the role of cheques in an evolving payments system - Australian ...

THE ROLE OFCHEQUES IN ANEVOLVINGPAYMENTS SYSTEMGood Morning,Just listened to 6PR and got your comments and email details.I am female 69, a pensioner and have NOT had a cheque book for about 10/12 years or more.I pay via Bank Transfer, BPay, Credit Card and if really needed get a Money Order or Bank Cheque.I have NOT entered a Bank since 2007 when I had to go to one to sort out my Late Mothers Estate, otherwise I amonline or over the phone with the CC or EFTPOS/CC when shopping.Also on my Credit Card I have NEVER had to pay interest or any fees, I use it as a Debit Card and it works a treat.Regards,HWGood morning. I listened to your arguments to phase out cheques on radio 6PR this morning.Your comment was that a credit card transaction costs between $0.50 and $1.15 per transaction. Be aware that Qantascharges $30.00 per person per on-line international booking , and $7.50 per passenger per domestic booking. Thismeans the cost for a family of 4 to travel overseas is increased by $120.My comment is that as long as companies gouge their customers and clients as Qantas do, then cheques have toremain as a viable option for the public (ie your customers and clients)ITI saw your CEO interviewed on the Midday Report (ABC) today and thought you might be interested in my use ofcheques and my reason for using cheques.I do not use cheques for day-to-day payments but there are some instances in which I find cheques useful or evennecessary.By far the most number of cheques I write are for birthday and Christmas presents for my sons, their spouses,children, grandchildren, nephews and nieces. It makes a nice present that can be enclosed with a card, and it is muchnicer than saying "here is a card...I'll transfer the money to your account".Other cheques are occasionally required when companies are raising capital. Some companies still require chequesfor purchasing shares in a capital raising. Also my super fund requires cheques for superannuation contributions.Best wishes with your study,SRDear Sirs,I have been given the name of your organisation by the Australian Broadcasting Commission.Today on their Midday Report the presenter was interviewing a gentleman whose name I cannot recall who wasdiscussing the use of cheques and I felt that I would like to mention some instances where cheques are still very muchin use.

THE ROLE OFCHEQUES IN ANEVOLVINGPAYMENTS SYSTEMWhilst not in any way denying that many payments these days are made on line or by automatic debit to a Credit Cardaccount there are still a number of areas where neither of these is an option. From my personal observation some ofthese could include:Rates payable to Municipal or Shire Councils as some state explicitly that Credit Card payments will not beaccepted.Another which comes to mind would be levies paid to Bodies Corporate in Strata Schemes at least with smallerschemes but I do not know of any schemes which do accept Credit Card payments.A further instance which I saw when working in a Law Office was ( in particular) payment of Counsel's fees orsimilar fees payable to Mediators.I cannot see any signs of these instances changing in the near future. I might note here that some Doctors still insist onpayment by cheque so you can see that there is still plenty of use for cheques. Personally I use my Mastercardwhenever I can but I always keep my cheque book handy for payments such as I have mentioned above. I am sure thatother instances may come to mind but I thought that I would like to mention those that I have set out. Just as anaddendum with regard to Law Offices whilst you would find that salaries are paid directly to the staff member's Bankaccount there are any number of payments still made by cheque.I remain,GDHi,I would like to comment on the use of cheques, I am a member of a few organizations that require two signatures on acheques to access funds. Most community organizations use this method of accessing funds andpaying accounts. We have a view only access to the account and allow direct payment tothe account by members to pay for fees and events.What do you propose to cover this security measure that community groups use.My husband is a builder, most companies accept bpay, or direct bank deposits which I prefer but occasionaly abusiness only accepts cash / cheques to pay for accounts.RPDear APCA Team,I am in my 50's, & although I use eftpos, phone banking, Bpay, etc. , I still have the need to write the occasionalCheque.My youngest child is still at a government school & often needs money for school trips etc & a cheque is the mostconvenient/ safest method. Cheques will still be essential until the schools streamline all their finances [last year theyintroduced Bpay for annual fees], but throughout the year, amounts of $25 for an excursion/incursion, or more,for uniform shop, as cash, is easily lost/stollen as they run off to school.From time to time one comes across situations where others[small businesses] don't have visa/mastercard facilities,or else they charge fees on these, making cheques still relevant.Banks often don't supply regular statements [I am not comfortable with the safety of internet banking] therefore thecheque book buts, supply the opportunity to keep track of expenses, & as a record, to tick off the transactions when thestatements do arrive.

THE ROLE OFCHEQUES IN ANEVOLVINGPAYMENTS SYSTEMThank you for the chance to voice my opinion.RegardsCMOur clients tend to be older and less inclined to use telephone/internet banking and/or possess credit cards. Wetherefore continue to accept personal cheques, even though we would prefer not to handle them.Many of the bad debts we have incurred have been from clients passing bad cheques.As a medical business, patients want a receipt immediately on payment to obtain their Medicare rebate. In good faithwe initially issued receipts for payment s made by cheque. However, when some cheques presented were dishonouredafter banking, we were not only left with a bad debt for the out-of-pocket portion of the invoice but also the rebate whichwe would ordinarily be able to claim directly from Medicare.We now have to monitor all cheques banked and issue receipts only after sufficient time has elapsed after banking toensure that we minimise our bad debts. This creates an administrative burden on top of the additional time spenthandling and banking cheques. With other payment methods widely available, we would prefer to see the use ofpersonal cheques in particular, discontinued.Kind Regards,NRAs a 71 year old I use and prefer electronic payments and receipts. I use cheques on the rare occasion that no otheroption is provided. However, I receive a pension from a former employer in the USA by cheque each month. I haveasked for electronic deposit to my account but they advise that they are unable to process direct deposits overseas. Ineed to be able to clear these USA cheques and receive the funds.RegardsVRI am an individual family man with close ties to a Bushfire Brigade (charity).1. I personally occasionally use cheques but only when necessary. I use most other forms of Australian basedtransactions available in preference. (Not PayPal)2. My use of cheques has gone from primary method of money exchange in both directions to occasional use in bothdirections.3. Documented (formal) exchange of money without the need of a computer or other electronic device.4. I have no plans to change because I have no alternative for the few occurrences that still occur.5. Personally no customers. The BFB is decreed to only pay bills by cheque, however we have a Direct Debitarrangement to pay the regular telephone accounts.6. In my world, the charity (BFB) will be extremely affected. It reimburses small amounts to members and pays randombills. It has no computer and relies on individual members electronic-financial expertise and banking services to make

THE ROLE OFCHEQUES IN ANEVOLVINGPAYMENTS SYSTEMthese payments and receive the occasional random payments. The cheque book requires 2 of three signatures and canbe passed to alternative people to pay amounts when the primary person (treasurer) is not available (on holidays).7. My BFB does not have adequate access to other payment options.8. I believe we do currently have awareness of other options, but are restricted by internal and external "laws" and theability to pass the job between people.9. No other payment currently replaces all the uses of cheques.10. no11. I cannot see how we can avoid the functionality of documented random financial transactions. However I suspectthere may be a way of making these transactions able to be cleared "online" from one end of the transaction, withouthanding private account information to "un trusted" persons/companies.12. I have not paid by cheque when there is a viable alternative.13. Safety of account numbers and access in this electronic age, efficiency, and cost are very important.14. I only accept cheques when there is no alternative.15. The BFB is prevented from existing alternatives because cheques are decreed by laws, and there is no currentalternative for documented random exchange of non-electronic funds. The issuer does not need detailed accountinformation to complete the transaction.16. noOverall commentThe issue of cheque replacement will be forced by cost. The number of personal cheques issued is extremely small asmore and more organisations move to electronic funds transfer. I only write one or two a year, and receive less thanone a year. All personal regular transactions are direct debit (including Bpay) or direct credit (including dividends). Mostare "automatic".The primary reason for the BFB charity (Bushfire Brigade) staying with cheques is:-documentation of the transaction is easy and complete.costs are low (currently).no electronics required.The transaction is immediate, even though the actual exchange of funds is delayed.Electronic transactions have incomplete and inadequate documentation. Where as a cheque stub can have a lot moreinformation written on it than any electronic process I have come across. This allows for easy auditing and accounting inan organisation which is not run by a dedicated person or team. It is run by part time volunteers who cannot alwayscomplete tasks immediately or electronically.For example, currently I run my own database into which I load all my financial transactions. This is necessary becausethe 18 characters the bank provides for notes on transfers and payments is insufficient to record the information that Ineed to keep to understand where my money goes. Electronic credit card statements do not provide any fields for mynotes and information on any transactions. In my opinion, this is a major reason that cheques are used in charities andprobably by older people. Not everybody can import their 7 banking/credit accounts into their personal database.The speed of the money transfer is not the issue. The issue is the speed of the transaction/agreement for that transfer.

THE ROLE OFCHEQUES IN ANEVOLVINGPAYMENTS SYSTEMThe cheque is not a very secure method of transfer, and therefore relies on trust. Cheques can be forged, signaturescan be forged, amounts can be changed. These things happen relatively little in the current financial world where thereis no alternative to cheques. I believe a "cheque" with appropriate (equal or better) security functions, that can be"cleared" or entered into the banking system (electronically) by the recipient, would provide the financial system with asuitable replacement for the current cheque, in those instances where pure electronic transfer is not available. Bankscould charge for the data entry service if the recipient could not do the entry themselves.The cheque can only be used once and then becomes a document of record. A plastic card cannot be used this wayand I cannot see how it can totally replace a cheque.Of course, providing the appropriate laws are changed and charities are given the time and inexpensive facilities, thecheque could be cast into history. Like all good things of the past, the replacement is often not as good.Forcing people (particularly older people) with over-charging and bloody-minded aggressive turning off the servicewould be abuse of banking power. It seems that this is the unfortunate method in some countries. Banks may say thatthey had no complaints. The people who lose usually cannot complain or do not matter to the banks.If cheque clearance costs could be reduced by extending the clearance period, then I think that would be a good way ofmaking them less convenient and less useful before increasing charges.Regards,RTWe have been in business for over 40 years successfully paying our way by the use of cheques. We honour ourprocedures for timely payment and expect our customer base to reciprocate with us. I suppose you can look on us asDinosaurs because we still travel to our bank for transactions etc which require over the counter actions. We do not doonline banking therefore cheques are our preffered method.I find it very , very offensive for any person , or company personnel to reject my payment by cheque because really whatthey are saying is that they do not have faith that the cheque will be honoured.Hence here is the problem, by demanding payment only by electronic format has lowered human standards that far thatthe people wishing to pay a bill are treated as untrust worthy pieces of shit.I always tell the lower class demanding electronic payment is that they can release the goods only after my cheque hasbeen cleared if this makes them feel big.Yes , dud cheques have been received from all types of classes but i do believe that prudent investigation either intocompanies or individuals can over come this concern.Yes we will be using cheques for payment for as long as its an Australian Currency Payment option.BDInteresting news item todayMost of my transactions are now conducted electronically…howeverIt was interesting viewing the item on cheques today as it occurred 2 hours after my financial institution had problemswith Bpay. My solution: go into town and write a cheque to pay my Mastercard bill.When you can absolutely guarantee the reliability and security of this electronic mechanism then by all means let usthrow our cheque books away. (and also as you said on the media make provision for me to pay school bills, sporting

THE ROLE OFCHEQUES IN ANEVOLVINGPAYMENTS SYSTEMregistrations, scout and other voluntary organisations, pay for my wife's craft activities, settle at auctions etc). You needto also consider those mobile electronic transactions made where there is no mobile coverage.... not an infrequentsituation.Cheques support diversity and convenience in our lifestyle.BJI believe there is still a need for writing cheques in today’s society although I admit that the usage of such a means ofpayment has decreased significantly over the past 40 years since I opened my first cheque account.To some extent a cheque is still a convenient way of paying a friend or relative when their bank account details are notreadily accessible.It is also the case that some payees have limited choice of payment options and the cheque payment method is themost convenient and does offer a ready source of payment history & tracking of payments made.With my current 2 cheque accounts I would make an average of 30 cheque payments per year. I would be quitedisappointed to see this payment method completely disappear as I also believe that it offers more security in paymentthan that offered using internet/telephone banking with some creditor individuals and organisations.I hope this feedback is of some help.Regards,DTHiWhile I do not use cheques anywhere near as much as I used to, I still find them necessary and more convenient insome situations.I live in Canberra but have children and grandchildren in South Australia and Western Australia and find it much easierto send a cheque for birthdays and Christmas. I do not like to invade on their privacy by demanding their bankingdetails. A cheque at least gets the job done without having to demand personal information.Also I have found that, at least here in Canberra, many of the tradesmen we use do not have EFTPOS or credit cardfacilities. For a number of reasons it is much easier to use a cheque in situations where we have had to call atradesman. I have an internet banking account attached to a transaction account. I keep most of my money in theinternet account and only transfer it to the transaction account as I need it. When we have to call a tradesman, cash isoften not an immediate option because we do not know the price until the job is completed. With a cheque I can writeout the cheque when the job is completed and then immediately transfer the required amount across to my transactionaccount to cover the cheque. At present, I find that the most convenient way to deal with such situations. I am awarethat some tradesmen do not offer credit facilities or eftpos because of the extra charge they would incur from the banksand, for me, because of the way my bank accounts are set up, a cheque is much easier than "guestimating" how muchcash I will need.For these situations at least, cheques need to be kept.RegardsKWHi there

THE ROLE OFCHEQUES IN ANEVOLVINGPAYMENTS SYSTEMI didn't want to say this on air on ABC 666 but my Dad, who is an 89 year old WW2 veteran living in aged care, hasdementia. He is unable to remember his PIN anymore and sometimes struggles to use an ATM so in order to accessmoney (which he doesn't really even need to do) he relies on his cheque book.He can still write out a cheque and more importantly fill in the butt and this is very important to him, given his failingbrain power. Sadly though, he can no longer work out the "balance" bit on the butt. He likes to see his own nameprinted on the cheque, it is very comforting for him.From time to time Dad loses his cheque book - it can be a time consuming job to actually phone up the bank andrequest cancellation of the cheque book but at this stage of his life, my Dad's happiness is my foremost concern;cheers and thanks for the opportunity to put my views.BMPS Dad has been with the CBA all his life!! I, on the other hand, have been with with a credit union and also have acheque book which I would prefer not to give up but don't really need to have either!Cheques are most convenient for me as the butt is an essential record and the pay-in slip the same. Electronictransfers do not have the same ready record capability.FLHelloAs an individual I use a cheque only several times per year, and could move all my transactions to other methods.HOWEVER, I am also involved in several voluntary organisations where at least two signatures are required for anypayment. Not sure how this would work if there are no cheques. Presumably one person would have to 'prepare' thepayment and then the others would have to log-on and authorise the payment which would not be processed until thenecessary number of 'signatures' had been activated. I think It is far easier to have two or more people sign a cheque -particularly when some of the signatures are those of older people (as is common in many voluntary organisations) whoare not 'computer-literate' - than have to go through the on-line process.RegardsLH