Editing Cheque (section)

==== Decline in North America ====
The United States relied heavily on cheques, due to the convenience it affords payers, and due to the absence of a high volume system for low value electronic payments.<ref name="OECD1">{{cite book|editor=Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development|editor-link=Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development|title=The Future of Money|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ym_bqY3UZG0C&dq=billion+checks&pg=PA76|year=2002|isbn=978-92-64-19672-8|pages=76–79|location=Paris|publisher=OECD}}</ref> In the US, an estimated 18.3 billion cheques were paid in 2012, with a value of $25.9 trillion.<ref>{{cite web|title=2013 Federal Reserve Payments Study|url=https://www.frbservices.org/communications/payment_system_research.html|website=Federal Reserve Bank Services|accessdate=8 July 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150709101513/https://www.frbservices.org/communications/payment_system_research.html|archive-date=9 July 2015|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref> However even in the United States cheque usage has seen significant decline.

Canada's usage of cheques is less than that of the US and is declining rapidly at the urging of the Canadian Banking Association.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.cba.ca/b2b-mobile-payments |title=B2B and Mobile Payments: The Road Ahead &#124; B2B and Mobile Payments: The Road Ahead |access-date=17 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170118054145/http://www.cba.ca/b2b-mobile-payments |archive-date=18 January 2017 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref> The Government of Canada claims it is 6.5 times more expensive to mail a cheque than to make a direct deposit. The Canadian Payments Association reported that in 2012, cheque use in Canada accounted for only 40% of total financial transactions.<ref>{{cite web |title=Examining Canadian Payment Methods and Trends |date=October 2012 |url=http://www.cdnpay.ca/imis15/pdf/pdfs_publications/examining_canadian_payment_report_2012.pdf |publisher=Canadian Payment Association |access-date=24 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029193311/http://www.cdnpay.ca/imis15/pdf/pdfs_publications/examining_canadian_payment_report_2012.pdf |archive-date=29 October 2013 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref>