Cheque guarantee card

A cheque guarantee card was essentially an abbreviated portable letter of credit granted by a bank to a qualified depositor in the form of a plastic card that was used in conjunction with a cheque. This allowed retailers to accept cheques and providing that the retailer wrote the card number on the back of the cheque, it was signed in the retailer's presence, and the retailer verified the signature on the cheque against the signature on the card, then the cheque could not be stopped and payment could not be refused by the bank. This arrangement worked only for cheques drawn on an account provided by the bank that issued the card and could result in an overdraft with penalty interest.