And not before time! It's not all that different from a cheque account connected to an overdraft facility.
Credit needs to be managed.
Perhaps our smart phones could be programed to automatically ask us, are we sure, that the good or service can be purchased for far less down the road, or we are 2 thirds of the way into our available credit limit!
The way a bank manager might have done, when the accountant told him how far you were into your overdraft.
I also think part of the problem here, is the interest rate charges, which have very little to do with what it actually costs the banking fraternity, for standing behind your purchases.
Moreover, when we are fully digitized, tax avoidance will be far more difficult.
And which the rest of the law abiding taxpaying citizens have to make good, one way or the other.
Finally, when we are fully digitized, a very broad based stand alone expenditure tax, will be more than possible, and able to be rolled out in place of the complex system that serves us so badly now, with all the tax avoiding loopholes, that allow the far better off to cheat like crazy; and, have the less well off, who have no such amenity, make good all the missing difference, which could be hundreds of millions PA!
Rhrosty.

The cashless society is yet another trap for the unwary.

I recently received my new debit card, complete with a pile of bumpf telling me I could now wave & pay, & how wonderful that is. Well no thanks, it is easy enough to rip off my account, with out making it any easier. I'm sure the smarties will develop a program to clean out my account if they gain access to this card, so no thanks.

I can imagine one of my kids will get into even more trouble with this facility. When asked the bank advised I could avoid this facility for now, but will be stuck with it very shortly.

I have tried to get this kid to budget the easy way. Most of my life I have drawn each fortnight, whatever I allow myself to spend, leaving in the bank enough to pay all bills, including all annual things like insurances, & whatever I wished to save.

If you run out of money, you stop spending. It is easy & almost idiot proof. The real idiot can simply put money into a money box each time they buy an essential, like a beer, to redraw towards the end of period, if one goes broke.

She tells me this is "too hard" to live with. Well heaven help her when her mother is no longer around to pay her electricity bill or whatever.

Another daughter used this system, when earning very little, & developed the discipline to no longer need it quite quickly. I still use it to avoid carrying my debit card. I use it only when I want my allowance. I expect it will make budgeting much harder for many when they always have a pocket full of wave & pay plastic money.

Nonetheless, this is the way we and every other western style economy is heading, and arguably, the only means open to us to catch the serial tax cheats or deal a death blow to the black economy?
Budgeting is a good idea, particularly for those with limited means.
Ditto, going to the race track!
Take only that with you, you can actually afford to lose!
A lesson rammed into me by my Father, when he took us to the race track as kids.
He drew our attention to a man trembling with patent white faced fear, calling out to a horse that was for a time leading.
Pleading, come on come on, I've got the rent and grocery money riding on you! And his beaten dog demeanor, when his pick was pipped at the post by a stronger finisher! A lesson that remained with me and served me, all of my adult life!
We all of us need to own our own outcomes and take responsibility for results, regardless of whether we use cash or the debit card.
A smart card or phone, with enough encryption to protect us against any and all rip off merchants, would be my choice, given cash money is often just an invitation to even less intelligent criminals!
And one can change the SIM card in almost any phone, that may have become compromised?
Keeping a notebook and recording your expenditure is not a bad idea, nor is asking for and keeping receipts!
Rhrosty.

There is however one comfort in that regard - Death!

I do hope to be already dead and buried by the time this digital monster closes in leaving no other alternatives.

Dear Hasbeen,

<<I recently received my new debit card, complete with a pile of bumpf telling me I could now wave & pay, & how wonderful that is... When asked the bank advised I could avoid this facility for now, but will be stuck with it very shortly.>>

I received the same, so I took it out, physically, it's not that difficult - see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlE-iPXeWMQ

There will come a time, I'm afraid, when they will forcibly implant micro-chips in people's own bodies, but by then we should both already rest in another world where no troubles exist.

There is no stopping the evolution to a cashless society. It will be a convergence of the internet, credit and debit cards that have Visa PayWave & MasterCard PayPass, American Express cards that have ExpressPay, and a smart phone that can be used in much the same way as a physical wallet is used, only with virtual examples of credit or debit cards with PayWave, PayPass, or ExpressPay. These developments will eventually consign cash to history. Our smart phones will contain every debit and credit card we own, as well as our entire discount vouchers and purchase receipts in digital form. As a result, there will not be any need to carry any more bits of paper in our wallets, or notes and coins for that matter. Google will produce a Google wallet, Visa will have an e-wallet, MasterCard, Square, and PayPass will all offer a similar product, as well. These products are called virtual wallets.

Dear John,

In other words, those who refuse to carry electronic pieces in their pockets (or otherwise around their body) will starve to death.

I rather be dead earlier.