Common payment method set to vanish completely in 2019
While there was once a time where you couldn’t manage your finances without them, cheques finally seem to be going the way of the dodo in Australia, with forecasts suggesting they could be completely extinct by the end of 2019.
Comparison site Finder.com.au analysed data from the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) which suggests if current usage trends continue, the once-popular payment method will disappear completely within two years.
The average number of cheques processed in Australia has been steadily declining on a month-by-month basis for quite some time now, dropping from 45,900 cheques in January 2012 to a mere 6,549 cheques in October 2017.
The RBA predicts total cheque circulation will fall to 3,000 in December 2018 and continue to decline until the payment method disappears entirely by the end of 2019.
Finder.com.au’s money expert Bessie Hassan spoke to News.com.au and said the findings were no surprises, as cheques had been experiencing a “slow death” in recent years.
“It’s possible that the slow death of cheques will be extended slightly longer, with some users holding out and numbers continuing to dwindle,” she said.
“However, once cheques become increasingly rare, we would expect businesses to stop accepting them completely.
“Generation Z, which covers all children currently in primary and secondary education, will likely grow up to not recognise a paper cheque at all.”
Cheques, which take an average of three business days to clear, have fallen out of favour with Australian consumers in recent years, who have become used to electronic payments that can be made almost instantly.
What are your thoughts? Will you be sad to see cheques go? Or have you stopped using them?