The Great British Cheque Report - Cheque and Credit Clearing ...

Credit card bill payments2001 2004 2007Cash 17% 15% 11%Cheque 52% 38% 29%Standing order/Direct Debit 16% 24% 29%Debit card 4% 5% 6%Remote banking 11% 18% 25%As with retail payments, more consumers are choosing to paytheir bills online, further accelerating the decline of the cheque.With the advent of Faster Payments in May 2008, online andphone payments can now potentially be made twenty-fourhours a day, seven days a week, and most payments areprocessed within a couple of hours. This new system may wellbe increasingly used as an alternative to cheques, both to paybills and for making person-to-person payments.What scenarios remain popular for chequeusage?In spite of the decline there were still 4.4 million personal andbusiness cheques written every day in 2007 and there aremany situations where the cheque remains a popular paymenttool, including:• Payments to tradesmen• Payments to or from small to medium businessesThe Great British Cheque Report 21