Almost half of us have recently been somewhere that doesn’t take cash payments

Nearly half of us have been somewhere that hasn’t let us make cash payments in the last few months.

Research from LINK, the cash machine network, also found that one in five people found this inconvenient.

Since the Covid lockdowns though, society has been moving away from cash payments.

The study showed there are certain places where we’re less likely to be able to pay with cash. They included restaurants, cafes and even car parks.

London was the area where consumers are most likely to be turned away if they’re cash-only.

But this can be a real problem for those of us who prefer cash to help us manage our finances.

The same study by LINK found that one in five of us puts our spare change into a coin jar or piggy bank. Often, many of us keep cash aside for treats like a night at the pub.

Across the country, most people use cash from time to time. In fact, most of the country (71 per cent) have used it in the past two weeks.

Banking hubs

For those of us who prefer to deal with cash, it doesn’t help that bank branches are closing all over the place.

But banking hubs could go some way to easing the problem.

A banking hub is similar to a traditional bank but it’s open to everyone. They tend to be run by post office staff and it doesn’t matter which bank we use.

They offer counter service and we can withdraw and deposit cash. We can also pay bills and there should be someone on hand to answer our banking questions.

The bad news is there still aren’t many banking hubs – our bank of post office should be able to tell us if there’s one nearby.

But LINK is part of a group that’s trying to make sure no communities are left without access to cash.

If we feel our area is poorly served, we can get in touch to make them aware.

And if we need to find the nearest cash machine, we can search for what we need on the LINK website.

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