A person pulling out their chequebook, a pen, and putting their signature down to pay for something is an increasingly rare sight. While many of us may be paid in cheques, we’re sure that even fewer of us use them in our day-to-day transactions.

Why would we, right? We have debit cards, credit cards, mobile banking, and many other cashless technologies to use when we run out of paper money. So why would people still use cheques? Let’s do some digging and get to the bottom of this mystery!

Good Reasons Not to Use a Cheque

Before we get to the reasons people might use a cheque, let’s see the reasons why most of us don’t:

We’re Going Paperless

Who uses paper anymore? We read things on our tablets, doodle on our smart devices and even manage our money with our phones. A paper cheque can tear or get damaged before its cashed in. Why invite the risk?

It’s a Hassle

You need a pen, a stable surface to scribble on, and legible handwriting. In a time where we’re more likely to have excellent typing skills than penmanship, the act of writing a cheque can be finicky and tedious.

We Have Alternatives

As mentioned above, there are many other much simpler ways to transfer money aroudn. Debit cards, credit cards, fund transfers, and other cashless solutions make it difficult to rationalise the use of flimsy paper cheques.

But People Still Use Cheques!

Despite the reasons not to, there are still many who use cheques to conduct their transactions. As it turns out, chequebooks have quite a few significant advantages over other forms of payment.

You Can Give It To Anyone

Cheques can be cashed out by anybody, regardless of whether or not they have the same tech as you do. Not everybody has the same devices, bank accounts, and apps as we do. With a cheque, you avoid this technology problem altogether and anybody you need to pay gets paid.

You Can Post-Date It

To manage payments better, you can make it so it’s only taken out of your account at a certain date. This means people get paid even if you haven’t yet and you don’t need to worry about not having the funds right away.

Better Black and White Record

Every time a cheque you rip off a cheque from its book, you leave a stub. This allows for easier bookkeeping and record keeping, especially for businesses. Digital records can get corrupted or hacked into, but good ol’ paper stubs are still an excellent way to keep an account of what you do with your money.

Easier Regulation

In financial departments of certain companies, payments by cheques go through a few levels of approval before being issued and sent out. This process allows greater control over expenditure and decreases the chances of fraud or errors.

Can be Personalized

For certain businesses, cheques are a marketing tool to reach out to clients, suppliers and others by incorporating their company information and logo. It can also make financial transactions more warm and personal.

As you can see, there are many reasons people stick to using this familiar and trustable payment system, even in this age of online banking and credit card swiping. If you are a fan of chequebooks and cheques in general, here are some of the best current accounts in Malaysia for you to compare and choose. Have anything to add to this article? Do share your thoughts with us in the comments section down below!

 

• TAGS:
• Cheques
• Financial Behaviour
• Personal Finance