- cross-posted to:
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- cross-posted to:
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
According to the linked leaflet, the EU’s payment services directive ensures that “You can no longer be charged extra costs by a merchant when you pay using a card issued in the EU.” But they neglect to extend reciprocity to cash payers.
Incidentally, this exacerbates adversely discriminatory treatment of Americans who face uniquely poor treatment by banks. Cash is the sole notable refuge from shitty banks.
Upcharging cash payers violates human rights. This is not only attributed to banks discriminating on the basis of nationality. We have a human right to:
- self-determinism
- autonomy
- consumer protection
- privacy
Penalising cash payers is an assault on any consumer who exercises their self-deterministic right to live autonomous and independent from banks.
No consumer protection is more important than the right to opt out of a transaction. It’s the only consumer protection that one can give themself without relying on others. Surcharging consumers who opt out of banking is an attack on that option. It puts a price on consumer protection.
Banking inherently entails abuse of privacy. The digital footprint is huge and undermins data minimisation rights.
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This has nothing to do with Americans. It’s EU legislation for EU banks, businesses and citizens.
The law makes it so you can’t be charged more than Cash buyers. The assumption is cash doesn’t get charged extra. No rights are being taken away.
Charges associated with useing cash for payments is handled with separate legislation, which is different in different parts of the EU because they use different currencies. Typically dealt with under laws relating to legal tender.
This has nothing to do with Americans.
Nonsense. Read about FATCA.
The assumption is cash doesn’t get charged extra. No rights are being taken away.
Bad assumption. Cash payers are now being charged more, for train and bus tickets for example. A €10 ticket has an extra fee of €12 for paying cash (12 on top of the 10), for example.
Charges associated with useing cash for payments is handled with separate legislation, which is different in different parts of the EU because they use different currencies. Typically dealt with under laws relating to legal tender.
You are apparently unfamiliar with the Rundfunk case in Germany. The EU has exclusive competency over the euro and meaning of legal tender. And no, it does not protect cash payers from surcharges.
All people with a right to live in the EU have a right to a free or reasonable priced bank account.
The assumption in the leaflet when they say they are protecting surcharges for using cash. They aren’t implying a right to charge more for using cash. Your inferring that. They can’t make that commitment because not all countries use euro in the EU, that’s why there’s no common EU wide solution for cash payment legislation.
All people with a right to live in the EU have a right to a free or reasonable priced bank account.
Not exactly. That’s just a façade in attempt to create the optical illusion of equality. The EU requires member states to support a “basic” bank account, but then the EU looks the other way when they reduce the account capabilities and charge fees. You pay much more for a basic account than for a retail account, and depending on the member state you also loose features and capabilities. Some member states block cash services on basic accounts – thus making them useless in the context of this thread.
So in the end, Americans are still marginalised on the basis of nationality.
The assumption in the leaflet when they say they are protecting surcharges for using cash. They aren’t implying a right to charge more for using cash. Your inferring that.
It’s reality, not inference. Cash payers pay fees that card payers are exempt from.
The leaflet is accurate. Card payers are protected from fees (fees that cash payers are not).
They can’t make that commitment because not all countries use euro in the EU, that’s why there’s no common EU wide solution for cash payment legislation.
The EU absolutely has the power (exclusively, in fact) to prevent surcharging cash. Non-euro countries have more sovereignty in this regard, by choice.
The PSD2 already made charging more for cash payments under all circumstances illegal in the EU.
That’s handled by article 62(3) that made it illegal to charge additionally beyond the direct cost of a transaction to merchant themselves.
And the EU cannot be hold responsible for the wrong Treatment of other nationalities. With that logic each country must accept every currency because it would limit autonomy otherwise.
That’s handled by article 62(3) that made it illegal to charge additionally beyond the direct cost of a transaction to merchant themselves.
Sure, but then they say “hiring someone to process your cash is a cost to us”. They have commercial freedom to allocate costs however they please so long as it does not cause an upcharge to card payers.
(edit) note as well that card transactions incur a 0.9% direct charge to the merchant, but they cannot pass that on to the consumer as a surcharge.
And the EU cannot be hold responsible for the wrong Treatment of other nationalities.
Every EU country agreed to make their banks discriminate against Americans through fatca. Of course they are responsible for what they agree to.
With that logic each country must accept every currency because it would limit autonomy otherwise.
You’re not getting it. It’s not USD that’s getting harsh treatment. It’s Americans who try to use EU banks, regardless of currency.
Seems strange to me as accepting the currency of a land is a major part of fiat currency. Its backed by laws requiring it to be used for payments and its tax body.