Austria’s conservative Chancellor Karl Nehammer wants the right to use cash enshrined in the constitution, he told Austrian media in remarks published on Friday (4 August), an idea the far-right Freedom Party has been pushing for years.

  • @[email protected]
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    -111 months ago

    Fees are standard and handled by the retailer, not the customer, and outside of American Express, what “incompatible” cards are there? Almost every bank uses a Visa or MasterCard which are accepted pretty much everywhere worldwide. I don’t know what you mean by “unbanked” as legally everyone is entitled to a basic account, at least in the UK. If you’re so privately minded you won’t use a card, that sees like a self induced problem with your own paranoia.

    • federalreverse-old
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      411 months ago

      Here in Germany, a lot of retailers/restaurants either only accept or massively prefer the local Girocard system and won’t accept foreign cards. E.g. a Czech colleague not so long ago failed to pay with their Czech Visa (don’t nail me on the card type, may have been Mastercard but definitely was not Amex).

      I mentioned in the other comment why being unbanked is an issue.

      Also, let me tell, that I pay conversion fees and other random shit even in places like Denmark (which uses DKK not EUR) with my Maestro card.

      • @[email protected]
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        311 months ago

        Sounds like there’s national issues that need to be sorted rather than contactless being the problem. I used Monzo MasterCard issued in the UK in South Africa with no issues the other year. Also as I noted, in the UK you can’t be “unbanked” as such. You can lose an account with special stipulations like what happened to Farage the other week, but they all have to offer basic accounts.