Written evidence submitted by Philip Matthew
FCA
I am delighted that you are to enquire into
the proposed abolition of cheques. There are many instances in
which a written "instruction to pay" is required, and
I do not believe that satisfactory non-written alternatives will
be available in the foreseeable future. My suspicion is that the
banks would like to come up with something "new", let
us call it a "bank payment instruction", they would
tell us all what a great innovation it is and, by the way, the
fee is, say, £5.00 per transaction.
My use of cheques is by no means unusual, and
includes:
1. Sending birthday and Christmas presents, around
£200 each, to my great-nephew and great-niece, who live
300 miles away.
2. Paying traders for work done at the house—gardeners,
plumbers, electricians etc.
3. As treasurer of a Probus club (a club for
mainly-retired business and professional people) receiving payment
for our monthly lunches from those attending on each occasion.
I use internet banking regularly, I am not a
technophobe, but none of internet banking, plastic cards or cash
would be appropriate to these circumstances, or to many other
circumstances which thousands of other bank customers encounter
every day.
Cheques are a necessary public service which
the banks must not be allowed to take from us.
February 2010
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