Not alone in thinking cash is still king

I was hoping to get a dress altered for an awards ceremony, but the tailor I found only took cash. I tried to get a withdrawal from a nearby cashpoint only for my card to be swallowed up! A wave of panic hit as the card was the only payment method I had, and – as per –I had zero cash on me.

Frantically, I called my bank who were, thankfully, very helpful. They instantly cancelled my card and I made arrangements to pick up cash from a local branch to last me for a couple of days until I got home to Scotland. By which time – hopefully – my new card should have arrived.

But travelling around London with just cash is far from easy, due to the fact that so many businesses there will only accept card payments – which meant I was left feeling rather hungry on my train journey north from King’s Cross.

My experience is one of the reasons I see the value in the grassroots Campaign for Cash initiative. It argues that the increasing number of businesses refusing cash payments leaves many of us feeling excluded – especially older people, those with disabilities, and the financially vulnerable.Campaign director Martin Quinn told me: “We formed with the purpose of protecting cash usage, our main aim is to persuade the government to pass a law to mandate cash acceptance in all shops and businesses.

“Millions of people rely on cash and, as we have seen with the recent power outages across Spain and Portugal, when the internet goes down, the only payment method with full resistance is cash.

“From a business perspective, the ever-increasing card charges imposed by [lenders] are eating into the slim profit margins of small shops, taking cash transactions helps to offset this.”

It’s been a busy old week in the world of financial services, with Westminster keen to clear their desks before summer recess began on Wednesday.

On Monday came a policy paper on agricultural property and business property relief reforms covering Inheritance Tax liabilities, and the revival of the Pensions Commission was announced “to confront the retirement crisis that risks tomorrow’s pensioners being poorer than today’s” – no mean feat

.Looks like there will be plenty to discuss when Parliament resumes, and the build up to the Autumn Budget really begins.

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