The Money Shop

I try and stay away from these places because no matter how you look at it, you are losing money.
I’ve been through the annoyance of being paid by cheque. Waiting for pay day is bad enough. It is even worse when the day arrives and your boss hands you a cheque, especially when your bank is running an eight working day clearing time.
The lure of taking your cheque to a Money Shop and having them clear it there and then is high. For cashing your cheque they take a small percentage of the total amount and also charge a small handling fee. It can be addictive. Yet losing almost 10% of every cheque you pay in will start adding up.
Other facilities are cash till payday. If you have a cheque book and guarantee card, you can cash your own cheques and they give you the money. They’ll hold your cheques for one month then start cashing them till you’ve paid the balance. As an example every cheque you write worth £50, they’ll give you £42 in cash.
If you are desperate or do not have a bank account these places are useful. Still, if you can avoid it, don’t pay someone for getting your hands on money that is rightfully yours.