Mill Groups and other small organisations will not be able to receive donations by cheque from 2018.
The Payments Council (a body run by the banks) has announced that banks will stop clearing cheques by 2018. This has major implications for older people, small businesses and charities. The argument is that payment by cheque is expensive and “increasingly unpopular” and we now have perfectly acceptable plastic and Internet payment options.
Age Concern has raised the issue (and been ignored) that many old people do not have, want or trust these ways of making payments. We need to take action now to prevent this initiative from becoming a fait accompli.
Like the Mills Archive, mill groups and many similar organisations get a lot of their subscription money by cheque. Even though a standing order is ultimately less hassle for us, most donors prefer to control their expenditure and write a cheque. If cheques are phased out what will we do to get the money in? No-one will want to send money through the post and it is expensive to use plastic. Paypal charges 5-10% on small transactions and most of us cannot afford to set up credit card “merchant accounts” to accept plastic payments directly.
The reason cheques are “unpopular” is that the big boys – Tesco, petrol companies etc. prefer plastic and now refuse to accept cheques. Most small businesses and charities rely on them! When you consider the age profile of many of our supporters, it becomes clear that the loss of cheques is a major threat.
Why not write to your MP (and local paper) to ask them to campaign against this unreasonable restriction on our members?