Recent figures have shown that the cheque is being used less and less, and that it may become obsolete by 2020.
Research by Halifax using statistics compiled by payment services group APACS indicated that use of the cheque has dropped by about 8% a year, a rate which is expected to increase in the next few years.
Cheque is the only form of payment which has seen a decrease in the amount of times used over the past ten years, and it is predicted that 14% of bank account holders no longer use this method of payment.
It is thought that in Britain 12 million cheques are still written every day, but that plastic card payments are far more commonly used, outnumbering cheque usage by 2 to 1.
Cheque usage is likely to continue to decline in the coming years, and it is predicted that by 2020 plastic will be the only way to pay.
Some banks have made clear their intentions to ‘phase-out’ the cheque, citing the growth of internet banking and internet shopping as reasons for doing so.
Surveys have shown that whilst many bank users expect the cheque to become obsolete, not all think it is necessarily a good thing.
However if current trends remain, it will only be a matter of time before the cheque is a thing of the past.
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