Result statement: ‘Do not implement a debit card fine’ | What you say

ABN Amro customers who withdraw more than 12,000 euros per year in cash must pay 5 euros per withdrawal and 0.5 percent of the amount withdrawn from 1 July. Rabobank also wants to start asking for money for cash withdrawals. According to almost all the participants (95 percent) banks should waive this ‘withdrawal penalty’. “You just withdraw your own money. It is ridiculous that a bank would suddenly charge money for that,” responds an indignant voter. And: “Everyone has the right to withdraw any amount of their own money!”

We must be able to choose which payment method we use, many say: “It is not up to the banks to determine how payments are made through these types of actions. Cash is legal tender.” The banks get a kick out of it: “This is the world upside down. Banks should be happy that we still put our money there at all.”

Only 11 percent think it is wise to reduce cash in society. “Good idea. Especially in the fight against black money. 12,000 per year is an excellent limit, because who takes 1000 euros in cash per month?”, says a proponent. ABN Amro hopes with this debit card fine to prevent large cash flows and to reduce fraud and money laundering of black money. 87 percent of voters don’t believe this will work. “A criminal cannot be stopped by a ‘fine’ from using cash”, someone thinks. Someone else adds: “Why should Jan Modaal who wants to pay for a caravan in cash via Marktplaats have to bleed for the criminal who really won’t let such a fine stop him from withdrawing cash.”

Almost all participants believe that cash still plays an important role in society. It is argued that making payment for cash withdrawals is unfair to the illiterate or older people who have difficulty with digital payments. According to ABN Amro, the ‘ordinary citizen’ would not be bothered by the debit card fine. Still, more than a third believe that even the ‘modal’ Dutch person who withdraws cash quickly exceeds the limit of 12,000 euros per year.

89 percent of the participants find it pleasant to always have cash in their pocket. For more than half this is also a form of protection against unlimited expenditure. “I will continue to pay for my purchases in cash. That way I know what I have in my wallet and what goes out, you can’t spend what isn’t in it,” someone says. Another agrees: “I find cash much more manageable. I hardly do any pins. I feel like I’m spending too much money that I don’t have.” It is therefore not believed that the end of cash is near.

But, if it gets expensive to withdraw cash, then go back to old-fashioned methods of securing the money, several voters say. One of them: “Then just withdraw your savings and put it in an old sock.” Not necessarily a good development, another says: “Yes, that’s how the money goes back into an old sock in the attic. In this way you stimulate the guild of villains again.”

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