Death of chequebooks a blow to elderly as experts warn of consumer backlash

Ian Nelson, 91, is one of countless banking customers frustrated with the phasing out of cheque accounts. Photo / Supplied

At 91, Ian Nelson, for the first time in his life, feels redundant.

Thanks to banks ending cheques this month, one of the few things the retired church minister can still do to help around the house is being stripped from him.

Nelson got his first chequebook at the age of 22, when he started as a teacher at Cheviot District High School, Canterbury, in 1952.

Until a year ago, as he and wife Mary raised six children and he worked, first as a teacher and then as an Anglican vicar in six parishes including Waikouaiti and Green Island, followed by an enjoyable retirement, cheques were how he managed the finances.

Utilities, purchases, bills, repairs, charities — it was all paid and accounted for by cheque.

"There was no other way to do it," Nelson says.

A runner and a hiker, even in retirement, his legs have lost strength in recent years. A lot of time is now spent sitting. But at least he could still help by getting the bills paid.

Then, he heard that banks planned to curtail cheques by the end of June this year. It was a blow.

But he has tried to adapt.

"Last year, with the help of a grand-daughter, we got quite a few of the bills on to direct debit," he says.

Former Dunedin Anglican minister Ian Nelson, 91, feels 'absolutely gutted' by the imminent demise of bank cheques. Photo / Supplied

With cheques disappearing in less than a fortnight, internet banking a mystery to the nonagenarian couple and neither of them now driving, Nelson feels at a loss to know how they will be able to continue to support some of their chosen charities and how they will pay for expenses such as tradespeople's repairs.

But perhaps the biggest impact is the sense, not just of helplessness but uselessness.