Consumer champ’s campaign to slow drive towards cashless society

Which?, the consumer campaigners, have launched the ‘Freedom to Pay. Our Way’ campaign to ensure cash remains the common currency. They fear people not able to live without cash will get left behind. Yet over 100 cashpoints a week closed in the last six months of 2018 across the UK.

Which? say disabled people and those who are not yet online remain dependent on notes and coins. People living anywhere without strong broadband connections or robust mobile signals, like many rural areas, could suffer too.

According to research, 25 million people still rely on cash. Three thousand cashpoints closed in the second half of 2018, although half of these were costly pay-to-use machines.

In March this year, 1,250 machines were converted from free-to-use and started charging.
Many services disabled people rely on are affected. For example, taxis in big cities now take card payments, fares in remote areas could rocket as cash gets harder to withdraw.

Many consumers find card payments, especially contactless, convenient. But Which? say we risk losing all means to pay if we depend entirely on digital systems. Visa and
TSB have been hit by high profile systems failures that caused misery to customers.

Quids in! says

Whatever happened to customer service? Do these companies only look out for us when forced to by law? As consumers, we need to demand a better deal.