Not everyone has access to credit and credit card companies charge transaction fees which can be especially onerous on small purchases. Refusing to take cash feels like saying "no poor people here". There is also something to the text "this note is legal tender for all debts, public and private". I don't know that I would criminalize the refusal to take cash though.
There is also something to the text "this note is legal tender for all debts, public and private".
Now that I want to quote something I remember reading years ago, I will not ... in my freaking life be able to find it. Years ago, when cashless stores started to pop up, there was a decent argument that legally legitimizing/countered the legal tender clause on cash in regards that people and store owners in fact can refuse cash as legal tender.
This statute means that all United States money as identified above are a valid and legal offer of payment for debts when tendered to a creditor. There is, however, no Federal statute mandating that a private business, a person or an organization must accept currency or coins as for payment for goods and/or services. Private businesses are free to develop their own policies on whether or not to accept cash unless there is a State law which says otherwise. For example, a bus line may prohibit payment of fares in pennies or dollar bills. In addition, movie theaters, convenience stores and gas stations may refuse to accept large denomination currency (usually notes above $20) as a matter of policy.
0 Replies
Sturgis
1
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Mon 29 Apr, 2019 02:20 pm
One of the things which bothers me is the idea that everybody has a credit card and/or a debit card. While I do have a credit card, I have no debit card.
This should prove interesting in the next few years as the MTA plans to stop having the metrocards. A credit card or debit card will be needed to go through subway turnstiles or get a chance to risk life and limb on a bus.
It will also inviite the criminal element to have a time. Just grab the card from the rider before the train arrives or after the rider gets off the bus. Late night and lesser used stops will be as good as gold for the thief.
People who can't pay their credit card bills on time are going to get dinged for interest on buying a stick of gum -- and slow payments for that gum will also lower their personal credit scores.
It's also the perfect way to track nearly anything. A private eye looking to track how a client's husband is supporting his mistress (or reverse the genders; it's just a fer-instance) will get or have a lawyer subpoena the guy's credit card records and not only have his spending patterns but potentially also his location. If his spending on condoms, lacy lingerie, and flowers is all in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area, then dollars to doughnuts, the side chick lives there or in an adjacent neighborhood.
Are you obliquely giving advice on how to hide an affair?
0 Replies
maporsche
1
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Tue 30 Apr, 2019 05:51 am
@jespah,
1) private eyes can’t just go get a subpoena
2) credit card companies and their transaction records do not tell you what a person bought
0 Replies
tsarstepan
1
Reply
Tue 30 Apr, 2019 06:28 am
@Sturgis,
Sturgis wrote:
It will also inviite the criminal element to have a time. Just grab the card from the rider before the train arrives or after the rider gets off the bus. Late night and lesser used stops will be as good as gold for the thief.
That's why credit cards and debit cards are moving forward with the chip security feature. I think ultimately, they'll be using biometrics (fingerprint scans, etc...) to accompany card purchases to make these transactions that much more secure.
Anyone can grab a credit card but if these potential security features are enabled? They won't be able to use it as they would be locked out of any account activity.
0 Replies
tsarstepan
1
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Tue 30 Apr, 2019 06:29 am
@jespah,
jespah wrote:
People who can't pay their credit card bills on time are going to get dinged for interest on buying a stick of gum -- and slow payments for that gum will also lower their personal credit scores.
You're glossing over debit cards. With credit card only stores? They consider debit cards and credit cards basically the same.
Of course cc companies don't tell what was bought. But you don't get Allen wrenches at Victoria's Secret. And yes, I know subpoenas don't just grow on trees.
As for debit cards, yes, they differ from credit and so people could conceivably manage them better. Main thing is, this could be a credit trap for people, a la payday loans.
Main thing is, this could be a credit trap for people, a la payday loans.
These are mere symptoms of poverty not the actual problem or a potential road to get rid of this economic disease. It's safe to say that people even if they don't have credit cards, bank accounts and debit cards are probably throwing too much money away elsewhere... say renting furniture at criminally legal loan shark adjacent places like rent a center... because you don't need decent credit scores to rent crap from them at exorbitant (posttransaction) prices.
Let's face it. Passing around green rectangles is obsolete in this networked age. The sooner I can live without paper money, the better.
The discussion should be on how to make the modern electronic economy more fair and private. Paper money is no longer a viable solution.
0 Replies
Linkat
1
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Tue 30 Apr, 2019 11:21 am
@Region Philbis,
Region Philbis wrote:
i still pay by cash for small (under $20) purchases, so i'm all for the ban...
at the other end of the spectrum, this place refuses to modernize and is cash-only
We have several cash only businesses in my town. Most are small mom/pop breakfast/lunch places and they are always packed - mostly due to loyal customers, great food at a cheap price. They save money due to no transactions fees you get from credit cards. You almost think they are turning some business away - but they are packed with usually an option to use a cash machine that will charge you an arm and leg to take money from .... but these particular businesses are successful.
Now I wonder on the credit only business - I supposed that since do use credit/debit cards that they will turn away only a small percentage of customers so maybe it works for them.
One of the things which bothers me is the idea that everybody has a credit card and/or a debit card. While I do have a credit card, I have no debit card.
This should prove interesting in the next few years as the MTA plans to stop having the metrocards. A credit card or debit card will be needed to go through subway turnstiles or get a chance to risk life and limb on a bus.
It will also inviite the criminal element to have a time. Just grab the card from the rider before the train arrives or after the rider gets off the bus. Late night and lesser used stops will be as good as gold for the thief.
This I would think would be more difficult - you have more lower income people needing to take public transportation that may only deal in cash - I wonder how they will get around that.
0 Replies
Linkat
2
Reply
Tue 30 Apr, 2019 11:25 am
@tsarstepan,
tsarstepan wrote:
jespah wrote:
People who can't pay their credit card bills on time are going to get dinged for interest on buying a stick of gum -- and slow payments for that gum will also lower their personal credit scores.
You're glossing over debit cards. With credit card only stores? They consider debit cards and credit cards basically the same.
What about bank fees with using the debit card? Depending on your bank/your account - you could accrue lots of fees using your debit card.
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