[maccam94]

Credit/debit cards and checks are totally different systems. Cards can be checked for available funds instantly. Checks need to be cleared through the ACH system (in the US at least), which is an asynchronous process that might take more than a day to complete. If you cash a check from a different bank at your own, usually it will actually draw funds from your account and the check will be deposited after it clears.

[zabzonk]

It's been a long time since I had a cheque book, but way back then the cheque at the bank (not for electricity payments and such) trying to get money needed to be backed up with a bank's card, and the risk was on the card issuing bank.

[couchand]

I'm not familiar with UK banking but this sounds like something lost in translation. The checks the ancestors are speaking of are personal checks, basically just an IOU -- I'm guessing this is more like your "for electricity payments and such". The cashier's check mentioned above sounds to be more like your "cheque at the bank", where the instrument carries value itself, rather than being a draft on the writer's account.