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'No cash accepted' signs are bad news for unbanked Americans

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Re: 'No cash accepted' signs are bad news for unbanked Americans

#41

Post by bpc84 »

mindwok wrote: post #11

Card-based transactions becoming so pervasive has made me wonder if countries should start redirecting their efforts to building nationalised payment infrastructure that would allow citizens to transact electronically with zero fees, rather than their main function being managing and printing physical currency. Maybe some countries have done this already, but in Australia at least we're basically building our entire…

Brazil is leading on this agenda with Pix [1]; all the payment networks are losing market share.

[1] https://www.bcb.gov.br/en/financialstability/pixstatistics

Re: 'No cash accepted' signs are bad news for unbanked Americans

#42

Post by pizzalife »

sbeckeriv wrote: post #19

Why are businesses no longer accepting cash? What are the positives and negatives for businesses? What are the positives and negatives of accepting cash for businesses? Other then 6 million people across the united states cannot buy from your shop. I can guess at reasons for both but I do not run a business.

Why? Because handling cash is expensive. You need to make trips to the bank (takes time + risk) to deposit, or you pay some company to do it for you (cost).

Positives: You don't need to deal with any of that.

Negatives: You can't take business from people who only have cash, but depending on what you're selling that might not really matter.

Re: 'No cash accepted' signs are bad news for unbanked Americans

#43

Post by TravisCooper »

Terrible for personal freedom and autonomy.

We have to mandate that sellers of essential goods (grocery, fuel) must always accept cash.

Obvious that this will be used against "anti government forces" in the future... which will grow over time to encompass everyone. CBDC discussions already market their ability to limit what/when/how you can use your "money".

Killing cash is just step one. Watch this space.

Re: 'No cash accepted' signs are bad news for unbanked Americans

#44

Post by eek2121 »

thatoneguy wrote: post #35

Man, this is a nightmare. I spent my freshman year of college homeless because I had bad credit (thanks, former roommates!). I couldn't even get a checking account to get a debit card...the bank would only give me a cash in / cash out account.

There are MANY banks that don't check your credit or banking history these days.

Re: 'No cash accepted' signs are bad news for unbanked Americans

#45

Post by alephnerd »

mindwok wrote: post #11

Card-based transactions becoming so pervasive has made me wonder if countries should start redirecting their efforts to building nationalised payment infrastructure that would allow citizens to transact electronically with zero fees, rather than their main function being managing and printing physical currency. Maybe some countries have done this already, but in Australia at least we're basically building our entire…

> if countries should start redirecting their efforts to building nationalised payment infrastructure that would allow citizens to transact electronically with zero fees

Already done in China, India, and Brazil, but they also largely sidestepped the Credit Card revolution.

Re: 'No cash accepted' signs are bad news for unbanked Americans

#46

Post by HWR_14 »

Kirby64 wrote: post #22
blibble wrote: post #15

> A recent Bankrate survey shows basic monthly service fees range between $5 and $15. Beyond these steady fees, banks earn $4 to $5 each time people withdraw cash from an ATM or need services like getting cashier’s checks. Unexpected bills can result in overdraft fees of about $25 each time an account is overdrawn. are there no free bank accounts in the US? in the UK you can pay to be ripped off and have a "premium"…

There’s plenty of free bank accounts. Almost every bank offers them, too, or they’re free with stuff that the “average” person would do (ie, have 2 direct deposits per month). Overdrafts are another story, many bank accounts allow overdrafts and even do predatory things to increase the amount of overdraft fees. Bank of America got sued for this behavior.

The federal government just put a cap on overdraft fees. IIRC, it is $3.

Re: 'No cash accepted' signs are bad news for unbanked Americans

#47

Post by pengaru »

sbeckeriv wrote: post #19

Why are businesses no longer accepting cash? What are the positives and negatives for businesses? What are the positives and negatives of accepting cash for businesses? Other then 6 million people across the united states cannot buy from your shop. I can guess at reasons for both but I do not run a business.

It's more work and risk, plain and simple.

But that's what business is, work and risk... I'm surprised more American cities haven't outright banned the practice for businesses serving their public since it's so clearly a form of discrimination.

Re: 'No cash accepted' signs are bad news for unbanked Americans

#48

Post by HWR_14 »

wand3r wrote: post #16

I want to highlight an adjacent point: The Bank Secrecy act was established in 1970 and the $10k back then had the same buying power as $78k now. Its fucking bullshit that this law has not been repealed. With crazy inflation over the past few years $10k of cash is a fairly trivial sum. In SF, if you paid 2 months of rent in advance your landlord would have to go through extra acrutiny.

It doesn't go through "extra scrutiny" in any meaningful sense. It just gets reported to the IRS so people don't evade taxes.

Re: 'No cash accepted' signs are bad news for unbanked Americans

#49

Post by legitster »

The actual report in question is kind of fascinating:

https://www.fdic.gov/analysis/household-survey/2021execsum.p...

The thing they are not telling you in this article is that the "unbanked" rate has fallen nearly in half in the last decade - down to just 4.5%. Unbanked people still use prepaid cards, online payment portals, and money transfers at very high rates. And that the number one source of unbanked people getting a bank account is... getting a job.

I think the concern is a bit overstated. Most prepaid cards (including the cited Walmart card) have no fees or waive them entirely.

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