do you still take cheques

[gritbinsales]

if so do you have a limit

or do you not take cheques

also do your customer pay first and then wait for there good to be delivered

or do you let them pay by cheque on delivery

would you take a cheque for over £ 5000.00+

 

[mangoprint]

I take a cheque, but any that large I would wait until it clears before dispatching the goods

 

[akirk]

Yes take cheques, payment varies by client some - new ones esp. is deposit up front but generally we invoice down all outstanding balances at the end of each month...
Have had a cheque for over £15k

Alasdair

 

[Seamless-Outsourcing]

Certainly take Cheque and BACS payments, you need to remember that bigger companies simply won't pay card and have not yet embraced online payments. By not accepting cheque you are pretty much writing off business from the majority of larger hotels, the NHS and car dealerships for example.

 

[Matt1959]

always happy to take cheques. 5K on a cheque in my game, I'd want to be sure who I was dealing with! I prefer cheques to cash as cash costs more to bank....

 

[S-Marketing]

If someone wants to give me money, ill take it however it comes.

 

[MASSEY]

Yeah we take cheques off trustworthy people.

 

[Amelixuk]

We prefer to accept money electronically our tarriff at the bank gives us unlimited electronic payments but we get charged for processing cheques. We therefore incentivise our clients to pay by electonic means or debit card. We have about 300 customers who still prefer to pay by cheque.

We now add a £2.50 fee to our bills for customers who pay via cheque. It hasnt put any customers off as the savings they make with us compared to BT for example are huge and chances are when they were with BT they didnt pay by direct debit and BT was charging them £36 per year for processing thier payment.

We simply explain it that to keep our prices so low we have to strip out as many costs as possible and therefore as the bank charge us so much to bank a cheque.

We do the same wirh card payments - debit cards are free - credit cards charged with 2.5% fee.

Also we moved to electronic billing last year - if anyone wants a printed bill then it is another £2.50 to come int he post otherwise email ones are free.

It has helped us be more environmentally friendly, pass savings on to our customers who deal with us electronically.

I do find it amazing how many customers pay by cheque for everything - I wouldnt even know where my chequebook was - we do everything electronically - even for large payments our system gets 2 directors to electronically sign big payments etc.

 

[Matt1959]

probably a mistake to generalise with opinions on taking cheques as it would work well for one business but be a terrible choice for another...

 

[MASSEY]

It will be funny when they remove cheques from society.

I think by 2018 we will no longer use them last time i checked anyway.

 

[Matt1959]

I must admit, cheques are a truly archaic method of payment and surely exist due to tradition more than anything else. Its only technophobes that will mourn their passing - many people now have access to the internet and online banking and the majority of people are used to making card payments which begs the question why are cheques still with us

 

[Amelixuk]

I totally agree.

Everything about them takes so long! - We can pay anyone within minutes these days. However as an earlier post mentioned so many companies still use cheque - 3 of our biggest clients still pay by cheque every month.

The banks obviously dont like them either due to the big costs we all get for processing them!

 

[Deleted member 59730]

would you take a cheque for over £ 5000.00+

Certainly! Send me your email and I'll tell you where to post it;-)

 

[Deleted member 59730]

I must admit, cheques are a truly archaic method of payment and surely exist due to tradition more than anything else. Its only technophobes that will mourn their passing - many people now have access to the internet and online banking and the majority of people are used to making card payments which begs the question why are cheques still with us

Because the b****y banks haven't got plastic to work yet.

 

[S88MRG]

Yes take cheques. If we are ordering goods in (not stock items), we always take a deposit of 50%.

Mike

 

I must admit, cheques are a truly archaic method of payment and surely exist due to tradition more than anything else. Its only technophobes that will mourn their passing - many people now have access to the internet and online banking and the majority of people are used to making card payments which begs the question why are cheques still with us

Er maybe people have a slight concern about fraud when it comes to large amounts online.:|

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/...victims-told-go-to-the-bank-not-the-police.do

Earl

 

[Allan123]

Depends on the customer.

Retail, B2C not a chance. Council, Schools etc etc.. anyday.

 

[Will-man Rodders]

I agree it is possible to pay by card in many cases. In my business though, 80% of people pay me by cheque, 19% in cash, and only 1% electronically.

Many businesses rely upon the delay between issuing the cheque and it being presented for payment.

When I discussed the demise of the cheque with my Bank's Business Manager he seriously doubted the planned 'withdrawal' will occur in 2018. He rattled off a number of major obstacles that need to be overcome.

 

[Matt1959]

interestingly in terms of cheque clearance times, Nat West now credit your account within approx 24 hrs with cheque deposits. It used to be 2 or 3 days. As I understand it, you draw on the cheques at your own risk which is fair enough....

 

[Will-man Rodders]

Just to clarify my earlier post. I understood the 'delay' was more to do with the time delay the payee took to put the cheque into the banking system, rather than the clearance time of the cheque in the banking system.

One of my suppliers releases his goods to me on payment; I pay by cheque. He then takes 3 to 15 days to put the cheque into the banking system.

And conversely, some of my customers who pay me by cheque, ask me to defer paying it in for a couple of days to allow them time to transfer monies to cover the cheque.

 

[DetectiveDenise]

I try and discourage my clients from paying by cheque and steer them towards BACs, just because of the risk that cheques can be cancelled up to 6 months after issue but they are currently listed as acceptable. It's usually larger organisations and some solicitors that frustratingly still use cheques but hopefully they will catach up with the electronic world soon.
Denise

 

I try and discourage my clients from paying by cheque and steer them towards BACs, just because of the risk that cheques can be cancelled up to 6 months after issue but they are currently listed as acceptable.
Denise

How can that be ,so are you saying that after 6 months a company may have to refund the bank.?:|

Earl

 

[DetectiveDenise]

How can that be ,so are you saying that after 6 months a company may have to refund the bank.?:|

Earl

Yes, it can and does happen in the case of alledged fraud, a bank will cancel the cheque first and investigate later and it's then up to the payee to provide the proof. It's a fraud that has been increasing in recent years and a factor in the big shift to electronic payments.
Denise

 

[DetectiveDenise]

Answering myself here, in 2007 the banking code was changed so that all banks are supposed to have presented cheques cleared within 6 days and the money can't be then returned due to lack of funds, however in the case of fraudulent cheques you still may have to return the money but they will very kindly let you know.
Denise

 

[Will-man Rodders]

Denise, you stated....

... in 2007 the banking code was changed so that all banks are supposed to have presented cheques cleared within 6 days and the money can't be then returned due to lack of funds, however in the case of fraudulent cheques you still may have to return the money but they will very kindly let you know.

Nat West's Terms of Business reads ...

'd) If the bank, building society or other organisation that the
cheque was drawn on decides not to honour it , they will
normally explain the reason for non-payment. We will deduct
the amount of the cheque from your balance no later than
the end of the sixth business day after it was added to your
balance. After that , we will not deduct the amount of your
cheque from your balance unless you give your consent to
our doing so or you were knowingly involved in a fraud
concerning the cheque.'​

Copied from http://www.natwest.com/content/global_options/terms/Terms_Conditions.pdf​

This reads somewhat differently to your post. In particular you will note the need for the Bank to obtain your consent to debit your account in the event of a fraudulent cheque subsequently not being paid outside of the agreed time frames (Unless you were knowingly involved in the fraud).

Fraudulent cheques are still issued; but in the majority of cases the initial loss of the cheque book is reported to the paying bank by the account holder, and the Bank then place a stop against the remaining cheques in the cheque book. On presentation for payment any remaining cheques are then returned - and done so within the usual 6 days time frame.

Cheques drawn on banks abroad can take months to be paid; and yes, these can come back unpaid and will be debited to your account on return.

 

[Mike W]

Cheque's are fine.

If it's an existing client or someone I know, I'd deliver before clearance (unless it's particularly large). Otherwise I'd usually wait for it to go through.

 

[Alex@Iansprint]

We take and pay by cheque for quite a lot.
However, I much pefer BACS, and do try to encourage customers to use this too.

I keep putting off investing in a card machine, but it is something we seriously need to crunch the numbers of.

 

[Esk247]

cheques are easier for me. don't do online banking, it's still got too many security flaws for my liking.

banking a cheque takes less than 10 minutes for me as the bank is at the end of my street so i'm a bit biased.

 

[SillyJokes]

We take cheques, and interestingly, as a parent, I am constantly writing cheques for school trips, Scouts, Brownies, Rangers, Guides, music lessons you name it.

Will be glad to see the back of them, but only if we don't then incurr processing charges as a customer.

 

[gritbinsales]

So would you hand over £ 5000 of good for a cheque,

I don't think i could

 

[Esk247]

but without a cheque..how are you going to pay for things that aren't commercial? e.g. a cheque when buying a second hand car? will people have to have card terminals in there homes to process payments?

cheques are still relatively simple as far as i can tell (and i'm only 23).