The joy of cheques: trust, paper and eighty somethings

  • Authors:
  • John Vines;Paul Dunphy;Mark Blythe;Stephen Lindsay;Andrew Monk;Patrick Olivier

  • Affiliations:
  • Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom;Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom;Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom;Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom;University of York, York, United Kingdom;Newcastle University, Newcastle, United Kingdom

  • Venue:
  • Proceedings of the ACM 2012 conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work
  • Year:
  • 2012

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Abstract

A cheque is a paper document that orders the transfer of money between bank accounts. Whilst an eighty-year-old in the UK is predicted on average to live at least another ten years, cheques may not. Despite many older peoples extensive use of cheques, UK banks are eager to abolish them and design electronic alternatives that are less costly to process and less vulnerable to fraud. This paper reports on two qualitative studies that explored the banking experiences of 23 people over eighty years old. Cheques support financial collaboration with others in ways that digital payment systems do not. We argue that whilst it might be possible to improve the design of digital payment systems to better support financial collaboration, the case for retaining and enhancing cheques is stronger. Rather than replace cheques, we must design ways of making them less costly to process and better linked to electronic payment methods.