Cheque books are expected to go the way of the moa and will be extinct within a few short years.
Following years of declining usage and relatively higher costs to process cheques, earlier this year KiwiBank announced they would stop providing cheque books to customers from this month and from early next year would be going cheque free - not accepting cheque deposits or issuing bank cheques. Inland Revenue have also announced they will no longer be accepting cheque payments from early 2020 - ‘the cheque is in the mail’ will no longer be an acceptable response to late tax payments!
If you are not already, we recommend you prepare for a future without cheque books - shift as many regular payments on to direct debit arrangements as possible and set up internet banking with your bank for any other one-off payments needed.
If you are a regular cheque book user, talk to your bank now about other payment options as cheque books will soon be consigned to history. If you are a business owner who receives payments by cheque, start educating your customers now about alternative payment options.