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German banks are hoarding so many euros they need more vaults

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Re: German banks are hoarding so many euros they need more vaults

#131

Post by virgilp »

detaro wrote: post #121
ur-whale wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and probably most places in Europe Incorrect. I tried to buy a new car in France with a credit card. That was an extremely awkward moment. I was kindly told that this was a very weird thing to ask.

Debit cards and credit cards are quite different things in most of Europe.

To be fair, in Romania I was refused too, ~5years ago. All cards have a percentage fee - when you spend tens of thousands on something, even a small percentage adds up. Thus the car dealers require a bank transfer, which is generally free of charge for both parties.

Re: German banks are hoarding so many euros they need more vaults

#132

Post by throwawaybbb »

TremendousJudge wrote: post #13
njarboe wrote: post #2

This problem has probably been exacerbated by the fact the the $500 euro note has not been issued since 27 April 2019[1]. I wonder if making storing euros in cash 2.5 times harder (500 versus 200 euro notes) was part of the reason the 500 euro was retired. [Edit] The legal storing of cash. The stated reason was the criminal use of cash. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/500_euro_note

According to that same article, the reason for retiring the note was because the people who benefited the most from its existence are criminals, who need to do their business in cash -- the fewer notes, the easier for them. That includes storage, I guess. Still, I'm personally not in the eurozone, but in general terms for the end user high-denomination notes are not very useful unless you're gonna store them under yo…

The same people who benefit from encryption if govts are to be believed. If cash keeps being as unwieldy as it has become, a $100 note today is worth about what a $10 note was worth in 1920, people will just stop using govt back cash and use gold or art instead. Monero looks like it's the first large scale crypto to get inflation and anonymity at least partly right.

Re: German banks are hoarding so many euros they need more vaults

#133

Post by redis_mlc »

espinchi wrote: post #63
MrRadar wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why couldn't you use a cashier's check?

That's not a thing in (most countries of) Europe any more. I was shocked when I came to the US and saw that checks are still in use

Check and cashier's check are different things.

A cashier's check is like a domestic SWIFT.

Re: German banks are hoarding so many euros they need more vaults

#134

Post by Daniel_sk »

zodiac wrote: post #123
ur-whale wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>We generally use bank transfers to buy cars. It's actually the only possible way to buy a new car. If you don't believe me, go try and buy a car with a credit card in the EU, see what happens.

Is it possible to buy with cash?

It's probably not possible in most of EU because there is a limit for cash transaction which is I think 15 000 Euro (not sure if EU wide, but definitely here in Slovakia), over that you need to do a bank-wire transfer. All new cars are paid this way - or you purchase it with a loan / lease and don't need to put down this amount of money at once. Most new car dealers don't even have a cash register and would not take such an amount of money from you in cash. This is due to prevent money-laundering.

Re: German banks are hoarding so many euros they need more vaults

#135

Post by redis_mlc »

nonconvergent wrote: post #122
blazespin wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Savers are bad for the economy at large though because they don't invest in high risk businesses, but rather in low risk assets (RE, bonds, etc) that do nothing for no one. They're like scrooge mcduck swimming in their pile of gold.

Don't banks require "savers" as their source of capital for lending?

In the 1940s and 1950s. Not now, at least for large US banks.

Re: German banks are hoarding so many euros they need more vaults

#136

Post by Daniel_sk »

MrRadar wrote: post #34
njarboe wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True. But it is nice to have large bills when buying something that costs a lot, like a used car. I recently did that in the US and if I had some $500 or $1000 bill things would have went a bit smoother at that nervous time in the transaction when you are handing over to a person a big chunk of money.

Why couldn't you use a cashier's check?

I have never seen a check in my life :-) (EU), they are not used or supported (maybe in some special cases, but 99% of people never used a check here). Larger sums are always paid with bank-wire transfer which is free and usually fast (instant or 24 hour), smaller payments are done with debit (or credit) cards, and then small payments can be done with cash.

Re: German banks are hoarding so many euros they need more vaults

#137

Post by raverbashing »

VBprogrammer wrote: post #36
njarboe wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True. But it is nice to have large bills when buying something that costs a lot, like a used car. I recently did that in the US and if I had some $500 or $1000 bill things would have went a bit smoother at that nervous time in the transaction when you are handing over to a person a big chunk of money.

You tend to run into the problem that forging large notes has a much greater return on investment. People get nervous about accepting them. In the UK this definitely kicks in around the £50 mark.

There's no denomination larger than £50 in England, right? Scotland and NI have £100 which probably adds to the confusion.

Re: German banks are hoarding so many euros they need more vaults

#138

Post by narag »

zodiac wrote: post #123
ur-whale wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>We generally use bank transfers to buy cars. It's actually the only possible way to buy a new car. If you don't believe me, go try and buy a car with a credit card in the EU, see what happens.

Is it possible to buy with cash?

Not sure about other countries, but in Spain you can't pay anything above three thousand euros (IIRC) in cash.

People downvoting others in disbelief should try to find a source by themselves before.

Re: German banks are hoarding so many euros they need more vaults

#139

Post by raverbashing »

redis_mlc wrote: post #133
espinchi wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not a thing in (most countries of) Europe any more. I was shocked when I came to the US and saw that checks are still in use

Check and cashier's check are different things. A cashier's check is like a domestic SWIFT.

Exactly why it is not needed, the banking system supports transfers between banks in SEPA for free or very cheaply.

Some people/business will still ask for a cashier's check though.

Re: German banks are hoarding so many euros they need more vaults

#140

Post by listsfrin »

marriedWpt wrote: post #16
H8crilA wrote: post #4

Negative interest rates are long time lethal to financial institutions such as banks and insurance companies. Hoarding printed paper is just a hilarious side effect, but the reality is that under negative rates the financial institutions are, at best, delaying their inevitable bankruptcy. https://moneyandmarkets.com/jeffrey-gundlach-negative-intere...

This makes sense to me, but I don't see democratic countries able to stop themselves before it's too late. What comes after? This exact problem is why I liked Bitcoin a few years ago. Although with the scaling issues, it seems less useful than I expected.

Democratic in what sense? I don't think any country asks their citizens what about their financial issues.
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