It's the biggest night in the British music industry calendar, renowned for drunkenness, bad language, feuds and bad behaviour. But last night the 30th Brit Awards ceremony was a noticeably more well-behaved affair.

People say low-cost travel is easy, but travellers need stamina and guile to negotiate Ryanair's maze of charges.

Santander has become the first international bank to provide free access to ATMs for Britons travelling abroad. From Monday, Santander's UK customers will enjoy all 4,300 of its ATMs in Spain without being charged for cash withdrawals.

So farewell the cheque book. Now that plastic is king, cheques are to be consign-ed to the history books after 350 years. Yesterday the Payments Council announced they will be phased out by 2018. Will today's teens – who rely on debit cards or bank online – ever understand the romance the cheque book once embodied? My generation spent years in front of the mirror practising our best grown-up signatures. It didn't matter that you didn't actually have any money. It was a rite of passage, like experimenting with Charlie perfume or herbal cigarettes.

Ryanair will charge passengers to book flights using a popular debit card from next year, ending one way of avoiding the fee for using a credit card.

There has been a distinct lack of activity from credit card providers launching new rewards or cashback-related plastic this year. With tough economic conditions and unemployment biting hard, it's not surprising that lenders are placing more emphasis on monitoring their existing book and managing increasing numbers of customer defaults.

New figures released last week from Financial Fraud Action UK revealed that credit and debit card fraud fell by 23 per cent in the first six months of the year. However, losses still totalled £233m and with thousands of people having had their emails hacked into last week, threats remain.

Q. I want to thank you for advising us to go to the Financial Ombudsman Service to complain about the rejection of our insurance claim (Questions of Cash, 14 February 2009). As a result, we are being paid £490 compensation. FR, Derbyshire.

The route

Get on your bike in Devon. The local tourist board has just launched an online cycling guide to the county featuring off-road tracks, leisurely afternoon rides, from Plymouth to Ilfracombe, and all points inbetween. Go to visitdevon.co.uk