Here’s a nice fresh cheque book, all ready for you to use. No need for a new account – it’s linked to your credit card. Watch out – there’s a catch about.

The vast majority of these cheque books are sent out unsolicited and a third of the people that make use of them do so without checking the charge there will be on them. Typically this is the normal interest rate for your particular card account plus two per cent.

If you’ve been tempted by the “blurb” that comes with the cheque book package, inviting you to swim in clear blue seas, with a deserted beach and palm trees in the background, or that flight to New York to shop ‘til you drop – right up to solving the second car problem – stop and think. You’d hardly use a credit card to pay for debts that are going to take an extended time to pay off – or would you?

Even if you were treating yourself to something that you can pay off in a few months, why use a piece of paper that costs two percent more in interest than the credit card you already have?

As you’ll have gathered, I’m not impressed very much with this expensive way of borrowing. It would be very much better to take out a straightforward loan if you need to borrow money.

So, what to do with these cheque books? Surely you have a paper re-cycling bin? Shred the cheques and bin them. If you find that you need to borrow money, there are far better and more sensible ways to go about it.