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David Ward MP <>
Cheque announcement farcical
December 8, 2010 12:00 AM
David Ward MP has ridiculed the Payments Council's announcement that it may introduce a new "paper-based system" to replace cheques.
The organisation, which represents all the major high street banks, has set a target date of 2018 to phase out cheques.
Their own projections suggest that two million cheques will still be issued every day in the year cheques are supposed to be abolished. Some banks may withdraw cheque facilities on some of their accounts as early as next year.
David Ward is using Parliament's Ten Minute Rule Bill to try to save the cheque.
Commenting, David Ward said:
"This is a farcical announcement by the Payments Council.
"We already have a perfectly good paper-based payments system called the cheque. My office have been bombarded with letters and calls from concerned consumers across the country who use cheques regularly and want to keep using them. Why not let people continue to use a system that they know and are comfortable with?
"Once central cheque clearing is closed in 2018, this new 'paper-based system' would have to be processed by individual banks. The Payments Council admit that it would only be feasible for tiny quantities of payments to be made in this way. This is not something that will ever be available to the majority of consumers.
"If the banks can come up with a better system people will use it. There is no need to set a target date for abolishing cheques other than the banks' own self-interest."