Visa Considers Extending 'War on Cash' Business Incentives Outside US (cnbc.com)

Visa is hoping to extend its "war on cash" agenda to businesses in the U.K. after announcing new incentives for U.S. businesses to go cashless. From a report: The payment technology company revealed on Wednesday that it was launching a "cashless challenge" which would see 50 U.S. businesses receive $10,000 each to help them convert to a cashless payment model. It is now aiming to roll the model out to the U.K., though is yet to set a timeframe for the launch, a Visa spokesperson confirmed to CNBC Friday. Under the scheme, businesses in the U.S. are invited to submit plans outlining what going cashless might mean for them, their employees and their customers. Recipients of the award will then be required to use the lump sum to upgrade their point-of-sale systems so they are completely cashless. Any remaining money can be put towards marketing, the company said. "We're declaring a war on cash," Andy Gerlt, a spokesman for Visa, said in the announcement Wednesday.

Comments

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[Anonymous Coward]

Making sure we get a cut of everything you spend, and know what you spent it on.

Lovely

Re:or

[Gr8Apes]

Yes, they get a cut of everything. However, all they know is where you spend it. Retailers, so far, have been extremely reluctant to share what's actually sold and more importantly, for what price, whether it's with the CC company or vendors.

Re:or

[rogoshen1]

Drug dealers and terrorists use cash, surely you're not one of them, right? Says the friendly Visa man.

war on cash

[xxxJonBoyxxx]

Wish I could skim a couple percent off every transaction too.

I'd be all for an alternative to cash as long as it was managed without transaction fees by the local government backed issuer of the currency. Time to nationalize Visa/Mastercard?

Re:war on cash

[Penguinisto]

Same here, which is why I stick to Credit Unions exclusively nowadays. The chances for error still exist (which can be corrected easily), but at least I don't get raped with a monthly fee, a convenience fee, a 'your balance went too low' fee, a 'you spent too much money in one go' fee, a 'you withdrew too much in spite of having more than enough money in the account' fee, or whatever the hell else they use to screw you over these days.

As a bonus, my CU actually reimburses me for any ATM fees that I get charged (I'm required to have Direct Deposit and use my card x times per month, but that's a given anyway.)

In other words...

[unixcorn]

...Visa extends war on the poor.
In my opinion, not accepting legal tender in favor of utilizing non-government tender, in this case a Visa card, should be illegal. I have relatives who don't have a credit card or even a checking account because their credit is crap. It's their fault but shutting them out by not accepting cash is ridiculous.

Re:The war on freedom and privacy.

[Anonymous Coward]

No, YOU are a weak piece of shit, giving in to cowardice and giving up, accepting credit card company dick up your ass. PAY WITH CASH EVERYWHERE. Fuck the police, fuck the credit card companies sideways with a rusty chainsaw. Your privacy and freedom are worth fighting for!

Re:The war on freedom and privacy.

[Anonymous Brave Guy]

Sure, companies are selling data about you and sure, they know everything you purchase and where and when you purchase it.

Part of the problem with the debate is when people say things like that. Perhaps you don't realise it, but what you wrote there simply isn't true.

For example, I have businesses, and we receive payments from people via various banks or online services or whatever. None of those financial services has any information about what those people were paying us for, only the details of the payment itself.

In most cases, financial services we deal with wanted to know something about what line of business we were in before agreeing to work with us. That means there is some genuine risk if you're talking about people buying something from a vendor known for supplying potentially sensitive or controversial products or service.

However, there's no magic database that tells anyone, even the card companies, exactly what you buy. The most extensive analysis is probably done by the big stores with their loyalty card programmes, and they really are looking at everything you purchase and doing all kinds of predictions about what might incentivize you to spend more with them in the future. However, participation in those programmes is typically optional, and the benefits tend to be so small that most people wouldn't really lose out if they just said no when they were offered a chance to sign up.