I recently received my Google AdSense cheque in the mail which is always a great treat. I obviously wanted to cash it in as soon as possible so I headed to the local Standard Bank at Somerset West Mall. After waiting in line for a bit I got to the clerk and filled out a deposit slip as I usually do. He looked at the bank drafted cheque sent from Google and stated that they would no longer be accepting these in the future.
This was quite a surprise as Google is quite a reputable company and I can’t see them defaulting on their cheques. I asked him why but he couldn’t give me an answer, he said the new policy will come into action on the 20th July 2013 and I must find out if they can pay out using a different method.
This is a serious issue because Google AdSense can only payout to South Africans via cheque, there are no other payment options listed in the management section. I’ve opened a support thread with Google asking if there are any other payment options available and given the reasons why, lets see what happens there. However, I can’t see Google changing their payment options just because of Standard Banks new policy.
I’m not sure if the other banks are taking on this new policy, if not I will most likely have to change to ABSA or First National. Regardless it’s going to be very inconvenient to get sorted out. If anyone knows why they are changing their policy just drop a comment below.
