Another of the plethora of banking changes that go on behind the scenes. Amazing how we never get to hear of them till its too late or already passed. Heres another you should know about!
Cards which display a cheque guarantee hologram can be used to guarantee the payment of cheques up to the amount displayed on the card. From 30 June 2011 this facility will no longer exist. These changes reflect the Payment Council’s decision to make an industry-wide withdrawal of the cheque guarantee facility from 30 June 2011.
This means that you will no longer be able to use your card to guarantee payments for cheques written on or after 1 July 2011. Cheques written up to and including 30 June 2011 can be guaranteed but must be presented within 6 months of the date on the cheque. The last day a guaranteed cheque will be honoured is 3 January 2012.
Note that you will not automatically receive a new card when these changes are introduced. This means that your card could continue to display the cheque guarantee hologram but it will not be able to be used to guarantee cheques.
Another piece of banking regulation incorporated to ensure the continued use of cards and therefore the overall authoritarian control, regulation and recording of all transactions.