You can however get a prepaid card.
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Cashless Society ?
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I think that the drift away from cash payments will continue, but traditional money is not dead yet.
Some small businesses simply can't afford to bring in the facility for card payments because of the fees involved. The burden might also be too much for not for profit enterprises and charities. one of my local pubs will not introduce card payments because of this, and the other has a minimum spend of £10.
I think age has a bearing as well. Younger people are much happier to go out with little or no cash on them, but the older a person is, the more likely they will be to carry cash 'just in case'.
Some small businesses simply can't afford to bring in the facility for card payments because of the fees involved. The burden might also be too much for not for profit enterprises and charities. one of my local pubs will not introduce card payments because of this, and the other has a minimum spend of £10.
I think age has a bearing as well. Younger people are much happier to go out with little or no cash on them, but the older a person is, the more likely they will be to carry cash 'just in case'.
michael769
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True. I completely failed to open an account at one back simply because the staff insisted on a utility bill with my name on it (impossible at the time as I lived with my parents). So I had to go to a different bank instead.
Policy is one thing, staff training is another.
Speedbird2639
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If you are using a credit card as a replacement for carrying cash then just pay off the balance each month and incur no charge so the APR is irrelevant.
Personally I hate carrying cash esp' coins and the Govt should make it a requirement of retailers that cards are always an acceptable form of payment. All ticket machines should accept cards - esp' car parks! Why have a machine full of coins which have to be collected, counted and banked (with the associated risk of vandalism and attack of the collector) when you can have a card machine which would surely lessen the likelihood of attack and reduce maintenance/ collection costs?
I used to work for an insurance company - out of abt 15k pensioners there were abt 300 'flat earth-ists' who insisted they didn't have a bank acct which could receive a BACS payment and they therefore had to be paid via a cheque. We wrote to them and stated we would be ceasing payment via cheque and suspending their payments until bank details were provided - guess what happened? Suddenly they all had bank accounts and they sent in the details. In my experience people who claim they cant get a bank account and require payment in cash are benefits cheats who don't want the DWP to see how much income they actually have.
Anyone offering goods or services should be made to provide cashless means of payment at all times - in the instance of TOC's this would mean a car accepting ticket machine on all stations or the option to purchase a ticket on board the train.
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I think he was saying that some people would not be accepted for a credit card other than those which have high APR because of poor credit rating. But anyone who has good enough credit rating to get a cashback credit card should use it for all purchases as long as there is no fee for doing so.
OK, you hate carrying and using cash, so everyone else must be forced to use cards? Nice!
If people don't want to use a particular payment for whatever reason, they should bullied into it regardless? Even nicer!
Anyone who wishes to use cash is a beneifts cheat? I'm getting really worried now...
If this attitude is indicative of that found within the insurance industry, it is no wonder that the insurance companies are almost as disliked as the railway.
Finally, can you please avoid abbreviations such as esp', shd and abt? Thanks.
rmt-driver
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Acton Main Line is exactly the same. Even the PERTIS is left turned off when the booking office is closed, I assume because it was getting robbed.
You never see RCI's on the push n pull anyway so its more or less a free ride (unless travelling to a gated station)
You never see RCI's on the push n pull anyway so its more or less a free ride (unless travelling to a gated station)
causton
Established Member
Not sure about that one - I remember opening my first bank account at 13 with just my birth certificate (as my parents used the same bank, they looked up all their details and checked that I really was their son) ... my second one took my existing bank card as proof along with an old payslip and my birth certificate!
Never had my own passport (I was on my mum's but haven't been abroad in years) or driving licence, nor paying any utility bills - I've always found it hard to prove my ID for stuff like picking up parcels from couriers and job applications -but not banks!
There's a chance but not a likelyhood.
A couple of jobs ago I was a shopworker in a well known high street chain. I got a weekly wage packet in cash with a list of deductions for tax and NI.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
And wouldn't that be a license for Visa/Mastercard to make money - if everyone *had* to pay them to use their services.
My dad used to run his own business - they kept trying to get him to sign up for card services. They were less interested when they found out his average transaction was under £10 and he had no mains electricity available (he was a mobile greengrocer).
Banknotes issued by retail banks in the UK are not legal tender, however one of the criteria for legal protection under the Forgery and Counterfeiting Act is that banknotes must be payable on demand.
In the United Kingdom, only coins valued 1 pound Sterling, 2 pounds, and 5 pounds Sterling are legal tender in unlimited amounts throughout the territory of the United Kingdom. In accordance with the Coinage Act 1971,[18] gold sovereigns are also legal tender for any amount. Although not specifically mentioned on them, the face values of gold coins are 50p, £1, £2 and £5, a mere fraction of their worth as bullion. The United Kingdom legislation that introduced the 1 pound coin left no United Kingdom-wide legal tender banknote.
Currently, 20 pence pieces and 50-pence pieces are legal tender in amounts up to 10 pounds; 5-pence pieces and 10-pence pieces are legal tender in amounts up to 5 pounds; and 1-penny pieces and 2-pence pieces are legal tender in amounts up to 20 pence
Lidl accepts cards down here in Cornwall, cant speak for Aldi.
Seacook
Member
At least one of the big banks does not accept utility bills either. When I rolled up with my latest gas, electricity and phone bills, I was told it was not enough. When I what they would accept the clerk examined the various documents and declared that I would need something from my employer. By sheer chance I had picked up my post as I left my house and it included my P60. Finally I was able to do what I wanted - not open an account, but transfer some money from my mother's savings account (which had been in our joint names since my father died) into my current account (for which, incidentally, even the most cursory of checks on the account history would have shown transfers to the same account going back five years). This particular bank is more interested in creating problems than solving them.
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On the subject of cashless payments, I used to use a credit card all the time. Now I much prefer cash. I use a debit card online and a credit card for purchases over £100. Everything else is in cash.
A couple of years ago there was a campaign run by The Observer about tipping in restaurants. Restaurants can no longer count tips towards the minimum wage but they can, and do, deduct a portion of tips added to card payments but not from cash tips. If you want to tip your server, make sure it's in cash, even if you pay the bill with a card. And check that the restaurant have not added 15% "service charge".
[rant over]
90019
Established Member
I'm not sure I'd consider being mugged as an advantage of carrying cash.
Well, perhaps for the mugger, I suppose.
Sometimes I don't have enough money to give a cash tip (much as I'd always try to), so being able to add 10% (or whatever) when paying by card might be the only way to give something decent. Not everywhere even gives the option, which is frustrating, as you want to give a tip and then end up leaving as many large coins as you can, followed by shrapnel to make up the difference.
I know it's still money, but I hate leaving 20p coins or smaller as it looks to me like an insult. Mind you, the ultimate insult for bad service is to leave 1p. No tip might make you look like an a**e, but 1p makes it quite clear you didn't like the service!
I know it's still money, but I hate leaving 20p coins or smaller as it looks to me like an insult. Mind you, the ultimate insult for bad service is to leave 1p. No tip might make you look like an a**e, but 1p makes it quite clear you didn't like the service!
phil8715
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I must admit if i didnt have to have a bank account i wouldnt have one. I hate banks with a passion.
I didn't open a current account until 1989, when Royal Mail stopped paying its employees by giro or cash.If I hadn't had to do it, I may not have had one for years!
It is, unfortunately, very difficult tog et through modern life without one, not impossible, but very difficult!
It is, unfortunately, very difficult tog et through modern life without one, not impossible, but very difficult!
My current debit card is a no-offline transaction card (there was a thread about this recently), I have to use cash onboard to buy tickets as my origin station doesn't have ticket purchasing facilities.
As a victim of card fraud, I am very wary about using my card in unattended ATMs or ticket machines. I just don't want to go through that hassle again.
As a victim of card fraud, I am very wary about using my card in unattended ATMs or ticket machines. I just don't want to go through that hassle again.
curly42
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Interesting situation,although not as interesting as some of the comments on here.
It would be somewhat entertaining to pay a visit to Bourne End.I don't have any credit cards or debit cards.I use cash,and cash only.With that in mind,together with the knowledge that I shouldn't board a train without a ticket,where there are facilities to buy one,I would suggest that there are no such facilities available to myself at the said station.
That being the case,I see no problem with paying on the train,with cash.
If that is going to be a problem then I guess it's "on the buses".
It would be somewhat entertaining to pay a visit to Bourne End.I don't have any credit cards or debit cards.I use cash,and cash only.With that in mind,together with the knowledge that I shouldn't board a train without a ticket,where there are facilities to buy one,I would suggest that there are no such facilities available to myself at the said station.
That being the case,I see no problem with paying on the train,with cash.
If that is going to be a problem then I guess it's "on the buses".
Get-Pulled-Off
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I agree many small business probably think like that, but it's a mistake. Accepting card payments is good for nearly all businesses for several reasons - 1) Handling cash is not free, it takes time for a paid member of staff to count, sort, and take to the bank 2) It increases custom from people who for whatever reason don't have any cash on them 3) Encourages people to spend more and on higher value items, as they aren't worried about running out (eg in a pub) and 4) You're less likely to run out of money using a card (credit or debit) than you are to run out of cash. Even if a cash point was close by, most people will leave when they run out of money.
Visa debit and Maestro only, I'd wager?
Those are valid points, yet they do not apply to all businesses.
In my business, for example, ittakes a minimal amount of time to process the cash payments, and as I do not employ anyone else, the costs are not an issue. To take cards, would cost me at least 10% of each tranaction - either I lose money or put the price up! I have one price and one price only for my services - I can't encourage people to spend more on high value items!
I'm not disputing what you say. All I am saying is that each business is different really. For most, there are clear advantage sin acceptiong card payments. But there are a lot of small businesses for which the advantages are not so clear, and who may actually lose out.
rmt-driver
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The waiter/ress would probably rather you leave £2 in cash than £3 on a card, due to the fact that they rarely see card tips, have to pay tax, some SOME bad companies use tips that "go through the system" to go towards there 'minimum wage' ... therefore you actually do more harm than good by tipping on card... I always tip by cash. If the restaurant automatically adds the service charge to the bill and I want to pay by card, I ask them to deduct the service charge just charge me the food/drink amount on my card, then leave them a fiver!
Banking charges are high for businesses for cash also, hence why Asda and other such companys try desperately to get you to have cashback when paying by card. The cash banking cost is higher than the card payment costs. I think i read that the cash banking cost can be around 8% compared to around 2% for card payments. The 8% includes the cash collection by Loomis or whoever they use, the staff cost to count the money, and fill out relevant paper work. Card payments it is a simple bit of paper work that gets printed out at the press of a button each day/ week or month, showing total amounts etc for the accountant!
Get-Pulled-Off
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I'm alarmed if you have been quoted 10% for credit card processing. Even the smallest business can usually get a 5% processing fee. If not, PayPal is another option, please somebody correct me, but isn't the fees for PayPal around 3-4% for the occasional user? Obviously only suitable for online!
Most "typical" small businesses are charged 3%. I've had that figure quoted to me from two places, one a car sales garage and the other a car repairer. Of course Tesco et al are probably paying <1%. Debit cards are different though with having a fixed fee of about 30p I think. So fair enough, if you're typical transaction is less than £10, you can't encourage people to spend more and you count the money yourself, it's probably not worth it. But I think that's only a tiny amount of businesses. The benefits outweigh the percieved increase in costs for the vast majority of companies.
That is very true for the majority of businesses which have very high amount sof cash passing through their tills. It's less conclusive when you have free business banking, a turnover of less than £10k per year, and the normal cash transaction is in the region of £5.
Yes, I agree that the majority of businesses ar ebetter off taking cards, without a doubt.
All I am disputing is the notion that it's worth it for ALL businesses, regardless of their operating model, size, or nature!
It was 18 months ago now, but I was quoted charges that would have worked out to 54p per transaction to be able to take cards on a mobile chip and pin device. I think that the amount may have been higher because of the lack of a fixed location, which wasn't possible because of the nature of the business.
If I was taking £20 or £30 a go the maths would have been more favourable, but m,ost of my customers were paying £5 or £3 individually, with only the occasional punter paying £10-20, so I declined and stuck to cash.
I also deal with bulk payments from companies - these are made electronically to my business account. The income from this stream is considerably higher than the business I get from individuals anyway.
Tax must be paid on tips whether it is card or cash and including tips as part of the minimum wage is now illegal. However, it is correct that generally more of a cash tip goes to a server than credit card tips as legally credit card tips are the property of the restaurant who can decide how it is distributed and make charges for administration, whereas cash tips belong to the staff.
3.4% + 20p, and an additional 0.5% for international payments, and as you mention it is not suitable for cardholder present environments.
Merchant agreements come with certain monthly costs and most also have a minimum transaction amount, and if you don't reach that you have to pay your percentage anyway.
fairysdad
Member
Used my Mastercard in the Aldi round the corner from me the other day...
I was surprised a couple of weeks ago when I had to add 40p to my Oyster Card as I was -40p with my balance that London Overground allowed me to pay by card for such a small amount using their TVM.
LUL on the other hand have a £5 minimum on cards, the same for SouthEastern with their TVM's.
LUL on the other hand have a £5 minimum on cards, the same for SouthEastern with their TVM's.
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