Earlier quoted context omitted.
I work in a bank and cash handling is a major headache in terms of internal control, logistics, reconciliation and AML. It's a large extra cost. It is much cheaper for the bank and customers to use cards, but where I live the banks own a payment network that does not involve visa and mastercard so the cost is much lower and there is no rent seeking so card use have no fees. We also have an app for sending "cash" for…
The issue is, whilst I’m sure that cards are cheaper overall, they present a serious burden for people who can’t use them: unbanked people for various reasons, older people, children etc.
Unbanked people is more concerning, as unbanked people include political enemies of the state. The centralisation of power that digital payments allow is concerning.
The other thing which isn't mentioned in this comment chain is that a reason credit is cheaper is that your transaction data is harvested.