France - Why So Many Cheques?

To understand this, it’s important to appreciate the historical cultural factors at work here, as well as the various costs involved.
Traditionally, people would pay be cash, and when they had to pay say a council tax bill, they would go to the Trésor Public and pay it in cash; this is within living memory, and a lot of older folk are mistrustful of banks etc. Also, many people in rural areas have simply never had a bank account.
People prefer to write cheques, as they feel they can control what they pay and when — variable direct debits only came in in France fairly recently, and of course, fixed-amount standing orders are no use for things that vary.
People are VERY mistrustful of giving out details of their bank account, or (heaven forbid!) authorizing companies to take money out of their own accord.
Then on the bank side of things, setting up a beneficiary for making ‘virements’ can be quite an irritatingly longwinded procedure, and varies from bank to bank.
As for using bank cards, many smaller businesses find that the cost of having a card machine cannot be justified by their tunover — again, it varies widely between banks and which scheme you choose. Plus in general, traders object to having a ‘commission’ creamed of every transaction — even though it is really only a very tiny percentage!
Thankfully, this is now changing — I’m expecting any day now beggars in the street to be using wireless card machines: "That’ll do nicely!"
However, I will fight tooth and nail to keep cash going; I don’t at all like the idea of there being a computer trace of everything I do and everywhere I go!

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Crikey - do people still use CB at a péage - get a télépéage badge! I use Temps Libre from Vinci Autoroutes - easy peasy and no queues!

Hardly likely as the cash transaction limit in France is now down to 1.000€ max…

Same here at petrol stations it takes people twice as long to pay with their cards as it did when they could pay by cash or cheque at the kiosk, do not think the people in my area have much confidence in modern technology, much so that the town’s Intermarche has just re-opened the kiosk after closing it, because custom dropped by 30% with people driving 5km to the petrol station at Carrefour which kept it’s Kiosk.

We pay both our doctor and dentist by card.

Simon …

We used a télépéage badge before we moved over…when we were making sufficient trips using that system to make it worthwhile…

Nowadays it is not financially viable for us…:wink:

That’s a shame Stella - mine only costs 2€ per month if I use it during the month in question.

We only use ours a couple of times a year, €2 for the months it is used (+tolls of course) nothing if not used. So satisfying not even having to stop sometimes, I know it’s sad, but it makes me smile😆

Fair enough Simon… you obviously know where you are going… :wink: and looking at their site, the rules have changed…

But, we rarely use péage nowadays… as there is nearly always a delightful bar/restaurant to be discovered by taking what my Dad would call “the pretty route”:relaxed:

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Completely understand Stella! I mainly use the autoroutes to pop us to Toulouse about 60 mins away - just to ‘escape’ the valleys and breathe for a while - my city fix!

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Simon…

My OH has been looking into télépéage now… as a result of your info… I think we shall be getting one (plus extra holders) as it will certainly make things easier at Carparks…which we use regularly… and then we can zip along the péages if and when…:smile:

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The peage gizmo has been fantastic for us, so much faster.

I do prefer using a debit card/bank transfer - I cant stand using cheques - they should be scrapped!

Yep - good point Stella - I use mine for Vinci car parks and the mountain pass tunnels near us.

Yep ! The hairdressers husband drove a long way out of his way to present me with the cheque that I had not signed …

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What’s a cheque?

So I take it just passing your phone over a pad won’t be in for a while then here!! :wink:

Two very different things. Just because cheques remain popular (as they do in the U.K.) it does not mean that other technologies are not advanced. Or was it a joke?

In fact there is an item on Channel 2’s 20 Heures at this very moment talking about the latest mobile based payment methods.

Yes, you’ll have to get used to my style of humour which I make no apologies for. Having lived in Dubai for the last nine years which is only 40+ years old (as an independent country), most things (not all but most) are extremely efficient, innovative, ‘modern’ and - fast, and of course, in English - but that’s a whole other topic. I have to say I was quite ‘surprised’ at how many people I have seen writing cheques out for groceries since having shopped here which is only a matter of weeks.

Yes you do get the full range here - a traditionalist writing out a cheque and exchanging pleasantries at one checkout, and someone else paying by swipe at the automated self-checkout just a few metres away. And the nice thing is that in general other people don’t judge, they respect the fact that another person’s ways may be different from theirs but are just as valid