Cheque payments in the UK declining at a record rate
 
According to Payment Council statistics [1] the use of cheques in the UK has fallen at a record rate between April and June this year.

Other findings include:

• The value of all cleared cheques has fallen by almost 21 percent to just under £220 billion. At the same time the number of cheques processed also declined by 14 percent
• UK consumers turned to spending on credit and debit cards with these payment methods climbing by 3 percent year-on-year to over £95 billion. The number of transactions on credit and debit cards also rose by 7 percent.
• In Q2 of 2009, consumer spending on credit cards declined by 1 percent year-on-year.
• Almost half of all standing orders and 70 percent of phone and online banking payments were made via the Faster Payments Service.

The data also indicated that UK customers favour debit cards over credit cards, as spending via this method accounted for three-quarters of all purchases made with a card.

To strengthen these figures further, the UK Payments Administration’s "Great British Cheque Report", conducted in February 2009 shows that within the past 10 years, the use of personal cheques has dropped by more than 50 percent.  Also predicted is that by 2015, the number of payments made via cash in the UK will be overtaken for the first time by other means of payment, including cards.

“The Payments Council has set a target date to retire cheques of 2018. Whilst this is dependant upon other forms of payment existing to replace the cheque, it is clear that users themselves are moving towards electronic payments. Perhaps cheques will die naturally before 2018”

Jonathan Williams
Director of Strategic Development
Experian Payments

[1] Payments Council publicly available resources