Your first impression after reading the title will be “What’s the big deal about cash? I have option of cards to pay and need cash at very few occasions”. Lets discuss it little further.
Importance of Cash in our daily lives
We (US citizens) have been using the credit cards, debit cards since so many years. We can’t imagine life without credit or debit cards to use at the ATM machines. It would be a nightmare. That’s true in my case too. Okay let’s get back to the topic. Almost all of us would have been through the situations where our credit or debit cards didn’t worked. The reasons may be anything, like the scratches on the magnetic strip, bent card, etc. As a matter of fact careful handling of the card is done by very few people, you may like it or not. It’s very embarrassing and annoying too, especially when you are shopping. What options we have in such situations? And if it’s an emergency? To save us from all this misery the ATM services have come with an innovative idea. In such situations give a call to the bank they will provide you with a unique PIN. You have to just enter the number and you will get the cash without inserting the card.
If you would have traveled around the world there are still more than 3/4th of the worlds population who use cash for the transactions. Why go so far? Let me give you an example of the our daily lives. When we need to buy street food we pay cash, isn’t it? There are many countries where people prefer cash transactions. During needs the governments tend to introduce the new bills. Have you ever heard of any government printing new cards? No. This is also true in case of the economic slow down. As the Federals want people to spend more money to bring in more cash flow into the market but not by using the credit cards (as the cards will not help to inject a fresh blood into the market) as people are already debt ridden. If I am in indebted I will never use my card to make the situation worse or my bank will freeze my card as soon as I cross the credit limit.
After all it’s always wise to have some cash with you or option to get it from your bank account when cards do not work or you are offshore or in an emergency. Cash will get you out of the trouble.
(Image source: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net)