Gransnet forums

Ask a gran

Going cashless

(82 Posts)
Ellpammar19 Wed 18-Sep-19 15:52:39

Like most folk I am using contactless more and more.
I read that ATM are closing down, and they we are heading for a cashless society.

What does this mean for the future? Will the banks have complete control of our money if we cannot draw cash out.
I am beginning to think I should use more cash again, to help prevent this from happening.


BlueBelle Wed 18-Sep-19 16:17:15

I don’t know about most folk I haven’t gone contactless I prefer money in my purse although I pay my groceries with my card
If it happens I ll adapt but for now while I have the choice I ll continue using money

Septimia Wed 18-Sep-19 16:22:01

Without cash it will be very difficult to teach children the value of money.

I do use my debit card a lot, but wouldn't be without cash as well.

Baggs Wed 18-Sep-19 16:51:07

Children (and many adults) will have to be taught how to look after their monetary resources in a different way, such as keeping a mental note (or a phone app assistant) of what money they have to spend when the usual expenses have been subtracted. Essentially, staying out of debt will require the same ideas as it requires now.

LondonGranny Wed 18-Sep-19 16:56:44

Staying out of debt is impossible if they go on to Further Education. Thousands & thousands of pounds. Unless their parents are very wealthy.

Riverwalk Wed 18-Sep-19 16:56:47

I'm practically cashless - just keep a few pound coins about me. There are some restaurants that don't take cash.

Doodledog Wed 18-Sep-19 17:09:28

In many ways, I don't mind being cashless - it's very convenient - but I am concerned about the civil liberties implications. If every transaction can be traced, it is yet another way that we can be spied on and controlled.

EllanVannin Wed 18-Sep-19 17:14:25

I go hairless if I'm down to a few bob in my purse. I have to have cash whether it's going out of fashion or not. I always kept a £20 note in case of some emergency or other---taxi.

Imagine if you had no cash in your purse ? You'd feel destitute, well I would, even though I have a debit card.

HildaW Wed 18-Sep-19 17:18:55

Recently I have been into smart independent shops nearby (Oxfordshire) where they have gone totally cashless - one is even a coffee shop so you have to use a card even for a cuppa!

It concerns me that if this becomes widespread our intimate buying details will be known by all. Sounds a bit paranoid I know (and I am not buying anything weird or illegal) but when others know too much about you it can become intimidating. For example if I Google a product and have a dash around the tinternet looking at say beds, or plant pots....its amazing how quickly those products magically appear in the advertising gaps on here.

Targeted advertising has a way of creeping into our lives and we find ourselves thinking...gosh what a coincidence I was looking for that....before you know it you a buying something that perhaps you might normally think twice about.

BlueBelle Wed 18-Sep-19 17:33:39

My question to my grandkids who have everything on their phones is what happens if you lose your phone or it crashes or you drop it and not a penny piece to get you home with I would feel totally paranoid if I had no cash on me

Tedber Wed 18-Sep-19 17:42:41

I hardly ever carry money these days. Been caught out at a few places that don’t work cards but just move elsewhere. I don’t like carrying cash about.

True the next generation won’t be able to deal with money but they price won’t need to

Tedber Wed 18-Sep-19 17:43:19

*probably not price

GillT57 Wed 18-Sep-19 17:48:04

I think a mix is the best way. Cashless is very convenient and it must be great for retailers to not have a lot of cash to worry about at the end of the day, it has also been suggested that it makes it more difficult for 'cash transactions' to disappear from the taxman, all well and good, but, I do like to have some cash on me, or at least tucked away in the house and we have all seen the calamities when one of the banks has an IT problem.

Baggs Wed 18-Sep-19 17:48:07

Good point, londongranny. You are right when the larger picture is looked at, but I was talking about people staying within the means available to them whether it is 'loaned' or not.

One can be a good manager of money and still, technically, be in debt. There's a difference between unavoidable debt such as a student loan or a mortgage and reckless debt.

Baggs Wed 18-Sep-19 17:49:17

I think the OP is about the danger of what I'm calling reckless debt rather than debt as a way of 'affording' a university education or a house.

GillT57 Wed 18-Sep-19 17:54:25

I do agree about being uncomfortable about my spending habits being trackable. I do not do anything that the vicar needs to be shielded from, but even so, it bothers me. I did advise my DD, when a student, to draw out her money for the week rather than just keep tapping her card for every purchase, it is all the little £2.50 here, £3.75 there.....that adds up over a week. One of the biggest problems is when we eat out, pay the bill, and then find that neither of us has cash to leave a tip, I prefer not to put it on a card, so now we make sure that we always have a bit of cash on us.

agnurse Wed 18-Sep-19 18:59:55

One of the benefits of going cashless is that it can potentially reduce crime rates. Seriously.

Most criminal transactions (e.g. drug deals, for example) involve cash because it can't be tracked. Limiting the amount of cash available makes this more difficult.

Now, I do recognize that some people will use cryptocurrencies to get the same effect. (For the record: I have never been involved in such transactions. I only know this because I am fond of watching crime dramas.) But I would tend to think one would be less likely to use a cryptocurrency to buy a few quid worth of cocaine or heroin.

nanaK54 Wed 18-Sep-19 19:13:48

I do use my cards, but just thinking about today - I have paid cash to my hairdresser, bought a few groceries, a good luck card and stamp with cash

MamaCaz Wed 18-Sep-19 19:18:17

I think a cashless society will put vulnerable people in an even more hopeless position.
Take, for example, an abused partner.
Chances are that the abuser will have access to/control over every penny that the abused partner earns, even if that person supposedly has a bank account of their own.
At least with cash, there is the possibility of them squirrelling some away into a secret 'emergency/escape' fund.
Take away cash, and you take away that possible escape route!

LondonGranny Wed 18-Sep-19 19:33:36

I am reliably informed by someone I know in the police that a lot of drugs (mainly by white middle-class people) are bought online with cryptocurrency. It was the same police officer (quite senior, a chief inspector) that convinced me, from completely the opposite position, that all drugs should be legalised to take it out of the hands of organised (and chaotic disorganised) crime. His feeling was that cannabis should be legal to grow at home and drugs such as crack & heroin should be administered in safe spaces by the NHS. He said most crime like burglary, street robbery & shoplifting is driven by the drugs trade.

I live in one of the most 10 deprived areas in the country (according to super-output data) and the poor rely on cash.

LondonGranny Wed 18-Sep-19 19:35:27

MamaCaz, you are a wise woman.

giulia Wed 18-Sep-19 19:36:20

Our new government here in Italy is talking of taxing the use of cash! I hope they don't succeed.

Grammaretto Wed 18-Sep-19 19:40:55

Perhaps there will be more local currencies in future. New credit unions and small banks which are not in the global markets.
Meanwhile I have had to sign up to on-line banking as our branch has closed including the ATM! I miss it.
We can still use the post office and yes I use cash but use a card too.
Cheques are tricky now without a local branch so that nice cheque in a birthday card isn't easy to pay in. I have to do a 30 mile round trip to the nearest branch.

Baggs Wed 18-Sep-19 20:11:58

Cheques can be posted to one's bank to be paid into one's account. There are no branches of my bank(s) anywhere near where I live so I've done this quite a lot. It (posting cheques to one's bank) is becoming less necessary since bank transfers became easy and obviate the need for cheques.

LondonGranny Wed 18-Sep-19 20:22:07

Baggs, my bank doesn't issue cheque books any more, neither does my husband's bank. Maybe you have to request them by letter now, dunno. What I do know, from when I worked for a small charity, is the vast majority of donations were by cheque.