Going cashless

At present I am guilty of mostly using card payments, but there are some times when I have to have cash, buses in our area only accept cash or unlike me a bus pass ( I do not qualify for this until I can get my pension which I have to wait until I am 66 1/2 I will be 65 in October but thats the new rules unfortunately.

I always pay my handyman and gardener in cash. They don't have the facilities to process a card.

I carry only a little cash and am fine with card and online payments. When it comes to U3a or our bridge club, rambling club, etc., they like a cheque. Small clubs like cash or cheques.

I very rarely use cash. Usually for raffle tickets at various clubs and meetings, otherwise it's cardsxall ge time.
I forgot the sequence of a new card's PIN ? but the till operator reminded me to use tap n go, so that spared the blushes ☺
It can be taxing to remember
1) Your card PIN
2) Online password and memorable word.
3) Telephone banking password and memorable info
4) Credit card PIN
5) Credit card pasddord and memorae word

Plus all the other security numbers, dates and memorable places plus usernames.
As I have several bank and savings and share dealing accounts, you can imagine that I have to be inventive to remember all of them as no two are the same.
Luckily, Halifax have voice recognition but occasionally ask for other details.
I can keep track of my spending, DDs standing orders, pending payments and refunds on the bank apps so I don't need spreadsheets.
Any one ff payments can be done via the apps too, saves faffing around with money and going out to a bank or ATM..and it's immediate with faster payments.

Annaram1
Ah...? but do they give you a receipt and do they pay tax? ??

I think it's been over a year since I last touched cash, but I haven't gone contactless yet, I prefer to swipe or insert my card and type my pin.

Oops! cardsxall ge cards all the
pasddord password
memorae memorable
ff off ?

There are times, when under pressure, I can't remember PINs and passwords. As soon as I sit quietly, I have no problem. I also use a password manager, it is secure, encrypted and simple to use. It is stored in the cloud and available on all my devices. I include notes reminding me of my security questions and how I formatted them. It's worth thinking about as we become increasingly dependent on PINs and passwords to protect our money, rather than a purse in a pocket or bag.

Bijou I am wondering how much you pay the widow cleaner, I bet he doesn't take card payments!

This is all fine until systems go down or someone hacks into your account.
Another threat is the demand that you a) have a mobile smartphone and b) share your number with every Tom, Dick and Harry. Never mind that people like me prefer to limit the number of people who know my mobile number. What about those who may not be capable of using all the functions of a phone, or who will be easily conned into giving away their security details to smooth talking con artists,. At least a PC or laptop is within your home so not as easily misused as a phone that is carried with you.

When the charities that I support on a monthly standing order basis request 'extra' donations, I always send a cheque. I'm reluctant to put my bank details on their form. I know sometimes giving these details is necessary, but I avoid it whenever possible.

I do both,I always like to have money in my purse, but if I spend over a fiver I use contactless. Wouldn't like to be completely cashless,what happens if you go out for meal with friends,where we split the bill. And I have a couple of friends who use cash because they know they can't overspend.

I always have cash in my purse but yesterday I went out without it but didn't realise until I wanted to pay for something that cost 89p. Thinking that they wouldn't take my card, they did!

I often do a "bucket" charity collection in the town/ supermarket. We make quite a lot for the local hospice and I worry that charities might suffer if people have no loose change

The local Council, at Bournemouth, are getting rid of cash payments for car parking machines. With the age of the population in this area, cash is used by most and this brilliant Council still insists on making everything carded or using a mobile app. I am not technically very good, so the simplicity of cash suits me to the ground. A majority of the locals would rather pay cash for parking. I don't even know my PIN number for my debit card, which remains in my draw, at home, so never use ATMs. I should be able to avoid ATM scammers in this way.

I used to suggest to DD that to help with budgeting she should decide on a reasonable amount and take it out in cash to spend during the week. This wasn't a great idea as she is by nature a great fan of contactless payment.

Things are much better now though as she has an account with a bank called Monzo, which I gather is getting very popular; each time she uses her phone to pay, she sees her latest payments on her screen together with how much money she has left. They also allow sub-accounts to put e.g. particular savings in. It looked very good to me, but my phone is Windows based, so probably not suitable - I'll definitely consider it in the future, though.

I dislike the thought of a cashless society, but that may just be because we always have had money.

I do have a visa card, but have as yet resisted all attempts to persuade me to use pay pal or the like.

I too am concerned about the fact that if we are to have a cash-less society then presumably unless bank security is better than at present, hackers will readily be able to misuse our electronic payment systems.

I also feel, like a lot of you, the Big Brother really will be watching every transaction we make, or will at least be able to.

Like many other women. I have always put a little money aside from my monthly household withdrawal of cash for Christmas, birthdays and the like. It will be difficult to adjust to not being able to do that any more.

I believe Sweden is now a cash-less society, they made the change to stop people moon-lighting and thus defrauding the inland revenue. I haven't heard whether it has solved the problem. I imagine those who do not want to declare income have found some way of making a payment seem legit. and not earnings for a job someone has done.

One can 'bank' cheques without going on a 30 mile trip.
You can scan them on a banking app or bank website.

I find PayPal invaluable in lots of cases.
If you use their 'delayed payment' method, it means you havev14 dats to decide whether to keep or return.
If you choose to return, for any reason, no money is deducted from your bank account and the refund goes straight to PayPal.
There is also a credit facility (at their discretion) which enables you to enjoy a 4 month delay in payment at 0% for items over £99.
You can pay it all or stagger it or pay the minimum or pay nothing for 4 months then pay it in 1 go.
Last week, H&M offered their members 30 days before paying for goods which you can choose at checkout online or in store.

I am nearly 80 have banked on line for 25 years, no problem, absolutely refuse to pay cash in hand, my window cleaner, gardener and cleaner not happy about it I have to pay tax I can’t be sure they do

I like both. Cashless is convenient but market stalls do not have the facilities to go contactless. All those endless passwords, fingerprints etc are fine except if they go wrong or cards etc are lost, mislaid or stolen.

What if banking goes down?

All my small change goes to support prem babies every Saturday when I collect my weekly paper. So many charities would suffer if contactless became the only way. Apparently in China there is a real problem for poor people as they don’t have bank accounts.

I’m also concerned about Big Brother, it’s already far too easy to gain access to others personal information and this is just another way of doing it.

grannybuy
I think it's insufferably rude to ask for an extra donation of someone who already donates by standing order.

I have a cheque book. Had to ask for it, but it suits us to send cheque rather than cash which has often unfortunately gone missing.
Royal Bank of Scotland.

It used to be quite pricey to run a system that accepts payment by card. A monthly rental of the machine and a percentage charge of the amount spent. Now there is a new system that allows the user to buy the machine for about £30 and charges about 1.5%. It is portable.
If I wasn’t retiring soon I would invest in one. As it is, I accept cards, cheques and bank transfer. Transfer is the cheapest option. I have to pay to bank cheques and cash.

I wouldn’t like a cashless society. It will marginalise some people. Between smart meters, smart speakers etc our every move, transaction and purchasing trends will be monitored. Control going to those that monitor the systems. Look what happened when banking systems have crashed.