Credit Cards Running Cheques Out of Town

In the UK many of the shops are starting to decline cheques for payments on services or goods.  Tesco is just the latest in a long list of companies who are no longer going to accept the cheques.  Part of the reason for the change in the money they will take is the use of credit cards.  Many of the UK residents aren’t paying with cheques anymore so the companies are finding it easier not to accept them.  There are of course other reasons.

Cheques used to be the most important item to leave home with as every store would take a cheque, but times are changing because of fraud.  It is very easy to create a fraudulent check.  The cheques leave no recourse for the shops to get money for the services.  Many of the areas in the UK will begin to stop taking cheques for this very reason.  Asda, Argos, Boots, Next, Sainsbury’s, WH Smith, and Marks & Spencer are just some of the places that will no longer take cheques, but does this really help with fraud?

Considering the current fraud rates with credit cards it would suggest that cheques are just as safe as credit cards for these businesses and for consumers.  The fraud rate on credit cards is increasing despite the police attempts to stop these criminals.

It seems that security of personal information such as cheques and credit cards is left in the hands of the consumers rather than the businesses.  It also seems that perhaps we are better off using cash for our purchases, but there is of course fraud with cash as well.

While the cheques may be disappearing the credit cards are still alive and on the market in the UK.  It is the main source of payment for over half the UK residents and the usage is increasing every year.  Along with the yearly increases comes the higher and higher debt on the credit cards.

At the moment there are no sure proof ways of protecting your credit cards or cheques, and with many shops taking the cheques out of the equation it is harder to pay in certain places.  This method of just stopping the cheque process is something new.  Some of the smaller businesses around the world, even the US, don’t take personal cheques any more, but the larger corporations have changed the method and perhaps the UK will follow.

Many of the larger corporations are treating cheques like debit cards.  They run the cheques on their machine and will only process payment if the bank verifies the identity as well as the money being in the account.  It is just another solution to making the world switch to credit and debit cards for convenience as well as security measures.

For those who are still using cheques you might find the clerk looking at you as though you stepped out of another century.  They don’t expect to see the paper material for payment; instead they are thinking plastic.