We’re ditching cash for cards over virus fears
PEOPLE are increasingly ditching cash for cards because of fears of catching Covid-19, new figures have revealed.
On the day of lockdown on March 27, there were more than 250,000 cash withdrawals from ATMs – but that had slumped to fewer than 100,000 by May 10, figures from the Central Bank show.
Fears around the deadly coronavirus are ‘fast-tracking the shift from cash to digital payments as well as accelerating the move from branch to online banking’, according to research by the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland.
BPFI chief executive Brian Hayes said: ‘The transformation in the banking and payments landscape that was already under way is being accelerated by Covid-19 as consumers... change their behaviour towards technology and move away from traditional banking and payments activities.’
The research found 76% of people use contactless payments at least once a week, while cash withdrawals are down 56%.
Finance expert Brendan Burgess, of the Askaboutmoney.com consumer website, said the move away from cash was ‘no surprise’.
‘Covid has changed the way we behave, a lot of places are no longer taking cash, some shops are not taking cash. If they’re not taking cash you can expect to see it going down. A lot of us think of cash as physically dirty too,’ he said.
Because of coronavirus worries, when fast-food chain McDonald’s reopened six of its drive-thrus in Dublin this week, it asked customers to pay with contactless cards to avoid staff having to handle cash or touch customers’ credit or debit cards. Some banks do not charge fees for paying with plastic, but Government stamp duty of 12c is charged per ATM withdrawal.