Anger at demise of cheques
BANKS pressed ahead with their plan to scrap cheques yesterday despite opposition from pensioners’ groups.
Finance chiefs set a target date of October 2018 for winding up the cheque clearing system.
Dot Gibson, general secretary of the National Pensioners’ Convention, condemned the decision by the Payments Council which represents the finance industry.
She said: “This is such a selfish decision, made by people who are clearly out of touch with the way millions of older pensioners manage their affairs. The Payments Council has taken away choice from older people in the name of profit.”
Age Concern and Help the Aged said that chip and pin payments and internet banking were unsuitable alternatives for millions of people.
The charity’s Andrew Harrop said: “Without cheques, we are very concerned people will be forced to keep large amounts of cash in their home.”
The Payments Council insisted its decision to close down the cheque clearing system follows an lengthy consultation period and a 40 per cent slump in cheque use over the past five years.
Around 3.8 million cheques were written daily in the UK last year at a cost of £1.4billion to the banks which processed them.
That volume was down from 10.9 million cheques written daily at the peak in 1990.