A cheque (or check in American English) is a document/instrument (usually a piece of paper)that orders a payment of money from a bank account.

The person writing the cheque, the drawer, usually has a current account (British and HK), or checking account (US), or chequing account (CAN) where their money was previously deposited. The drawer writes the various details including the money amount, date, and a payee on the cheque, and signs it, ordering their bank, known as the drawee, to pay that person or company the amount of money stated.

Cheques are a type of bill of exchange and were developed as a way to make payments without the need to carry large amounts of gold and silver. Paper money also evolved from bills of exchange, and are similar to cheques in that they were originally a written order to pay the given amount to whomever had it in their possession (the “bearer”).

Technically, a cheque is a negotiable instrument instructing a financial institution to pay a specific amount of a specific currency from a specified transactional account held in the drawer’s name with that institution. Both the drawer and payee may be natural persons or legal entities. Specifically, cheques are order instruments, and are not in general payable simply to the bearer (as bearer instruments are) but must be paid to the payee. In some countries, such as the US, the payee may endorse the cheque, allowing them to specify a third party to whom it should be paid.

Although cheques have been in use since at least the 9th century, it was during the 20th century that cheques became a highly popular non-cash method for making payments and the usage of cheques peaked. By the second half of the 20th century, as cheque processing became automated, billions of cheques were issued annually; these volumes peaked in or around the early 1990s. Since then cheque usage has fallen, being partly replaced by electronic payment systems. In some countries cheques have become a marginal payment system or have been phased out completely.


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The obvious advantage of using a Cheque cashing company is that you do not have to wait too long to get your cheque turned into cash.

My point is that with such high technology available to the financial institutions or banks, why do you have to wait so long? Surely it is a matter of a few clicks of a mouse and the cheque should clear. I would like someone who has the answer to post it on here as it’s a question or point that I’ve been making when trying to get cash fast.

Maybe it’s the banking system that holds things up. They are quick enough to withdraw the money from your account but the urgency turns on it’s head when it comes to the ‘Giving’ or crediting your account with the money that is right fully yours.

Any comments or enlightenment from any financial institutions or bank personal would be very welcome!

Money is tight… Therefore it’s even more important to get your cheque cashed a.s.a.p.! With banks charging more and more for there financial services, private companies are now offering a cheque cashing service that means you can benefit from the vale of the cheque almost immediately.


I do find it annoying when you have to ring up the bank to see if the funds have cleared only to find that your cheque is still stuck in the system. Surely in this day and age of electronic transfer the banks should catch up. Or is it that they’d prefer the funds in their hands rather than yours!