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I live in Norway, and can't really remember the last time I paid anything with cash. I do have relatives in rural areas, and the only real problem they've encou

I live in Norway, and can't really remember the last time I paid anything with cash. I do have relatives in rural areas, and the only real problem they've encountered has been due to KYC policies, where they'd have to drive 100 km to the nearest bank to show ID. From time to time I see some people campaigning on social media to get back ATMs and similar (yes, there are towns here that don't even have ATMs anymore - they're just terribly expensive to operate, when less than 5% or so of the population withdraw cash...you can withdraw and deposit cash at super markets), but honestly the arguments tend to be somewhat flimsy. It's usually some constructed scenario like "If I want to withdraw money in the middle of the night, on a Sunday, I can't do that!" or "I went to the [local supermarket] and tried to withdraw [tens of thousands of NOK] and they didn't have enough!" Every single news article I've seen on people being "unbanked" has boiled down to those people refusing to sign some KYC agreement, or refusing to show up at the bank.

wink 2y ago
One vacation in a European country my credit card simply didn't work due an error made by the bank (which would only have surfaced if I had overdrawn a limit while at home). One vacation in central america the ATM just swallowed my card - on a Saturday night and it was unclear when the bank would be open again. One vacation in another country the ATM kept my card and told me it had expired - ok, so that one WAS my fault, but we're already at example #3. Yes, maybe those are exceptions and people living there are better prepared/have friends/whatever - but I have simply experienced it failing. Cash has never let me down, as long as the other party accepts it or that one time when my wallet was stolen.
- hajhatten 2y ago
  I know a lot of American tourists have historically had issues in Sweden with credit cards not having NFC chips. Is that still the case? If not, I would just prepare my phone/smart watch with apple/google pay. Hopefully ATMs won't swallow those.
  - wink 2y ago
    Never been to Sweden, so no idea, sorry. My understanding from most EU countries I visited is that VISA/MC works and AMEX usually doesn't. Also now that I think about it, most of these things (except #3) happened before the widespread use of NFC. (IIRC 2017 and 2012). My points were more "why would 100% cash-free bad", not necessarily just in Sweden.
  - JBlue42 2y ago
    They started issuing them with chips a couple years ago. Most should have been replaced by now. But yes, this was a slight issue when traveling in previous times. Glad the US finally caught up.
yaris 2y ago
A week ago my card stopped working suddenly. When I opened the bank app to check the balance I found that my card is not listed there - as if I've never had it (the linked account was intact though). It was a holiday so customer support responded with "if you don't want to block your card - come tomorrow at 9AM". Only after a few hours a warning appeared in the app that the bank currently has issues with some cards.

wink 2y ago

One vacation in a European country my credit card simply didn't work due an error made by the bank (which would only have surfaced if I had overdrawn a limit while at home). One vacation in central america the ATM just swallowed my card - on a Saturday night and it was unclear when the bank would be open again. One vacation in another country the ATM kept my card and told me it had expired - ok, so that one WAS my fault, but we're already at example #3. Yes, maybe those are exceptions and people living there are better prepared/have friends/whatever - but I have simply experienced it failing. Cash has never let me down, as long as the other party accepts it or that one time when my wallet was stolen.

hajhatten 2y ago
I know a lot of American tourists have historically had issues in Sweden with credit cards not having NFC chips. Is that still the case? If not, I would just prepare my phone/smart watch with apple/google pay. Hopefully ATMs won't swallow those.
- wink 2y ago
  Never been to Sweden, so no idea, sorry. My understanding from most EU countries I visited is that VISA/MC works and AMEX usually doesn't. Also now that I think about it, most of these things (except #3) happened before the widespread use of NFC. (IIRC 2017 and 2012). My points were more "why would 100% cash-free bad", not necessarily just in Sweden.
- JBlue42 2y ago
  They started issuing them with chips a couple years ago. Most should have been replaced by now. But yes, this was a slight issue when traveling in previous times. Glad the US finally caught up.

yaris 2y ago

A week ago my card stopped working suddenly. When I opened the bank app to check the balance I found that my card is not listed there - as if I've never had it (the linked account was intact though). It was a holiday so customer support responded with "if you don't want to block your card - come tomorrow at 9AM". Only after a few hours a warning appeared in the app that the bank currently has issues with some cards.