The cheque is in the post, but not for much longer
The cheque is in the post, but not for much longer
The Payments Council recently announced (press release 16th December) that cheques are to disappear in the UK by 2018. Like many other paper processes, the use of cheques is rapidly falling. Why? They are basically a pain - manually intensive to process and slow to clear. In the current financial climate businesses need cash in the bank as soon as possible, and the cheque just doesn’t deliver this. There is concern however that smaller businesses, who rely heavily on cheques (and have done for 350 years, the press release points out) will suffer and find it hard to adapt to the change. But the Payments Council state that there will be many alternatives to the cheque in place – many currently exist, and maybe some have not been invented yet.
Electronic payment methods that do exist include Bacs, of course who processed 5.6 billion UK payments in 2008 - and their transaction figures keep growing. Direct Debits and Direct Credits are an easy way to make payments or collections electronically – for both businesses and consumers. CHAPS and Faster Payments are also an option, and users can benefit from same day payments (as apposed to the current 3 working days processing). For large businesses SWIFT is also an option. SWIFT, which is primarily a service for financial institutions, is now offering a corporate service. Many businesses also use e-purchasing cards, and more obviously credit/debit cards, PayPal (and other e-money schemes) and online banking services. All of which are paperless and can easily be accessed at anytime and from anywhere. e.g. mobile access and mobile phone apps.
These electronic payments methods all fit in perfectly with the paperless services we provide. Organisations who process their invoices electronically with Accountis EIPP can add the “pay” button to their e-invoices, giving the supplier/buyer the ability to pay an invoice by direct debit, PayPal, credit card etc. directly through the e-invoicing portal. Our software processes around 30% of the UK’s direct debits and direct credits on behalf of thousands of UK businesses, typically for payroll, expenses, supplier payments, subscriptions, council tax, etc (Find out more on www.bacsactive-ip.com).
2018 may seem like a long time away, giving us all time in the world to make the changes. But with so many alternatives available now, there is no reason why you can’t make the switch today, and benefit from quicker processing and settlement – and of course, save paper.