Who, in this aspiring cashless society where electronic transactions have become practically mindless, still makes payments using cheques?

To assume that every New Zealander is totally onboard the Internet bandwagon though, with its expeditious and electronically pervasive methods of transacting finances, simply, is short-sighted; indeed, there are still some people who appreciate the convenience of writing their own money, then passing off their pseudo banknotes as legal tender.

Why, if technology has increased to the point where a monetary transaction can be executed in the space of a few seconds, do banks still claim that it takes ‘three to five working days’ to clear a cheque?

How, when a bank’s computer system can display the value of a cheque in the recipient’s account within hours of it leaving the teller’s hands then instantaneously deduct that same amount from the account of the cheque distributor, can banks still claim those funds to be ‘Not Accessible’?

What, when banks now possess the technology to transfer any form of monetary figure to anywhere in the world within 24 hours, are banks doing with the value of your cheque for ‘three to five working days’?

Where, I think it would be interesting to discover, and moreover into what short-term investment accounts, does the value of all cheque-payments – because they assuredly do still exist – go for ‘three to five working days’?

Just like the way New Zealand Telcos endeavour to exploit those of us unwilling to embrace Email, Facebook, or Skype’s free messaging service by charging telephone users ridiculously exorbitant ‘International Roaming’ fees to use their services abroad, it is my belief that banks are endeavouring to capitalise on the terribly antiquated payment method that is the writing of a cheque.

If, for example, 100 New Zealanders, on any given day, write/deposit/pay using cheques (with an adult population of well over a million citizens, this is tantamount to around 1 in 10,000 Kiwi adults who still use cheques, so it is feasible), and on average, if each of those cheques is worth $1000 (cheque use is typically reserved for larger payments), that’s $100,000, theoretically, each day, that NZ banks are taking in cheque payments.

Alright. Let’s do this over a year, to keep it real. Approximate daily takings of $100,000 equals $36,500,000 that New Zealand Banking Institutions are hypothetically, theoretically, annually, taking from chequers; that’s 36 and a half million which, even for ‘three to five working days’ at a time, if one was clever (which bankers often are), could be earning someone a great deal of illicit income.

Given banks’ ability to electronically confirm the existence of funds’ availability within seconds, and given also the way that the corresponding numbers dis/appear from/in respective accounts within hours of the cheque being seen, in the 21^st century, there is no reason for banks to deliberate over cheques for any longer than any other payment method.

This prolonged chequing clearance has always been the way banks have worked and thus, I have always accepted it. In recent years, however, I have realised that it should no longer be the way. There is no reason, no excuse for it; something decidedly underhanded is occurring within financial institutions and it doesn’t appear to have ever been questioned.

In no other situation would it be acceptable for a third-party corporation to hold funds while in escrow for no valid reason; let alone for three to five working days.

Article by Tim Walker

Edited by Al Esset

Photography by Chan Sac Chun