MPs slam bank card loss
An organisation that sets payment methods in the UK should consider bringing back the cheque guarantee card just months after scrapping it, MPs have said.
The Payments Council, whose members include country’s biggest banks, abandoned the card in late June due to declining use, before it later reneged on plans to scrap cheques altogether.
Yesterday, the Treasury Select Committee said it wanted to strip the Payments Council of its power to cancel cheques and other payment methods in the future, as well as reconsider its move to ditch guarantee cards, which effectively assured that cheques would not bounce or be refused by banks.
The proposal to scrap cheques provoked outrage from small businesses, charities and pensioner lobby groups, who accused the banks of ignoring the needs of millions of vulnerable people.