Why customers have ditched cash for cards
SIR – I cannot understand the prejudice against bank cards displayed in recent letters (September 21). I carry only a small amount of cash and use my credit card in preference to my debit card because it gives me 0.5 per cent cashback.
I have had a credit card since I was an undergraduate in 1973. My bank issued it as a combined cheque guarantee and credit card. I have never got into debt because I only purchase what I can afford. The monthly statement means I can track what I have spent my money on much more easily than if I had paid in cash.
Roger Jackson
Stockport, Lancashire
SIR – I am surprised that any business accepts payment by card.
I don’t use mine very often but in March I used it to pay a vet’s bill. On my next visit they said they hadn’t received the money. I produced my bank statement to show that the sum had been taken from my account. Using that statement they were able to claim the money.
I mentioned this incident to a friend who had been shopping in Harrogate and York, and was still waiting for two debit card payments to be taken from his account. Maybe some card payments simply disappear into the ether, never to be settled.
Eric Harpham
Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire