So how do poor people function in a cashless society?
Banks are not allowed to refuse account opening to any resident.
Between big commercial banks and savings banks, online banks (comdirect, ING, DKB, ...) and challengers like N26, I've never met anyone who had trouble opening a bank account. Americans didn't have access to some non-essential investment products thanks to FATCA, but that's it.
Don't you need a bank account to transfer money into N26? As far as I know there is no way to deposit cash into any of these disrupter service providers.
AFAIK it's the only challenger bank to support doing something like this for free, even in a limited amount. Even Bunq, which I pay for, doesn't support it (https://together.bunq.com/d/2933-how-do-i-deposit-money-or-t...).
Some online banks outsource this process to the Post: https://www.deutschepost.de/en/p/postident.html
I'm not sure how N26 does it these days, at the time it was over videochat. I believe it's just a picture of your ID and a selfie now?
However, while you need a German address, no registration is necessary (which I'm only having done on Monday). I didn't even have any German phone number yet at that point.
§31 specifically states that anyone with legal residence in the EU must be allowed to open a "basic" account. Occasionally banks will list this as a separate offering from their normal account, but they really should have told you about that. Sorry to hear they didn't.
> In some EU countries, your bank might still charge you an annual fee for this basic payment account. This fee should remain reasonable.
For someone who is really poor, that annual account keeping fee is a much bigger hit to their pocket when compared to others not doing it so tough.
As for banks, it depends a lot on the country. While it's an issue for the homeless, it shouldn't be for people who're staying at some temporary accommodation. For instance in Germany, where most banks ask for proof of address (the registration at your municipality), it's also trivial get a valid document from whoever is hosting you (landlord or main tenant, it doesn't matter, you don't have to be on the lease).
So now there is a ~1000kr/month fee for using the bank here, with a ~8000kr startup cost, because you need a phone and a sim card.
A) Direct bank to bank transfer
B) Cash
8000kr = $63,40/€55,97
Though in Sweden the 2FA we tend to use is called BankId which is a standalone app only requiring an internet connection.
Oh, so how do you interface with your IP router for this?
As far as I understand it, the 'underbanked'-situation present in the U.S. for poor people is not present in Sweden.
If you mean how they transfer money between each other, they just use smart phones and Swish. Beggars even ask for money that way.
One time I lost my card, ordered a new one, the card arrived but the pin code didn't arrive, so I waited an extra 4 days for it, and called up and they said sometimes that happens and then they sent me a new one, which meant I went essentially 24 days without a card.
As far as phones go, so if your phone goes out, gets lost, gets stolen, breaks you have no money because money is tightly bound to your phone.
I have a difficult time respecting the architectural decisions that have been made in this new implementation of money.
Circumstances would have to become pretty extreme for all of these to disappear at the same time.
I know, I’ve tried after I’ve spent the entirety of january without without a card due to losing one (and the bank fucking up the replacement).
Also these aren't really problems with a cashless society, they are problems with a partially cashless society. Society will fix these issues very quickly when there are no workarounds, like making sure that everyone can have backup cards for example.
I can create a second card, on a different name than my own, but that’d require ID verification for that different person (e.g. for shared accounts of couples)
If I am using cash I don't carry all the cash available to me all the time, so if I lose some cash it is not quite the same as losing my method of accessing money.
An app on your phone is not an alternative to handing a bill to someone.
This is unfortunately not true, because you need a personal number to have a bank account.
Our major grocery store chains all still accept cash (ICA, Coop, Willys, Hemköp etc.) and at least ICA and Coop sells pretty much -everything- at their larger stores. They don't sell mattresses or furniture I guess, but you can go there with enough money and come out fully equipped to go camping for example. IKEA also accepts cash still, so you can buy your furniture there. Or even go get a nice meal there; a plate of meatballs and mashed potatoes costs 39 SEK (~3.7€, $4.1 USD). A BigMac&Co costs twice as much as a frame of reference.
I (a Swede) am able to use cash every single day, and it's not an effort to do so.
To get to IKEA and buy furniture you'll need to top up your SL card using card.
In rural ("rural" meaning an hour commute from Stockholm) you'll find it even harder to get and use cash.
It's trivial to both get and use cash here.