Check (or cheques) have long been a standard way for moving money from one bank account to another. They’re essentially little more than a codified document that puts the necessary information in a standard format to ease processing by all parties involved in a given transaction.
The check was once a routine, if tedious, way for the average person to pay for things like bills, rent, or even groceries. As their relevance continues to wane in the face of newer technology, though, the Australian government is making a plan to phase them out for good.
Put Some Respect On My Check
The pending demise of the checks was first floated in June 2023, with the release of the government’s Strategic Plan for Australia’s Payments System. With the rise of credit and debit cards, digital payments via smartphones, and Osko instant bank transfers, checks had diminished to a lower level of importance than ever.
Government statistics indicated that checks were used for less than 0.1% of retail payments within Australia. In 2004, over 10,000,000 personal checks were used every month. Fast forward to 2024, and that number had dwindled to somewhere below 300,000. As volumes have fallen, the price of processing individual checks has effectively increased. In an era where digital payments happen instantly for near-zero cost, a check can take 3 to 7 days to clear, with government statistics stating processing costs for a single check now exceed $5.
Ultimately, the check is now seen as a slow and unwieldy way to make payments, and one no longer worthy of being maintained into the future. Companies have even been questioned openly in the media for the rationale of still using checks to issue refunds in this day and age. The rationale is that winding down the check system for good will lead users to prioritize cheaper, faster methods of transferring money. The aim is to reduce transaction costs, improve productivity in the financial system, and just generally grease the wheels of commerce across the country.
The current transition plan has two major milestones. By 30 June 2028, Australian banks will cease issuing personal, commercial, government, and bank checks. Any check written after this date will not be accepted and effectively deemed invalid, with no payment made. By 30 September 2029, financial institutions will cease accepting personal, commercial, government and bank cheques entirely. Any remaining checks, whenever created, will effectively be void.
These dates were chosen specifically because personal, commercial, and government checks go “stale” 15 months after they are first drawn. Thus, checks of these types that are written on the very last valid day will still be able to be cashed in the usual period of validity before the system is shut down for good. The intention is that there will be no checks that would otherwise still be valid to cash past 30 September 2029 had the system not been closed. Bank checks do not technically go “stale,” so there is still an open question as to whether there will be a need to honor unpresented bank checks after this date.
There are still a few years left until the big shut down. This gives the government and financial institutions time to ensure they have alternative payment methods in place for the handful of remaining check use cases. There are some concerns that various banks may attempt to leave the checking system prior to the government shut down date, burdening other financial institutions with the costs of keeping the system afloat until the end. The government has stated its expectations that banks will work together to ensure a smooth transition.
To that end, there are exit conditions expected to be adhered to for banks that are shutting down checking. Tier 1 banks are expected to maintain operations until the end date to support smaller institutions that rely on them for check clearing services. Additionally, banks which cease checking operations must still remain members of the Australian Paper Clearing System and fund the system. Banks will also need to provide 6 month warnings to customers ahead of any decision to shut down their checking operations.
While the domestic Australian checking system will shut down, this will not impact foreign checks coming into the country. Since these checks are processed outside the existing Australian checking system, this will not be an issue—financial institutions that process foreign checks will continue to do so.
Here in Brazil a report from our bank federation in January 2025 said that check usage is down 95.87% since 1995, and 18.4% in comparison to 2023, accounting for 0.5% of the financial operations in the country. However, even with the usage falling checks still moved little over 500 billion BRL, there’s still a lot of people here that doesn’t trust electronic payments, as well the culture of check in some places is simply too strong.
Here in the USA a lot of other payment methods create processing fees that someone must pay. If I want to send money to a family member and ensure they receive every dollar a check is a great method. Rental companies often charge a fee to use credit/debit since the bank does but checks are free
I’ve never seen a processing fee on debit (other than online “convenience fees,” ugh) transactions. My understanding is the typical 3% or 5% charge is because credit car payment processors are themselves allowed to charge these exhorbitant processing fees on the vendors, so they pass it along to the consumer (sometimes, or sometimes it’s included in the cost of business, so everybody effectively pays it whether they use credit or not).
This would go away if processing fees were regulated, which would on balance improve near everybody’s financial situation (except the credit payment processors), but this would also get rid of most credit card perks. Despite being better on balance, this has bad optics, which has made it very easy for lobbyists to block reform.
There are instant transfers in EU. Some opt to use them. E.g. a lot of online shops. So the payment processors bully shops into making all the checkout methods cost “0” or else. This should be illegal, for for now isn’t.
You can’t send them a simple account to account transfer? Thats a nobrainer here in europe, we dont pay for that at all. I never even seen a cheque in my life.
have you looked at your bank fees, those checks are most certainly not free.
Paper trail & proof of intent
A signed check is a tangible, dated record of payment. Unlike a wire or card transaction, it carries the payer’s signature and details in a way that can be legally useful in disputes.
It’s harder to deny intent when you wrote, signed, and handed over a check.
Control over timing
Writing a check lets you decide when funds leave your account — it won’t clear until deposited. With digital transfers, the money is usually gone instantly. That delay can be useful for managing cash flow.
No transaction fees (for the payer)
ACH, credit card, or wire transfers can involve fees. Checks usually don’t cost extra beyond the cost of the checkbook.
Universally understood & low tech
Not everyone has or wants online banking, especially some small businesses, landlords, or older individuals. A check requires no apps, no accounts, no smartphone — just a pen.
Security in certain cases
While check fraud exists, giving a check can be safer than carrying large amounts of cash. Unlike giving someone your bank account password, a check can be stopped with a stop payment order.
Formality & professionalism
For donations, weddings, settlements, or certain official payments, a physical check can feel more formal than “Venmo-ing” money. It often comes with a memo line for clarity.
Easier to attach conditions
Memo lines, post-dating, or “void after 90 days” can structure a payment in ways most digital platforms don’t allow.
And of course “float”.
I hate receiving checks. Instead of having money immediately in hand, now I have either go somewhere or mail it away to convert it into real dollars.
Universally understood – no, not by anyone younger than 35.
A check requires no accounts, just a pen – listen to yourself. It obviously requires a bank account.
From the receivers perspective (check cashing stores for example), not the payee. Plus even with, things like a smartphone, or the internet weren’t required for either side (some parts of the world are like this).
Funny that there are countries that still rely on checks. I’ve been living on this earth for more than 40 years and I can count the number of checks I had to deal with on one finger. Money is transferred from account to account across all banks in this country using the bank number and account number or, since 2016, the IBAN, which is both number concatenated with a checksum.
Over 1.4 billion unbanked so it’s a real problem.
https://www.riverty.com/en/business/insights/fintech-2040/banking-the-unbanked-will-be-the-default/
https://coinlaw.io/unbanked-population-statistics/
I’m a supporter of digital bank transfers for lots of cases, but I can think of a number of situations where a check is really the only viable solution.
1. Class action lawsuits (I’ve gotten a few bucks from these over the years). How are they going to know my banking information?
2. Refunds from companies where you’ve paid in cash, or your credit card is no longer valid, or you’ve removed it from them.
3. Lost property refunds. I’ve had a couple of these where I was due a refund, but the company didn’t work hard to find me, so they just reported the funds as lost to the state. How will the state refund me?
4. Also, how do I send (surprise) gifts to people? Do I know my nephew’s Cash app address? More likely he doesn’t have one.
5. The “unbanked” is a huge population as well, that will also be affected here.
These are just the ones off the top of my head, I’m sure there are more.
I’m 40 years old and I have never seen a check in real life. I only know that they exist from movies and TV shows. It’s such a weird concept to me. You give it, but the person might not cash it in right away. Then months later, the person caches it in and you might not have enough in your account at the time. Or you drop it, loose it, it get’s wet, and you don’t have the money anymore. It makes no sense to me to use it.
I got a debit card when I was maybe 8 years old, but wasn’t allowed to use it yet. I now have a credit card I almost never use (only used it once for an online store that didn’t have other payment options). I don’t like that you can go into debt using that card. The reason I even have a credit card is for when I travel as a backup. Only had the card for 5 years now. Been on several holidays before I had a credit card, visited several continents, bought a house, cars, etc.
I either use cash, debit card, wire transfer, online payment system through debit card or silver/gold to pay for things. I think those are enough options.
Every place is different I guess. Last I checked about 30% of my country has a credit card and even less use it and according to the news, the amount of people that have and use a credit card is declining.
you know grandma sent me a check for my birthday. when i got to the bank i was swarmed by no fewer than six bankers who wanted to see what it looked like to cash a paper check. they looked at me like some kind of luddite (your computers are still running cobol ffs) because i dont like becoming dependent on voodoo machines. take the check!