Cheques to be cancelled for good

CHEQUES will have died out by 2020 because of the ever increasing popularity of debit cards, it has been predicted.

The traditional way of paying household bills has declined so dramatically that more than 10% of people now never write one.

And the trend seems certain to continue, with one-third of current account holders saying they will use cheques less over the next three years.

Cheques, which originated in the 17th century and came into general use in the latter part of the 19th century, enjoyed a boom in the 1960s once cheque guarantee cards were introduced.

In 1990, more cheques were written to pay for goods and services than all other types of payment or cash withdrawals put together.

Despite nearly 12m cheques still being written every day, debit card transactions have overtaken them for the first time, according to the Halifax Extras Current Account survey.

The number of payments made by cheque looks set to fall to 1.5bn a year within the next five years and they could almost be obsolete within 20 years.

Experts believe a swipe of a card through a till is seen by younger people as less painful than handing over cash, making them less inhibited in their spending.