Going cash-only in the US

[MyDoorsAreOpen]

I've always had a weird, not-fully-rational but highly intuitive envy of people who deal only in cash, no matter how large or small the purchase. There's something highly tangible to it, but more importantly, if the person lives a middle class lifestyle or better, it shows unmistakably that the person lives within their means and does a good job managing their money. It also shows that that person is seldom in situations where carrying large amounts of cash is an unsafe choice, either because they carry themselves in a way that deters any would-be muggers, or because they're street smart enough to avoid situations where they're highly likely to encounter a mugger. (Think Rick Harrison from Pawn Stars.)

I despise borrowing money. At all, for any reason. I like to save. I take great pride in living within my means. I don't support the way the financial industry traps ordinary citizens into de facto indentured servitude by baiting them with easy ways to borrow money they likely won't ever have. I don't see it as problematic how everything in the third world is done in cash for most people, because without the availability of nontangible monetary instruments, people are forced to learn good money management.

And last but not least, I like my privacy. I don't like the idea of any institution, government or privately-owned, having a long and complete record of how I spend my money.

So, what would the major drawbacks to getting rid of all my checks and my one credit card? Going to the bank in person to cash my paycheck, and leaving with an envelope of cash, doesn't give me the heebie-jeebies. Nor am I turned off by the idea of going to the utility and phone companies' windows in person and paying my bill in cash. I don't order much online or through mail-order catalogs, but sending a money order would not faze me greatly the few times I do.

I'm sure there are plenty of people here on BL who operate only in cash, either because they've never been deemed creditworthy, or for the privacy related reasons mentioned above. For any of you who live in North America, please regale me with the pros and cons of such a lifestyle choice.

 

[captainballs]

it's all about security. 999 times, you can play banker and enforcer and your cash will be safe. but on the 1000th time, something will go wrong and you will take a loss you cant afford.

credit may be a psychological burden as it is a form of indentured servitude (if you only look at the obligation side), but when you run a business, or even a home, having credit evens out your cash flow - regardless of whether you live within your means or "need" credit. this is something you will only really understand when you take the leap; i have a hard time explaining it in black and white.

as for practical nuances that only experience can teach, consider this: when you rent a car on a credit card, no deposit is required. when you rent it on a debit card, though, they will hold hundreds of your earned dollars hostage, which may make things difficult to budget. with cash only, forget about renting a car period. sure, when's the last time you rented a car - but things like this, in this reality that we live in, will no longer even be an option for you.

 

[shimazu]

value of a dollar fluctuates a lot. Id invest in precious metals as well its not good to have all your assets in the same form.

 

[thujone]

Yeah I agree with captainballs on this one. I pay for as much as possible with VISA because it's instant insurance on your money and anything you're spending it on. When I see money these days it feels even less tangible to me than my cards because it's just a slip of paper that appears in and disappears from my wallet versus a holographic eagle that manifests power on the spot.

We live in an increasingly cash-free society and many services that once existed to serve people who pay by cash or cheque have already begun disappearing in North America. Furthermore, unless you walk around showing off how much cash you actually have on you, being without a credit card or ability to write a cheque will leave everyone with the impression that you're just some bum with bad credit. I'm sure your family won't be too happy about your new image as a beggar/vagrant. I'd also hate to be your wife at the restaurant after a romantic dinner when the bill comes out to five bucks more than you have in your wallet and you need to excuse yourself to drive home and get some more cash out of the shoebox while the restaurant holds your lonely woman hostage.

Having a meticulous paper trail of my finances has saved my ass so many times in situations where it would otherwise be my word against someone else's that it's not even funny. You'd be doing yourself a huge disservice by denying yourself paper trails that tell you and others where your money is coming and going.

At the end of the day, we all have a desire to avoid linking ourselves with some transactions. There's always the ATM to withdraw from for that. You don't have to use your credit card if you don't want to, but it's better to have it in your wallet when you find yourself in a situation that requires it. So at the end of the day, is it really worth inconveniencing yourself and your family to no end just for an ideal you already recognize as irrational?

 

[Kenickie]

A year or so ago I worked at a really high paying shitty waitress job. I would leave at 3AM with 300, 400$ in cash. I loved it. I didn't use a bank at all. One, because it was more beneficial to me, on the tax end, to not have a bank account with my cash tips deposited in, two, I never over spent (charge me 30$ for a 1.00$ overdraft? fuck you! 5$ service fee on my account?! fuck you!), and three, I was always able to save someone's ass at a parking meter (i don't have any cash!), getting on the train (i don't have any cash!) or tipping people who can't take cards (valets, airport bag men, etc). By not using a bank account, I was able to shave 5 or 6 thousand dollars off my W-2s and dodged actually having to pay more income tax. Cash is easier to manipulate than cards, and until drug dealers start taking credit, I doubt cash is going to vanish. MDAO - if you really want to, you can. I still live card free and, yes, it makes some things stupidly complicated, (buying plane tickets, basically) but if you value living off the grid as much as I do, you can do it.

 

[Changed]

I'm a bartender and most of my income is cash... I walk right to the bank next-door and deposit it all right away, simply because I live in a violent city. If somebody took my card, I couldn't care less. I could have it cancelled before they even hit the first ATM. Cash, not so much...

On the other hand, if the IRS is going to look at my taxable income and say, "hmmm," maybe I should start stashing some cash.

 

[Kenickie]

I'm a bartender and most of my income is cash... I walk right to the bank next-door and deposit it all right away, simply because I live in a violent city. If somebody took my card, I couldn't care less. I could have it cancelled before they even hit the first ATM. Cash, not so much...

On the other hand, if the IRS is going to look at my taxable income and say, "hmmm," maybe I should start stashing some cash.

it's also how your place deals with tips. do you pool? do you report them? i had to report mine at the end of every night, and i claimed my credit card tips + 10$. in cash. wasn't a lie persay, but certainly wasn't all of it, because fuck that. this year come tax time i nearly fell out of my chair looking at what Georgia took from me. and that was with my fudging! i didn't get shit back either. i can't imagine what the fuck they would have taken from me otherwise! i bet i would have had to pay out 1K plus if i didn't hold the cash.

 

[Changed]

it's also how your place deals with tips. do you pool? do you report them? i had to report mine at the end of every night, and i claimed my credit card tips + 10$. in cash. wasn't a lie persay, but certainly wasn't all of it, because fuck that. this year come tax time i nearly fell out of my chair looking at what Georgia took from me. and that was with my fudging! i didn't get shit back either. i can't imagine what the fuck they would have taken from me otherwise! i bet i would have had to pay out 1K plus if i didn't hold the cash.

not sure how safe it is to talk about it here... we don't necessarily declare our tips, I tip out the bar-back (and cook at night), and all of them are in cash. I only worked from October last year, but I was given back... well... $1.5k in taxes from MD, because I was "so poor," I qualified for assistance....

 

[Busty St Clare]

Just get yourself a Visa debit card. It has all the security of a credit card and the convenience to pay for tickets online etc, but draws upon your own savings account so you can't spend more than you have. If you shop around you should be able to find an account that is free. Mine even pays ATM fees if I use another bank, all I have to do is deposit a minimum amount every month.

 

[queenbee1127]

I'd also hate to be your wife at the restaurant after a romantic dinner when the bill comes out to five bucks more than you have in your wallet and you need to excuse yourself to drive home and get some more cash out of the shoebox while the restaurant holds your lonely woman hostage.

This.

I sincerely wish I could be one of those people that uses only cash, or at least cash in terms of money that they actually have, but alas, I am not. Whenever I think "oh, maybe I'll cut up my card" I envision situations like the one above and keep it in my wallet.

The problem comes when it's not an emergency, I just want something that I don't have money for, and swipe goes the credit card. On the flip side, having a credit card and making adequate, timely payments has really built up my credit and I could get a lease/finance etc... just about anything that a lot of my friends could not. It is my current short-term goal to pay off all my debt by the time I'm 25.

 

[lcrlover]

I own my own business, so while I like to deal mainly in cash, my customers like to write checks & use cc's. Since I am required to report the tax I collect, I fill out a form every month for the city. This form tells the amount of money (gross earnings) that I make each month and if I don't deposit more money than my gross every month in my bank accounts, then the tax man will know not. I will caution you to never spend 10k, as a special form will be filled out on any legal purchase made and you will be reported to the irs. For instance last time I bought a new car I put $9,000 down in cash. Even though when I walked in my credit sucked, the dealership offered me 1.9% financing due to my large down payment. Building your own house for cash is where saving money resides. No interest means you have done very well for yourself. Also if carrying cash worries you, buy some travelers checks. I used buy them a couple times a year for use on trips, but I usually forget to spend them until after I get back home. I have never been refused by any business as far as spending a trav check either. I know from a buds experience the other day that the greendot cards can open you a paypal account with a debit card if you are truly sick of the neighborhood bank. Only drawback is the card costs $4.64 per use and you must get a new card for each bill you pay, anything left on the card after it's one-time use will be mailed back to you and not very quickly either.

 

[modern buddha]

I went completely cash only (no card, at all, not even a bank card) for about eight months. It's not that hard. I still, to this day, do not own a credit card and I never have and quite possibly never will.

 

[Droppersneck]

I deal in cash only/ occasional debit card. If I carry a large amount of cash I carry a gun. I am one of those people that can be happy with a shack, land, a guitar, few guns, and sweet piece of tail.

 

[itsok]

Not to stereotype too much, but where I work (Flushing, Queens) is heavily populated with Chinese people. In general, Chinese people deal strictly in cash. many will outright buy a $500k apartment in cash. Perhaps it is cultural and comes from distrust from government institutions, i don't know. But most businesses in Flushing only accept cash.

However, for certain situations like renting a car or buying a plane ticket, we Chinese people do have credit cards, but use them sparingly because we are very debt averse people on a whole.

 

[delta_9]

There's something highly tangible to it

The US dollar? TANGIBLE? Bhahahahahahha Anyway.......
I'm lazy and I only read the first few replies, but I have to agree with thujone here. I have been in many situations where having a debit/credit card came in handy. You don't have to use it frequently, but to simply refuse to own one is down right stupid.

 

[fizzle]

I'm with delta and thujone here, I find it admirable to use cash only, but to not even own checks or a debit card seems more hassle than its worth. For day to day transactions cash is fine, but those of you who dont even own a debit card, do you plan to never own your own house or even rent an apartment without a co-signer? I have a single cc through my bank, and a debit card and some checks. 99% of the time I use my debit card, which is basically just plastic cash, it takes it directly from your bank account and I dont have overdraft protection (set it up that way on purpose, like kenickie said, they arent going to charge me $25 for going $5 over my limit!) so if I dont have the money for something I simply cant buy it. I am strict about living within my means (I have some weird fear of being in debt) but I recognize the reality of needing that credit there for major future purposes, such as a car and eventually a house. Are those things that you can even buy in only cash? I honestly dont even know.

 

[Kenickie]

I dont have overdraft protection (set it up that way on purpose, like kenickie said, they arent going to charge me $25 for going $5 over my limit!)

you misread me. i said that banks charge me 30$ for a dollar overdraft, so fuck them. on top of that, they charge me 5$ a month in "maintaining" my account, so fuck them. when i had overdraft protection it cost me 47$ a month, so fuck them. and yes, banks will charge you whatever they want because you let them get away with it. fuck that.

 

[fizzle]

Its federal law now that you have to "opt-in" for overdraft protection, in other words they have to ask you now if you want that service, but you absolutely do not have to accept it. Thats a relatively new law, and one that many people still arent aware exists (this, of course, applies specifically to the US, I dont know anything about banks in other countries). Another thing they arent allowed to do anymore is re-order charges, you know when they'd re-order your transactions so that it looked like you made that purchase before you put that check in, which would result in an overdraft charge? Shady activity, but another one that is now illegal to do. I've *heard* that the next thing they're working on is those monthly charges but I dont know when that will actually happen, hopefully soon!

 

[Wolfmans_BrothEr]

i dont get the whole pawn stars reference. the only reason he has that much cash on hand is bc hes surrounded by bulletproof glass, guns & security guards. that doesnt take street smarts

 

[NeighborhoodThreat]

Not having a checking account makes it harder to pay bills. That's really the only reason I have one. Of course, I'm sure there are ways around that as well, I'm just lazy.

Well, that and eBay.

I have a credit card but I've used it once in the past 18 months. Just to keep my credit up.

OP, if you can do it, by all means, do it.