Cheques to die within five years following 66 per cent drop in use Cheque use plummeted by 66 per cent in the 10 years to December. THE cheque has one foot in the grave with predictions it could be killed off within just five years. It has raised fears the move could result in a repeat of the massive backlash that resulted in the UK and saw the decision to ban cheques overturned. The Australian Payments and Clearing Association's Milestones Report released today showed cheque use plummeted by 66 per cent in the 10 years to December. The report stated it was only a matter of time before the downhill shift saw cheques wiped out completely. "Based on the current rate of decline and assuming no plateau in cheque use, it could be predicted that cheques will no longer be used in Australia in 2018," the report stated. But a similar move in the UK to ban cheques by October 2018 provided disastrous and strategic business relations company RFi's director, Alan Shields said it resulted in a complete backflip. "You have to look at what happened in the UK, the UK Payments Council said they were getting rid of cheques but there was such a backlash they had to do a 180," he said. They wouldn't want to go down the same road as the UK. The UK Payments Council postponed its decision in 2011 to ban cheques following significant outrage and announced, "cheques will continue for as long as customers need them." Mr Shields said the death of the cheque would be inevitable if businesses started to turn away cheques. "It's going to be contingent on people accepting cheques, if they stop accepting cheques then that's going to be the biggest nail in the coffin," he said. The people that use them are a minority but it's not going to be an easy drug to kick. APCA's report found between December 2011 and December 2012 the total number of cheques written fell by 12.5 per cent from 256 million to 224 million per year. APCA chief executive Chris Hamilton said the dramatic shift away from cheque use forced its future to be seriously questioned. "There's a lot of nostalgia, there's lot of history associated with cheques . . . but they really are quite expensive as a payment medium," he said. As people find good electronic alternatives and as they live more of their lives online and electronically then the cheque is just less useful. This is a product that's gradually phasing itself out, our biggest concern in all of that is there are still some people including older Australians or for historical reasons those people that are still very attached to their cheques. The report said cheques volumes had fallen across the world with data compiled from 19 developed countries including Australia and found volumes fell from 34 billion in 2010 to 31.6 billion in 2011.