Cashless society, forced banking, and the War on Cash

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In many regions people are being forced patronize banks. This community is for that discussion regardless of which side of the war on cash you are on.

The war on cash is war on privacy.

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activistPnk@slrpnk.net

Another reason for Americans to ditch banks/CUs: the GOP et al (Trump, Musk, DOGE) have just neutered the CFPB. Your banking protections have been revoked. (newrepublic.com)

submitted 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by activistPnk@slrpnk.net to c/cash@slrpnk.net

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The CFPB has always been underpowered & under resourced. I reported malpractice by the finance industry many times and they could never fix a single problem while banks and CUs got away with murder in broad daylight. But it’s still good to have a watchdog around even if it’s toothless. If anything just to collect and publicize abuses, and advise consumers.

Now the Emperor of DOGE (Elon) is putting that toothless (yet mildly helpful) dog down.

The cherry on top: data brokers can keep selling your social security number, says new CFPB chief. This timing seems strategic. Recall that Trump overturned Obama’s policy that required ISPs to obtain consumer’s consent before selling their private data. I see a pattern.

Do you still want to participate in a banking system that exploits consumers? Consider these actions:

Draw down your bank balances by mostly cashing out. Keep the balance low.
Ask employers to pay you by cash or paper check.
Cash the payroll check at the issuing bank rather than deposit it. Bypass your bank. (Note that some Casinos give perks for cashing payroll checks in their establishment)
Stop using billpay, which enables an intermediary to collect more data on you (of course, because you have no protection from data abuses). Send paper checks in the mail with your own postage stamps. Unlike billpay intermediaries, USPS will not peek inside the envelope and pawn your data.
Switch to a bank or CU that is not a KYC overachiever (this may be impossible -- most banks demand more data on you than legally required)
Paycheck too big for this? You’re overemployed. Switch to part-time and quit buying silly tech garbage. Instead, pull your tech out of the dumpers, hack it and liberate it.

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[–] TragicNotCute@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

You want me to stop getting my check direct deposited and…cash a paper version at a casino? How does that make any sense? Are we thinking that casinos don’t sell my personal data or spy on me?

[–] activistPnk@slrpnk.net 1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

If you have a paper check in your name, you must trust someone (the issuing bank, the casino, or some dodgy checks cashed business).

checks cashed business: these tiny operations are the least secure from data breaches and the most costly. OTOH, they charge enough that they don’t need to profit from selling your data. But in the end you still have trust them not to sell your data and you can be relatively sure their infosec is the lowest grade.
issuing banks: they’re going to get some of your data no matter what because they sit at one end of the transaction. So that much favors using them. They will get some more date when you cash out with them. Banks are rife with data abuses and notorious for breaches due to weak security. Accounts are gratis because they have mastered profitting from all possible resources (data and money). And because security is a cost they minimize as much as possible, they get breached all the time. Banks and CUs especially outsource like crazy. So you also expose yourself to multiple breach points with banks and CUs.
casinos: they have better security than banks. At least at one point they even had better facial recognition than the FBI. Their profit model is simpler than banks: they hope that by getting you in the door, you will give them play action. I don’t imagine that they have invested as much as banks in exploiting people’s data for advertising purposes because it’s not their business and casinos really don’t want to scare people off with enshitification (because people don’t need casinos). They do get breached just as banks do but it seems to be less common according to various breach lists I’ve seen. OTOH, the casino is not a bank so the check would eventually go to /their/ bank. Though I’m not sure the extent of your data being proxied. I don’t know if the casino proxies the transaction for the bank, or if the casino just becomes a 2nd party to endorse the check over, in which case the bank would only get your name. Casinos don’t have the kyc extremes that banks do. Casinos also understand their customers want privacy and they respect that. They tend to comply with KYC to a bare minimum. Banks do not. Banks and CUs are KYC overachievers. Casinos also have a strong interest in keeping their clients secret from other casinos. Whereas banks are less worried about other banks poaching from them, at least in a targeted fashion.

So there’s your pros and cons. It’s your choice and no choice is “the correct” choice. It’s a gamble regardless.

I would love it if a bank would respect their customer’s privacy to the legal maximum and really try to earn patronage the same way casinos compete for your business. This opportunity is lost on banks. They all think customers give more of a shit about how many fractional pennies of interest they will get and have the working assumption that all customers will prostitute themselves fully, for mere pennies. And so banks are fully enshitified.