Electronic money

[Roland Perry]

In article <54808490.2010600 at ernest.net>, Nicholas Bohm 
<nbohm at ernest.net> writes
>And if the banks really succeed in phasing out cheques, will
>they start demanding credit cards?

They can't phase out cheques without introducing something to replace 
them, and iirc that's why the process is delayed. What form it will take 
is I expect undecided, but t could be a sort of cross between a 
cashier's cheque, a Postal Order, a book token and pre-paid gift card 
(often retailer-branded but there's at least one with wide acceptance in 
the High Street).

Some loyalty/ rewards schemes already use M&S £10 vouchers as a form of 
pseudo-cash, for example.

I've just spent a couple of days away at in effect a B&B, and they only 
accept cheques - presumably for auditing reasons not accepting cash, and 
the volume of turnover not warranting something based on credit cards or 
electronic transfers.

I also note there are a number of official payments which can still only 
be made by cheque, such as cherished numberplate transactions with DVLA.
-- 
Roland Perry