Key Cheque Facts and Figures

• There were just over 3.5 million cheques issued each day in 2009, compared to 11 million in the peak year for cheque volumes, 1990.
• In 2009 each adult made 1.1 cheque payments per month, compared with 2.9 per month in 1998.
• Those under 25 receive on average only two cheques a year whilst those over 65 receive four – the rest of us receive five cheques a year.
• Only 4 million adults still use guaranteed cheques on a regular basis, compared to 10 million in 2000.
• Only one in 30 regular payments are paid by cheque, compared with one in 12 as recently as in 2000.
• The average value of a personal cheque payment was £268 in 2009.
• The average value of a cheque (personal and business combined) was £994 in 2009. That’s 74 pounds less than in 2008.
• Only 2% of retail spending by value is still paid by cheque, compared with over 60% by debit or credit card.
• Business cheque use peaked in 1997 and has since then declined as businesses increasingly move to using automated payments for their trade suppliers. Over the last ten years business cheque volumes have decreased by 48%.
• Credit clearing volumes peaked in 1998 when 178 million bank giro credits were cleared. In 2009, 74 million were cleared, less than half the volume in 1998.
• 92% of the items going through the credit clearing are for bill payments.
• Euro clearing volumes peaked in 2003 when 729,000 euro cheques were cleared. By 2009 this volume and dropped to 351,000.