2024-03-27 15:34:06
Today, CB is king. We also pay with our smartphone, and soon with the palm of his hand. But if it seems outdated, obsolete, impractical, cumbersome and suffering from a bad reputation, the bank check is not dead. At least not yet. Like Édouard Balladur discovering the Paris metro, we were stunned to learn that there were many more users of bank checks than we imagined.
A reader’s response to our call for witnesses was a preconceived notion of “idiot city dwellers”. This is not very nice, especially since we are still somewhat right: “In the first half of 2023, we fell below 3% of the number of transactions among cashless payments”, confirms to 20 Minutes Clément Bourgeois, specialist in cashless payment methods at the Banque de France. Anyway, 20 Minutes tried to unravel the mystery of these people who still pay for things by check.
“Time is suspended”
So many of you responded to this call for testimonies to tell us that this little piece of paper always had a place in your wallet, between your bank card and the kids’ photo, not far from the iPhone with Apple pay. To pay for your groceries, like Andréa. Pay the doctor, like Marie-Thérèse, or the vet, like Camille. Post a deposit, like Francine. Pay your craftsmen, like Nicole. Or even ruin the little ones’ Christmas, like Camélia.
So many things you can do with a CB, you might say. Certainly, but if they draw the checkbook, it’s because they have a good reason. “I use checks as a priority for large amounts and as a relay from my credit card when I have reached the ceiling,” explains Nathalie. For Julien and many others, the check has the advantage of not being debited immediately: “I take advantage of the cashing time to transfer an unforeseen expense to next month,” he admits. “Time is suspended with this payment which will only be debited in a few days, a week, a few months… or sometimes never! », hopes Frédéric. And he is not wrong, because if your checkbook does not have an expiration date, the beneficiary has “one year to cash it,” insists Clément Bourgeois. Afterwards, he will have his eyes left to cry.
When the CB is “non grata”
What also often comes up as an argument among checkbook scratchers are the liberal professions, associations, educational establishments and craftsmen, little or not equipped with TPE (payment terminals, card machines, what have you): doctor, nurse, assistant at home, plumber… Not forgetting merchants preferring checks or cash payments to avoid fees. “This is not the case with a check, no fees being applied to either the issuer or the beneficiary,” specifies the specialist from the Banque de France.
Without forgetting the recurring “connection problem” in white areas, preventing the operation of a payment terminal. And what about “minimum credit card amounts” or “contactless” which works half the time? However, our specialist recognizes that “nothing obliges a merchant to accept a check, provided that it is clearly indicated”.
For fear of pirates
In addition to the constraint or practical side, some readers highlight security. Gilles and Juliette, for example, have never left their checkbooks since they were victims of attempted bank card fraud. At 76, Michel is “scared of using the card via the Internet” to pay for his “mail order” purchases. So he sends checks. Even if it means having her bag stolen, Liliane prefers to leave a checkbook there, which is less easy to use than a bank card, according to her.
Serious error. Although it must be admitted that the bank card is not the ultimate secure means of payment, “it is the check which has the highest fraud rate”, recalls Clément Bourgeois. Lost, stolen or bounced checks…
Will the check disappear?
“I use checkbooks because I’m the one who makes them and I don’t want to end up unemployed,” concludes Raphaël. Except that its involvement will probably not be enough: the fall in check transactions is a “long-term trend”, analyzes the specialist from the Banque de France.
However, his death warrant has not yet been signed. Regulations still require banks to offer you this means of payment. Besides, where is my checkbook?
#solved #mystery #people #pay #checks