answer:Here in the UK, cheques are planning to be totally phased out by 2018, providing adequate alternatives are developed such that there is no situation which would necessitate paying by cheque. However, I do still receive chequebooks sent to me by my bank, although this is fairly infrequent (I maybe get sent one every year or two!). With bills, I think most people now either pay by telephone (either speaking to an operator or to an automated line) with a debit or credit card, or they pay online, as you mentioned. A number of people pay bills at the Post Office here too, although I perceive this as much less common for younger or middle-aged people. Personally, I’m not a fan of cheques. I dislike that someone can hold onto my cheque for a few months before banking it. Although this isn’t likely to happen with big companies, I really dislike the payee being able to control when my money leaves my account – I want to be able to control that timing as much as possible. Having said that, I also really dislike automated direct debit payments for bills, especially utility bills. Here, our utility providers tend to rely on estimated bills, which tend to be inaccurate in the providers’ favour, so I tend to like to check the bill and then pay online or by phone once I have verified the amount is right!