Oct 2013
4
Cheque no more
The National Payment Plan (NPP), announced by Finance Minister Noonan in April, aims to reduce cheque usage in Ireland to EU levels by 2015, a reduction of nearly 66%.
Cheques would be classed as being one of the more expensive methods of payment, as each bank has their own individual processing charge for cheques, up to .30c each and then there is the compulsory Government Stamp Duty of .50c on each cheque also. So before the cheque is even written, it has cost the issuer upwards of .65c.
In the world of payroll, cheques are not very common, for cost reasons more than anything but also with the increase and popularity of electronic pay systems like online banking and credit transfer, writing cheques is more cumbersome and timely.
With changing consumer habits; the Single European Payment Area (SEPA) enforcement, credit transfer payment methods, and a government drive to cut costs by implementing the National Payment Plan, does this mean cheque books will soon be consigned to the history books??
To read more about the NPP, please check out; http://www.centralbank.ie/paycurr/paysys/documents/national%20payments%20plan%20-%20final%20version.pdf
