The poor, I can understand, when they don't have bank accounts.
But the elderly? If you're receiving social security checks and paying utility bills, surely you have a bank account and a debit card?
> The elderly are less able to manage cashless payment methods, especially without transition support. If local authorities or utility companies do not support cash...
Since when have utility companies ever accepted cash? The elderly have spent their whole lives paying utilities by check. And they've been using ATM cards for decades. If they can use an ATM card they can use a debit card, since they're the same card.
This article throws "elderly" into the headline but gives zero actual evidence for that group.
Actually this is a pretty interesting question. I ended up looking this up, per Brookings [^1]:
> check-cashing outlets provide a range of convenient payment services in one location. They cash paychecks, sell low-cost money orders with stamped envelopes for making long-distance payments, and serve as agents for utility bill payments and electronic money transfer services, such as Western Union
So unbanked people have to use (often high-cost) proxies to participate in these sorts of economies. Probably contributes to their unbanked status since it's hard to save enough to open a checking account when fees constantly eat into savings.
As to the point about elderly, according to the FDIC survey [^2], the under/un-banked rates among older age groups is actually lower than, say, the 25-34 year old age group. However, I think OP's post still stands because 1. If your retired being unbanked is arguably worse, as if you have to use the previously mentioned check-cashing outlets, you're going to eat through any savings you have a lot faster, and 2. there's a technological argument as well, and if smartphone adoption becomes more and more a requirement towards accessing finances, then technical literacy rates become a new barrier and that tends to be associated with younger populations.
This is exactly correct, and there are companies out there that prey on this.
Many companies will set kiosks in areas with a large number of unbanked so they'll go to these kiosks at the local 7/11 or whathaveyou and then charge anywhere from $3-$5 fees.
But it gets worse. If someone has a $100 bill and they put in $3, that kiosk will take that $3 as a payment fee and apply $0 towards the bill itself. Not only that, it happens more than you'd think.
People flat don't understand the predatory nature of many of these companies.
Call them and ask, my power company has several offices in the area that accept cash. My ISP doesn't, but will direct you to a Western Union office where you can pay with cash, all you need is your account number. Other utility companies let you pay with cash at various contracted 'payment agencies', which they can direct you to if you ask.
As far as I'm aware, utility bills are all debts (money owed for a service already given), so they're required by law to accept cash one way or the other. It's not the same as going to a shop and putting items in your cart; there is no debt in that case so they aren't required to accept cash.
(Also, in practice, mailing cash is a lot more reliable than most people make it out to be.)
I pay my utility bills (water, gas) with cash: I just go to the convenience store at the corner of my street, hand them the bill I got in the mail, give them cash, they then stamp the card and give it back to me. This is in Japan though.
Yeah, different countries have drastically different practices for paying bills. In Brazil, for example, you don't post them by mail or at convenience stores -- you pay them at the bank!
But in the US, the normal way was always by check in the mail, until online bill pay took over.
Checks... how quaint. It's utterly amazing that a "first world" country still uses slips of paper with a signature as a way of transferring funds, as if it's still 1700 or something.
But the elderly? If you're receiving social security checks and paying utility bills, surely you have a bank account and a debit card?
> The elderly are less able to manage cashless payment methods, especially without transition support. If local authorities or utility companies do not support cash...
Since when have utility companies ever accepted cash? The elderly have spent their whole lives paying utilities by check. And they've been using ATM cards for decades. If they can use an ATM card they can use a debit card, since they're the same card.
This article throws "elderly" into the headline but gives zero actual evidence for that group.