Canada ranks number 1 in embracing a cashless culture

[Tennis]

Tenn, why do you like a cashless society?

Less likely to get robbed.

[Tijuana]

Less likely to get robbed.

It also removes a foreign queen from your cash. So there is that bonus also!

[Revi]

I never use cash, but I'm very opposed to getting rid of it entirely. Don't think the development is something to cheer for.

[cparle87]

@Grapemask

What the hell kind of horrible fifth rate bank does your mother go to where they charge her that much to get money out of the ATM? My bank doesn't charge me anything.

[Stop Pretending]

Debit cards are outdated, phones are where it's at. Catch up Canada.

[Blur4stuff]

cash is filthy

i avoid it as much as possible

[Triggered Fridgekin]

So I’m guessing Canada is cool with crypto currency?

I could be wrong but I think Canada pioneered the Bitcoin ATM with the first in Vancouver. We've adopted Ethereum/Alt coin ATMs in August too but, last I heard, are only in Ontario.

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Debit cards are outdated, phones are where it's at. Catch up Canada.

We got Masterpass in 2013 and Visa Checkout in 2014.

[Spl4sh3r]

I don't see why having more than one credit/debit card should affect the rankings. Just because you have many of them shouldn't mean you are more cashless, well maybe the person is cashless since he got no money which is why they need multiple cards to pay off eachother.

[Sunseeker]

I get why corporations and the State promote a cashless society it is almost 100% to their benefit.

I don't get why individuals promote it, it holds zero benefits to them.

[Grapemask]

@Grapemask

What the hell kind of horrible fifth rate bank does your mother go to where they charge her that much to get money out of the ATM? My bank doesn't charge me anything.

She likes her local Nebraska bank, but being a local bank rather than a big brand, they don't have their own ATMs all over the place. Those offbrand ATM fees are killer. Probably the only thing I like about Wells Fargo is that there's a 90% chance that I'm 10 feet away from a Wells Fargo ATM if for whatever reason I do need cash (someday I'll convince my neighbor to take debit for doing my yard work....)

[Mormolyce]

I worked in the credit card industry for a decade, Canada and Australia (and a few other places in Asia and Europe) are pretty far ahead in contactless technology. Where you can "paypass" or "paywave" or whatever your credit cards, or use mobile phones to pay.

Apparently the US keeps trying to get systems like that off the ground but they are yet to be successful. Big country, lots of rival interest groups. I think many players are trying their own independent solutions but nothing is widespread enough that it can break through the acceptance barrier.

That's what I heard anyway, a few years back.

Debit and Credit card is useless after a natural disaster like a hurricane when all the networks are down. There was once a time when the transponder for my car stopped working and the toll collect wouldn't take my cards so I ended up mailing them a check in the year 2016 for $5.

It's true that they're vulnerable to natural disasters, like pretty much everything is. But if you have cash, it only lasts until your wallet is empty and then you're relying on ATMs to get more anyway, which are again electronic.

Unless you keep it all in a mattress I suppose.

[cparle87]

She likes her local Nebraska bank, but being a local bank rather than a big brand, they don't have their own ATMs all over the place. Those offbrand ATM fees are killer. Probably the only thing I like about Wells Fargo is that there's a 90% chance that I'm 10 feet away from a Wells Fargo ATM if for whatever reason I do need cash (someday I'll convince my neighbor to take debit for doing my yard work....)

Yeah, my grandma set me up with a savings/checking account and a debit card with Chase when I turned 18. I actually forgot other ATMs charge you.

[Mormolyce]

Wait, you guys still use credit and debit cards? This is like claiming that Canada is a leader in energy production because you just learned how to rub two sticks together! I see the study you cite ignored that, citing a lack of credit and debit cards but failing to address widespread use of phones in China(and I question their conclusion about debit cards).

Here: http://money.cnn.com/2017/09/08/tech...des/index.html

Hell, I just got paid yesterday and they used WeChat.

Isn't WeChat's payment system a digital wallet? So you are still using a credit or debit product, or something similar, just via an app.

I'm not sure how Canada runs things exactly but the infrastructure for contactless payments is the same whether you're using a physical card or a digital wallet (ie they both use an NFC chip). So any country that has gone contactless in theory at least can do both.

[Kellhound]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/fut...-does-uk-rank/

Great to see Canada leading the way here. You just need your debit and credit card in almost all situations.

Yes, makes it easier to steal money from Canadians.

[Freighter]

Isn't WeChat's payment system a digital wallet? So you are still using a credit or debit product, or something similar, just via an app.

I'm not sure how Canada runs things exactly but the infrastructure for contactless payments is the same whether you're using a physical card or a digital wallet (ie they both use an NFC chip). So any country that has gone contactless in theory at least can do both.

Not sure how WeChat is designed as I don't use it but we have Kakaopay with KakaoTalk which you can use to pay for stuff through in South Korea, you have your card registered to it.

[Dyra]

Little bit surprising since Canadian banknotes are so pretty and colourful.

But cashless is so damn convenient, I can't blame them for embracing it. Think I have £10 in my wallet that's been there for over 3 months.

[Masark]

I thought you hated credit cards?

We have an excellent debit EFT system called Interac.

Basically every business offers it as it's cheaper than Visa/Mastercard. Interac's fee is a flat 2-3.5 cents per transaction, whereas Visa wants 1.5-3 percent of the transaction value.

I believe a lot of Canadians were also caught up in the Equifax hack, but that wasn't my point. My point was more about the internal security of banking systems, and due to their age most aren't as secure as they could be.

AFAIK, it was only Canadians with dual citizenship that got caught in that.

I'm not sure how Canada runs things exactly

Varies by bank. I can use both Interac and Visa's contactless through my phone using my bank's (RBC) app, though I haven't ever bothered with it.

[Mormolyce]

Varies by bank. I can use both Interac and Visa's contactless through my phone using my bank's (RBC) app, though I haven't ever bothered with it.

How's acceptance? Do most merchants take contactless now?

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Not sure how WeChat is designed as I don't use it but we have Kakaopay with KakaoTalk which you can use to pay for stuff through in South Korea, you have your card registered to it.

Yeah that's a digital wallet. You're still using a debit or credit product, just not the physical card.

There's movement in some markets lately where some non-banks are thinking of becoming issuers as well, ie you could use WeChat or Kakaopay or Applepay or Samsungpay or whatever without a credit card from a bank or other traditional financial institution - you'd effectively be getting a virtual credit card from Apple or someone else. But I think it's still early stages.

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Little bit surprising since Canadian banknotes are so pretty and colourful.

But cashless is so damn convenient, I can't blame them for embracing it. Think I have £10 in my wallet that's been there for over 3 months.

Mine's been empty for months now, I keep thinking I should put a $20 note in there but it has yet to come up :P

[Ross from Friends]

Cashless thanks to oil prices. *guffaw*

[melodramocracy]

Ah, pro-cashless folks. Not content with simply practicing it themselves, they demand nothing less than full buy-in, ultimately embracing the concept of government ultimately having full control over what you spend money on and where, if deemed necessary.

In before "that'd never happen", of course. One can only assume that some black market currency would gain fairly mass appeal if this were to happen anyhow.