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Wow, from a German perspective that sounds absurd. Bank transfers in the Euro zone are free (SEPA). Within Germany they've been free as long as I can remember.

• palunon 10y ago
  In France, both are free, and we use cheques a lot... For example, a lot of doctors don't want to deal with cash and don't accept credit card.
• aidenn0 10y ago
  With my bank it is free to have my bank mail a paper cheque to any name and address in the US, but costs $25 to do a domestic wire transfer.
  • craigvn 10y ago
    Coming from Australia this sound prehistoric. Nobody really uses cheques, all wire transfer.
    • vidarh 10y ago
      Even in the UK they're finally being aggressively phased out. When I moved here in 2000 was the first time I'd had a cheque book - in Norway where I'm from, I believe my parents last used cheques in the 80's. Like Germany, Norway have/had giros in widespread use, though. The UK technically had a giro system, but actual giros are rarely used here. The big difference between a giro and a cheque is that with a giro it is the payer rather than the payee that instigates the transaction - either directly to the recipients bank account, or by effectively registering an approval with the bank and sending something similar to a cheque to the recipient (but with the difference that the sender has first directly confirmed the transaction to the bank). So to me cheques have always seemed backwards from the logical flow.
      • Symbiote 10y ago
        Giros were very common in the UK, you probably have the forms if you have paper bills for anything. But people mostly moved to direct debit for those kinds of bills.
      • smcl 10y ago
        "Giro" is Scottish slang for unemployment benefits - majority of the population likely won't have thought it's used for anything else