General > General Technical Chat
Cheques being phased out in Australia by 2030
vk4ffab:
--- Quote from: TimFox on October 12, 2023, 10:27:59 pm ---
--- Quote from: Someone on October 12, 2023, 10:24:55 pm ---
--- Quote from: tggzzz on October 12, 2023, 10:21:07 am ---I doubt that it is driven by the government; what business is it of theirs?
--- End quote ---
No, that's exactly what it is. The government is aiming to have no cheques used within their systems by some future date. Right there in the OP:
--- Quote from: Halcyon on October 08, 2023, 05:59:13 am ---I learned that the Australian government will be phasing out the use of cheques by no later than 2030. Which to me is still quite late considering the use of cheques in Australia is almost zero today.
--- End quote ---
It is almost certainly just to streamline and reduce costs for the government entities producing and accepting cheques. Push that all to fully digital bank transfers and in person card transactions.
I like this, while depositing a cheque as an individual isn't too hard, the bizarre ways some government functions expect to be paid (cheque, money order, cash in person) can be a pain as a consumer. So if they will streamline away from paper/manual methods that will be an improvement for me.
--- End quote ---
I may have misunderstood the original post (not well worded): does the government of Australia mean only to stop writing checks?
Will they accept checks in payment of taxes, etc.?
Will the Australian banking system continue to allow the use of checks?
--- End quote ---
The government announced it will stop using and accepting checks, the banks will all follow suit, my bank is not only phasing out checks, its also phasing out cash. I have not used cash in the last 15 and very little in the 5 years before that for places that had not adopted efpos yet. Now days, even flee market vendors take electronic payments. The world here has moved away from checks and is fast moving away from cash. The only people hording cash are criminals.
mendip_discovery:
My experience is I get a cheque from the MD as a bonus each year. He does this as he wants us to see it rather than it just being a surprise amount turning up in my account. But other than an occasional cheque I don't see them. My bank these days let's me photograph the cheque and its paid that way, which turns it into a digital transaction in moments.
I used to get them a lot as a photographer as I didn't have card facilities and since I stopped I dont see them.
But I have noticed in the UK that highstreet banks have closed to the point where the nearest bank is a 1hr journey. They tell people that people aren't using banks, but considering that banks have for years had inconvenient opening times, open after people are at work, close for lunch and close before you finish work that means 95% can't get to them and then they close the bank. The are promoting online banking services and people who can't keep up are just left to the wayside, they are in the minority anyway and will eventually die out, literally.
I know the tax office are keen to have everything digital partly as it makes chasing the source of money much easier. Unless you are wealthy as which point its affordable to spend money obfuscating the transactions. Lots of trades people live with cash as much as they can as it means they can avoid paying tax and this is a key target for the tax man. Only the other day was there an article about going after tax from peoples side hustles.
rsjsouza:
To me the first block that should be thrown at the face of any government that wants to use "apps" for their services (including payments of any kind) is that they would have to be forced to get everyone a smartphone. These bastards get away with the majority of people buying something on their own dime and them slowly cutting (or increasing the inconvenience of) services, conveniently forgetting they must provide it to 100% of the population. I left Brasil almost two decades ago, and now see how the government there imposes the use of "apps" for several basic services, including shutting down their existing webpages that used to provide all these in a similarly convenient way. And at the moment the current president (and his minions) are trying to curb access to finances and government services for people that don't fall in line with the official discourse (as if the past three years haven't shown us anything).
Private institutions? Well, I am not in favour to force them what to do, but they will certainly lobby the government to cut a service in favour of the highest bidder of a new service or infrastructure model.
--- Quote from: PapierzToaletowy on October 15, 2023, 08:10:50 am ---Having cash as an option is essential for one's freedom.
--- End quote ---
Another example is a certain inconvenient part of the Canadian population that was protesting against government overreach - any electronic payment method was systematically being shut down by Trudeau and his thugs.
antenna:
I can offer a few reasons checks are common here in the US.
#1 My mom uses checks every day because she is afraid a debit card would be easily hacked/skimmed. The thing about cards in the US (not sure about the rest of the world) is that if you get your card stolen, one of two things will happen. if it is a credit card, the credit card company will hunt the crook down, usually no big deal as they are insured and have the resources and experience tracking crooks down. 2-If it was a bank debit card, upon report of a stolen card, the banks will simply turn off your card, issue you a new one, and leave the hunt for the bad guy up to you. There is very little you can do if someone steals your debit card info. And due to this, many banks (at least for the middle and lower class) will simply limit the debit card to $600 a day. Not always a problem, until you need a new oscilloscope and have toexplain to the bank why you want to spend more than $600 on your card for a day. PITA every time.
#2 Many businesses still pay people with checks, especially places like scrap yards that take advantage of the time it takes for the check to be cashed and clear to verify what you scrapped wasn't stolen. They have time to cancel the check. Pawn America puts their payments on disposable cards they can call and cancel, but those kinds of "cash cards" still have scary terms to them (like using it within 90 days or it expires, or ridiculous fees).
#3 Everyone charges a fee to accept cards out in the country. If I want to go to the nearest decent restaraunt in the woods and eat, there is a 3% fee to pay wth any card, debit or credit. Many places (and ATM machines) do that as well.
#4 Sometimes you need to pay someone who does not accept digital payments, like Jim down the road that welds stuff, and if you find yourself in that situation without cash on hand, you need a check. I live an hour from my bank.
#5 Go on wikipedia and take a look at data breaches. Every one of those massive data breaches involved the theft of personal and card data for the sole purpose of ripping peoples cards off.
#6 I am tired of pulling on the card machines at the gas station worrying about card scimmers.
#7 I just don't trust my entire way of life on a single piece of plastic that can get lost. How many times have you legitimately lost your wallet and had to grab some cash or a check? Happened to me twice.
Ill hold back my other reasons because there are people here just waiting for an opportunity to call me a conspiracy theorist.
TimFox:
I agree about the problems with debit cards in the US, which I consider to be a pipeline directly from my bank account.
They often are granted to people whose credit record is too poor to get a credit card.
The cardholder's legal protections on credit cards are much better here than for debit cards.
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