service deposit one of which was frustratingly sent to a wrong address

Most of those other payment channels impose a merchant charge

Extremely rare in Australia especially in the last 10 years or so. I received one from Telstra last year when they changed my plan from one I used to receive an invoice for to a direct debit only plan. I received a cheque for the $1.26 I was in credit. It was really frustrating the ATM cheque deposit wouldn’t accept it so I had to get a teller to credit it. I would’ve much preferred a credit off my next bill.

At my workplace they were already infrequent when I started 18 years ago. For years I was the go to guy when a cheque came through as nobody else had a clue how to process them. About 6-7 years ago the company set up a register of existing cheque payers with no one else able to use cheques after the cut off date. We didn’t have any so we stopped accepting cheques straight away. But I still occasionally see an entry printed in planner instructing us to contact clients on the register and checking if they still require cheque payments.

The last regular client we had that used to pay with cheques was a social club that paid with a cheque for their annual Christmas party and that stopped about 10 years ago.

Still used often here in UK, paying bills by post, gas electric credit cards, however Amex will no longer accept them as payment.

Dutchy wrote:

I never gave a check in my life, or at least for how long I can remember. Made me curious when the first ATM was installed: 15 September 1976(!). And from 22 April 1982, it became more widespread. I was born in 1977, so basically all my life there were ATM's. And in 1997 internet banking was introduced and I adopted it quite soon afterward.

I know of nobody who actually uses checks anymore.

Only used them once or twice in the late 80’s/early 90’s - the famous Eurocheque. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurocheque

US - Pacific Northwest now here.
No checks, ever. I technically have checks in my desk drawer that I've never opened. I've never really used them, except when my partner was on disability and had to pay for the (better than the airline) health insurance by check.
I, probably foolishly, do most of my transactions via recurring, authorized CC charges. I'd like it if PayPal or something similar and mainstream was better at categorizing and consolidating subscription services. Low hanging fruit there, to bring that functionality to an app or subscription that people actually use. I genuinely need to to do forensics to figure out my monthly subs.

I still mostly use them to give money to my grandparents in Puerto Rico. Zelle/Venmo doesn't work in Puerto Rico (ATH Movil has a virtual monopoly on P2P payments there), and my grandparents aren't so tech savvy.

readytotaxi wrote:

Still used often here in UK, paying bills by post, gas electric credit cards, however Amex will no longer accept them as payment.

I know they are still accepted here in the UK but I'm shocked anyone does anything other than Direct debit for utility bills, last time I wrote a cheque was well over 10 years ago and the only ones I receive are from the Tax man, even when we bought my wifes car we just used the debit and credit cards.

Fred

I live in the USA. Over the last 5 years I have transferred almost all of my bill paying on line. The exceptions are for my rent as the landlord has never set up online accounts, certain payments like for NY or NY state income tax payments (where needed as not enough deducted from my paycheck), certain other government payments and transfers from one bank account to another. I also still used bank checks from my account for large amounts (over $2000) like a down payment on a car to a dealer. At a store or business, if want to use monies from my checking account, I can use the debit card from the account. I think I only use 14-16 checks a year/1-2 a month now.versus 125-140 a year 10-12 a month years ago.

I also used checks for all expenses, administrative reimbursements and distribution of cash assets of my mother's estate to me and other beneficiaries (bank issued checks for the distributions).

Sometimes from governments, for political reasons (like with pandemic economic stimulus checks, tax rebates) checks are issued. Many large stores (like Walmart) if give them a check, will scan it at the register to read the info on it for the account information (those funny numbers on the bottom of checks) to access the funds, then after 'cashed' give the physical check back to you. That has become increasingly rare. Many businesses don't want to handle checks, they can be fraudulent and don't want the risk of being 'bad paper'.

For those who don't have or want bank accounts, they have options like paper money orders or set up a non-bank debit card account where can deposit checks, cash into those accounts for use like a credit or debit card.or use cash for payments.This is common with the poor, where banks are not available or charge too much for account fees, can't have a bank account due to non-legal residency or to hide money from government tax and other authorities. .

Kiwiandrew wrote:

ACDC8 wrote:

Government still sends cheques for tax refunds or other government related rebates.

Other than that, I usually only use cheques as a blank sample when setting up a direct deposit/withdraw account.

I'm guessing from your username you're in Canada. Does the tax department there not offer payment directly to your bank for tax refunds? Or is it just that people have not taken up the option?

From Canada too.

They have been trying to move all government payments for direct deposit for a decade or longer now. There are still some people that refuse to set it up, mostly elderly and those on public assistance. They are still used by businesses for the paper trail. The governments goal was do to this by the end of 2013 and now its 2023 and very few cheques are issued.

I did have to use them for my landlord until I mentioned that I can set up regular transfers every month, my mother used to write them to me and my brother for gifts but now that she knows how to do an e-transfer its not an issue. The only real users of it in Canada now are for business and large transactions such as car purchases and real estate closings and for those cashiers cheques/drafts are used.

Cheques are basically not a thing in Japan. Nearly all major non-retail transactions are done by account-to-account transfer.

Florida. In general, all major businesses will accept payment via credit cards so I pay all of them by my American Express card or for the few businesses that won't accept AMEX I use a VISA card. I then pay these cards via debit from my bank checking account. This takes care of the monthly, quarterly, yearly and 6 month stuff. I do pay the government tax stuff with a check as they charge a fee to use cards.

I get points based on charges on AMEX that can be used for purchases on Amazon for example. I haven't paid for anything on Amazon in several years.

Having said all that, I still have several one off bills that are from individuals or small businesses that want cash or a check. The last one was for yard work that was several thousand dollars. I write them a check because it is proof of payment. Last year I wrote 5 checks.

Jim

I use checks. Cashing them directly from the bank of issuance is quite convenient for reducing paper trails.

I use checks more now than in the last 20 years. If anything, they have become easier to use. When I get them I can deposit them by mobile without having to go to the bank. Lots of service folks prefer checks due to the convienience charges on Credit Cards.
US here.

US, PacificNW, and old: For years I have bought most everything with credit cards, pay it off monthly - online. When I took over bill paying for our household I typed up a Word document about what our ongoing monthly/yearly/etc payments were, just so I could see everything on one page, and explain it to our kids in case they had to take over. Next step was to teach myself to use the 'Pay Bills' feature at our Credit Unions. Many of the payees will provide my bank with routing numbers so it can be done electronically, I am surprised that all of them don't.

What really ticked me off was most of those payees wanted me to sign in, create an account, have a secure and unique password, user name, and security questions and give them access to my account. Ugh! With Pay Bills I can do in 5 minutes what used to take me and wife half an hour or more. My kids or their spouses could, if need be, take over in minutes and it all is straight forward.

Small purchases, under $50, cash, mostly. Larger ones, card. Bills are all online banking which I still have some doubts about. A good friend is an IT manager at a major northeastern bank told me to stay away from Venmo/Zelle as it has had security problems. Checks for some stuff, if I don’t have ready cash in the amount needed. I keep my online checking balances low to minimize exposure to fraud.

Mostly Card Payments in UK.

There are times I need to post a form with payment and I use a cheque.

The banks I have worked for normally use Direct Credit. However, there are situations where sending a cheque means no need to go through the account verification process for a small one off payment.

Use them occasionally only but never want to not be available to use.

Convenience-wise cash and checks may be seen as obsolete but they never will be really. Convenience aside, there ALWAYS needs to be a paper option available, no matter how far into the future we go. We are still humans, not AI, we exist in a physical world and don't require "electronic" to function and exist. We require the opposite in fact.

Tugg

frmrCapCadet wrote:

US, PacificNW, and old: For years I have bought most everything with credit cards, pay it off monthly - online. When I took over bill paying for our household I typed up a Word document about what our ongoing monthly/yearly/etc payments were, just so I could see everything on one page, and explain it to our kids in case they had to take over. Next step was to teach myself to use the 'Pay Bills' feature at our Credit Unions. Many of the payees will provide my bank with routing numbers so it can be done electronically, I am surprised that all of them don't.

What really ticked me off was most of those payees wanted me to sign in, create an account, have a secure and unique password, user name, and security questions and give them access to my account. Ugh! With Pay Bills I can do in 5 minutes what used to take me and wife half an hour or more. My kids or their spouses could, if need be, take over in minutes and it all is straight forward.

Indeed, I have followed a similar path.

What is interesting on my bank's 'pay bills' system if a payee is not in the 'pay bills' database, you provide a paper mail address for the payee and the service just cuts them a paper check. I have one old-school business whose services I use (a landscaper) and they end up getting a paper check from me every month issued by my bank's 'pay bills' system.

Also for some reason a lot of medical businesses aren't in their database so they get paid by paper check.

I also end up writing paper checks to government entities fairly often, because they charge big fees for electronic payments and/or make it difficult to sign up for electronic payment. Bleep them. We're doing them a favor by paying electronically, it should be free and easy to do so. They often insist on having me return the form included in the payment request so I might as well just write a check.

I am now officially old (retired and in my 60s), so I fit the check-writing demographic quite well.

USA - Pacific NW
I use a few a year, almost exclusively for paying fees on things from self-employed folks (dog trainer, and the like) since they don't have a credit card arrangement. I've gotten a check or two from merchants and my insurance company for rebates but otherwise everything I do is online bill-pay, debit or credit card on the outgoing funds side and direct deposit on the income side. I've had the supply of checks from my bank for over ten years, I may be getting to the point that I need more, I hope they'll let me order only about 25 or so.

Interestingly, that even though many of us don't use cheques as much as we used to (if at all), yet our primary bank account is still a chequing account.

I remember the day of personalized cheques, you could pick from various background pictures, font style/colour, a fancy cheque book to keep them in, usually a holder for a nice Cross pen. Those were the chequing equivalent to a high end credit card today lol.

I haven't received a cheque in a decade. Nowadays, I only use electronic means to transfer money across.

I know businesses in Malaysia still use cheques for large transactions but even then usage is slowing down as there are costs for using cheques brought on by the central bank to discourage use.

ACDC8 wrote:

Interestingly, that even though many of us don't use cheques as much as we used to (if at all), yet our primary bank account is still a chequing account.

It's funny you should mention that, I was commenting to a friend recently how odd it is that my account is still called a cheque account by my bank more than 18 months after cheques ceased to exist in this country.

Knowing the inertia in large organisations, I wonder whether in 50 years time kids here will be asking their parents ( or grandparents) why it's called a cheque account.

Kiwirob wrote:

The next step will be removing paper currency and coins. I very rarely use cash, if I do have it I get rid of it as quickly as possible,

Be aware that as we live here in NZ in a both a geologically and climatically active area, that in the event of extreme natural events, cash quickly once again becomes king.
A close acquaintance was a senior member of one of our banks disaster response teams.
Getting ATMs back on line, and kept charged with cash was a top public order priority in Christchuch after the major earthquake there, as it was the key component of transacting for essential supplies.

Cash, hard currency can never be removed from the financial system. Just like the post office is for communication and trade, cash is the ultimate form of monetary transaction between parties.

Tugg

Tugger wrote:

Cash, hard currency can never be removed from the financial system. Just like the post office is for communication and trade, cash is the ultimate form of monetary transaction between parties.

Tugg

I would never say never.

While I find it prudent to keep a small amount of cash on hand in case electronic payment systems go down, I'm pretty sure I haven't actually used cash in the last couple of years . Many businesses here stopped accepting cash during the worst of the pandemic to minimise physical contact between staff and customer, and although most ( but not all) have started to accept cash payments again, a lot of people here are just completely out of the habit of carrying cash ( to the extent that a brief outage of electronic payment systems recently caused chaos in supermarkets as many people had absolutely no cash on them)

I've just checked my wallet and I have 2 twenties and a five and I'm pretty sure they've been sitting in there since at least 2020, (though in light of the above-mentioned outage, maybe I should get a bit more of a cash buffer than $45.00 which wouldn't go far)