Pay in cheques by phone

BARCLAYS, Lloyds and Halifax customers who bank on their mobiles can now pay in cheques by snapping a photo with their phone’s camera.

All three banks now allow customers who use their mobile apps to pay money into their accounts this way.

Once a customer logs in to their mobile app they must look for the option in the app’s menu to ‘pay in cheques’.

Once they click on this heading they will be given instructions on how to use their phone to photograph the cheque they want to pay in.

Lloyds and Halifax quietly introduced this method for paying in cheques in October. Barclays customers must email mobile chequedepositpilot@barclays.com if they want to sign up for the full service.

The bank says it is still testing the technology but adds that 175,000 customers who have signed up have already used the app to pay in their cheques successfully.

HSBC and Santander are planning to introduce this option for customers paying in cheques in 2018.

By the summer all cheques should be cleared within one day. They have previously taken as long as six working days to clear because they have to be sent around the country.