cheque book??

[ginger 69]

What use is a cheque book without a cheque gaurentee card? And why would a bank accept an application for a gold current account then issue you with a cheque book and cash card,not debit card? I am baffled!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Oneeyedvic]

Lots of point in a cheque book without guarantee card - paying bills by post as an example.

As to the second part, it is all down to credit risks and marketing - noone will sign up to an account that says "we are a bad credit risk" but people will sign up to a "gold account". If they will not issue you with a debit card, you could either try applying to a different bank for an account, or just live with it.

[spk]

Also if you stick with that account and dont go into unauthorised overdraft or anything it will help build up your credit rating, you could then apply for a proper switch account with them when they can see that you dont mess it up

[stevie21]

If you have a chequebook AND cheque guarantee card then you can force your balance to go overdrawn by issuing cheques that you don't have the money to cover (financial risk for the bank there).

If you have a debit card then it's also possible to make payments which you don't have the money to cover. Not all payments go through the "authorisation" process whereby the bank sees the payment and chooses whether or not to allow it after checking (amongst other things) your balance. Sometimes if it's a small amount then the shop can bypass this process, assume that you have the money and debit your balance a few days later. At this point when the purchase makes you overdrawn, this is the first the bank sees it.
That isn't too common but can still happen. For this, and other reasons, debit cards are more of a financial risk for the bank than cash cards, although I'm surprised that any bank would be prepared to issue a chequebook but not a Solo/Electron card.

[5029]

Not everywhere asks for a cheque guarantee card, i also agree with the answers about paying by post, paying your milkman by leaving the cheque out etc