For full details go to www.nochex.co.uk. Nochex only works for those with debit cards associated with UK bank accounts, it does not use credit cards. You need to set up your account which requires verification of your email address and to confirm the amount of a random (free!) payment from Nochex of up to a pound into your bank account. You can then credit this account directly from your bank account. This costs £1, whatever the amount. You can then send payment to me or anyone else for free. I then pay £1 or 1% whatever is the larger whenever I transfer the balance to my cheque account.
So...if you use Nochex regularly, it will cost you nothing. If you open up an account just to pay this, you will have to wait 2-3 working days to find out the random payment and then you will have to credit the account costing you £1 extra. Similarly, if I only get one payment via Nochex in say a year, I will have to pay £1. The total charge is therefore £2.00, ie 20%.
You can see that sending a cheque is cheaper!