End of cheques too soon for rural NZ

2021 is the year that cheques go the way of the dinosaurs but banks have failed to work with those people most likely to be affected by the change, says Massey University banking Professor David Tripe.

Older people without access to the internet and rural people who live in areas where there is either no access to the internet or where service is unreliable, were the most badly affected, he said.

‘‘The work hasn’t been done to prepare those portions of the community that are going to be significantly affected.

‘‘If you went to a retirement village and asked them, a good proportion [of residents] would have no idea what they are going to do about it,’’ he said.

Despite this, the change was sensible as the volume of cheques being written couldn’t support the cost of maintaining the processing services, he said.

Lobby group Rural Women New Zealand is pushing for banks to continue accepting cheques until all rural regions have access to reliable broadband services.

A recent survey showed its membership largely opposed the withdrawal of cheques because of heavy reliance on them to pay bills and run businesses.

Social issues portfolio convenor, Sharron Davie-Martin, said it was the biggest response the organisation had had to a survey, with more than 70 per cent of respondents voicing concern over the phasing out of cheques. About 400 people from its 1800 members participated, she said.

More than 42 per cent of respondents said they still wrote cheques, and 75 per cent of them said they posted them to make their payments.

The majority of people who live rurally also have rural businesses and would struggle when cheques were phased out as they didn’t have access to reliable technology to carry out their banking transactions, she said.

‘‘Cheques will get rid of themselves eventually, however, we want places to be able to accept cheques until technology is at a point where farming and rural communities can safely use the internet for their banking transactions,’’ Davie-Martin said.

About 800,000 people live in rural areas according to Stats NZ, the second largest population outside of Auckland.

‘‘The work hasn’t been done to prepare . . . [communities] that are going to be significantly affected.’’ Professor David Tripe