Cheques with Tide Accounts

[CuriousBalloonist]

Hi

I have a business account with Tide which on the whole is good. The only problem is they do not allow cheques or have the facility to process the Cheque.

I have had a customer who has sent me a Cheque with my company Name on. Doesn’t want to do cash or send a bacs payment no matter how hard I have tried to persuade.

is there a way of getting this Cheque cashed around either another bank or post office and has anyone had any experience of this.

Many thanks.

Doug

 

[johndon68]

Most, all?, cheques these days are crossed A/C Payee Only so can only be paid in to an account in the same name as that written on the cheque so it can’t be paid in to another account or cashed.

 

[NickGrogan]

Tell them you don't accept cheques, send it back and get them to pay properly.

 

[CuriousBalloonist]

Tell them you don't accept cheques, send it back and get them to pay properly.

That conversation has already happened and is stubborn to the point of not understanding. I’m at a crossroads with it where if I push much more on it I will risk losing the business which after this last 20 months and the sum involved I can’t afford to push away.

 

[NickGrogan]

It's not a conversation, that's where you going wrong. There is nothing to discuss. You don't take cheques.

They haven't paid, they need to pay, using one of your accepted methods. Generally cash or bank transfer.

If you've already provided the product/service then they need to pay. Or you take them to court.

If you haven't provided anything yet and its payment with order, then walk away. Anyone being this difficult at the beginning is going to get worse.

 

[tan_lan]

It would strike me that you are a business that choose a bank that is not a bank, as such you are now unable to accept payment via a widely used method.

Answers simple, open an account with a real bank. Making it difficult to be paid made little sense.

 

[NickGrogan]

Widely used method? Cheques?

I don't think so.

"Cheques now account for less than 1 per cent of retail bank payments"

https://www.ft.com/content/2fc8b8ce-8dc0-4bad-90e1-79ea596c9e0b

 

[johndon68]

https://www.ft.com/content/2fc8b8ce-8dc0-4bad-90e1-79ea596c9e0b

It appears that article can't be read without a subscription...

 

[NickGrogan]

It appears that article can't be read without a subscription...

strange, worked the first time I clicked on it.

https://pedfire.com/why-cheques-arent-quite-dead-yet/

The same article

 

[Paul Norman]

Leaving aside the (valid) comments about Tide above the reality is that you are having a circular conversation.

This customer wants to pay you by cheque. You cannot accept cheques. But you want to keep the customer.

That leaves two possible ways forward.

1. You keep the customer and they pay by cheque and you can't bank it. So you never get paid

2. They relent and pay by some other method.

If neither of those can happen (and clearly only option 2 is an actual option) then you have to let them go elsewhere.

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

We have not accepted cheques for well over 10 years
It says at the bottom of our invoices
We do not accept cheques !

 

[brucegreig]

You could open another business bank account for your company just for this purpose. Bit of a pain, but at least it gets you the money. I still own a little side project supplying schools with a niche software product. Many of them want to pay by cheque, so I have to maintain an old-school HSBC bank account just for this reason.

 

[Paul Norman]

Of course, as a general bit of advice, let me repeat something I have so often said to businesses.

Sort out how payment is going to happen before you start. Sort out the time, and the method, and the consequences of not adhering to it.

 

[nelioneil]

Simply say your bank does not accept cheques! Its not a case of you not accepting cheques. Even if you want to, the bank does not offer the facility.

And then demand payment via an alternative method. I presume the service has been provided so they need to pay up.

 

[UrbanRetail]

Open a Starling account and post them the cheque, you should have the cash within the week.

 

[eteb3]

Maybe this is assumed by all the previous posts, but to be explicit just in case:

A cheque is not a payment, it's an order to another person to make payment on your client's behalf. You agreed to deal with your client, no one else, so you're under no obligation to accept it.

(I say this in case your client is on their high horse believing that the cheque is payment good and proper. That said, agreeing terms before you start is only sensible.)

 

[justintime]

Open a Starling account and post them the cheque, you should have the cash within the week.

That was going to be my suggestion too. Not sure the limit, but Starling allows you to send a picture of the cheque, up to a certain value.