The death of the cheque has long been predicted. Financial services companies hate them - nasty 19th century things. They are expensive to produce and to process, and they'd much rather we switched entirely to credit and debit cards and direct debits.

But us pesky consumers. We're not to easy to tempt away. We like them.

I personally wouldn't pay my freehold company in any other way - because they have a 100% record for messing up electronic transactions - taking hundreds of pounds by mistake and then refusing to credit it for months. You can't do that with cheques.

So have banks shrugged their shoulders and decided that consumers should be allowed to choose the method of payment that is right for them?

What do you think?

Internet banks started eating away at cheque book provision years ago, when they started offering better deposit rates for customers who agreed never to ask for one.

Now the high street giants are following in their footsteps, gradually whittling way the power of the cheque. HSBC recently announced it was cutting the amount customers could guarantee on cheques from £250 to £100.

Retailers are refusing to take them, which is hardly surprising given they are so expensive to process. Most people under the age of 20 consider them with the kind of suspicion usually reserved for gramophone players and Sinclair Spectrum computers.

Only 6% of non-cash transactions are now by cheque.

At 6% they start to seem seriously under threat. The Payments Council reckons it won't do away with them entirely until consumers are happy with the alternatives. But this is patent nonsense. There is a difference between understanding you can use a direct debit as an alternative, and actually wanting to.

I know it's only a matter of time before I am helpless to defend myself against my landlord.

Thanks banks.