91–100 of 338 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Icelandic banks make 2FA mandatory, and your only 2FA choice is phone SMS. So now there is a ~1000kr/month fee for using the bank here, with a ~8000kr startup cost, because you need a phone and a sim card.
You don't have prepaid card and used phones on Iceland?
A) Direct bank to bank transfer
B) Cash
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I pay more often with cash today than some years ago, as a statement. Interestingly, if you talk about cash in Sweden the comments you will get tend to be very hostile. It's like talking about meat in a vegan community.
I pay cash too as much as I can, it freaked me out when my bank started classifying my expenses. That hostile talk you mention reminds me of when I talk about vehicular cycling, specially in northern european circles, where they are a lot into segregating cyclists. I think it is a similar paternalistic issue, hey this is good for you, resistance is futile!
Earlier quoted context omitted.
A bank account is a right for every EU citizen: https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/financial-pr... Banks are not allowed to refuse account opening to any resident.
Icelandic banks make 2FA mandatory, and your only 2FA choice is phone SMS. So now there is a ~1000kr/month fee for using the bank here, with a ~8000kr startup cost, because you need a phone and a sim card.
Though in Sweden the 2FA we tend to use is called BankId which is a standalone app only requiring an internet connection.
I recently moved back to Sweden after living 4 years in Germany. I don't have any cards, and I don't carry a "smart"phone anymore; in Germany this didn't cause any trouble at all and I was far from alone. Much of the current Swedish society is currently closed to me, I know of three shops and one cafe in the (200k people) city center that accept cash. Some of it has been gradual but it changed dramatically during the…
People couldn't pay for anything, couldn't buy train tickets (all digital). The outage was so big that the train companies had to let commuters go without tickets, so at least those people got to work.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've encountered one merchant in Denmark using iZettle. He has since replaced it with the regular PoS. I can only imagine that is more expensive for him, but I wonder why he abandoned iZettle? Maybe it doesn't work that well? I am honestly wondering why I don't see more usage of iZettle. It could just be a Danish thing. And yes, there is Swish/MobilePay, but that only really works if you're local. A tourist - even on…
At least here in Finland, I associate iZettle with artisans, coffee stands, small farmers and ad hoc store fronts. Cheap and cheerful. Not that I mind it as a customer, but could be an image thing.
Costs per transaction are higher but for really small scale the ease of use wins.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
So how do poor people function in a cashless society?
They have bank accounts and debit cards like everyone else? In Sweden everyone can get Visa and Mastercard debit cards so you can even do internet purchases everywhere with them. If you mean how they transfer money between each other, they just use smart phones and Swish. Beggars even ask for money that way.
This is unfortunately not true, because you need a personal number to have a bank account.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
A bank account is a right for every EU citizen: https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/financial-pr... Banks are not allowed to refuse account opening to any resident.
Well, I don't know if it's the difference between “resident” and “citizen”, but i was told “no” or “maybe in a few weeks” many times when trying to open a bank account in October/November last year in Germany. “Maybe in a few weeks” is as good as a refusal.
Between big commercial banks and savings banks, online banks (comdirect, ING, DKB, ...) and challengers like N26, I've never met anyone who had trouble opening a bank account. Americans didn't have access to some non-essential investment products thanks to FATCA, but that's it.
I recently moved back to Sweden after living 4 years in Germany. I don't have any cards, and I don't carry a "smart"phone anymore; in Germany this didn't cause any trouble at all and I was far from alone. Much of the current Swedish society is currently closed to me, I know of three shops and one cafe in the (200k people) city center that accept cash. Some of it has been gradual but it changed dramatically during the…
I'm across the border in Norway and when I moved here I was locked out of pretty much everything because I didn't have a bank account with a BankID (a proof of identity service provided by your bank and used for all government websites and many private businesses). Without that it gets incredibly difficult to do anything.
I recently moved back to Sweden after living 4 years in Germany. I don't have any cards, and I don't carry a "smart"phone anymore; in Germany this didn't cause any trouble at all and I was far from alone. Much of the current Swedish society is currently closed to me, I know of three shops and one cafe in the (200k people) city center that accept cash. Some of it has been gradual but it changed dramatically during the…
How do you navigate without Maps, Uber, etc.? Do your friends know you won't reply to texts?
Maybe I'll buy a separate flip phone and leave the smart phone and credit cards at home just in case.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
So how do poor people function in a cashless society?
Well, they get a bank account and a debit card connected to that account. It's usually free/very cheap in Sweden. As far as I understand it, the 'underbanked'-situation present in the U.S. for poor people is not present in Sweden.