Erasmus28

Are Cheques on their way out?

HSBC ‘may have’ discontinued the cheque guarantee facility for Current Account holders.

Current Account holders have received letters stating the changes that have taken place. Although, Rajiv Nair, a HSBC employee denies being aware of any letters being sent about the changes; “I am currently unaware of any such letters sent to customers.”

These changes are still not known to all. An employee from the customer services Helpdesk did not know of any changes that had taken place, he said: “I’m not sure, but I think there has to be a minimum of £5000.”  In fact, the HSBC website states that ‘If you can pay more than £500 into your HSBC bank account each month, you’re entitled to apply for Current Account Advance.’ With the cheque guarantee facility being an ‘extra benefit’ of this.

It has been suggested that this modification to the services could be an indication of a dying need for chequebooks which seem to be becoming a thing of the past.

With more people using online banking and the chip and pin service, which became active in 2006, cheques are no longer a necessity but an added extra.

Large establishments such as Tesco and Sainsbury’s no longer accept cheques which may have attributed to the cheque ‘boycott’ that may be occurring today.