Opposing Cashless Businesses in Evanston

My name is Lesley Williams from the Community Alliance for Better Government, and I am speaking in support of Ordinance 2-O-23, the proposed ban on cashless businesses in Evanston. Although there are not many in Evanston, this is a growing trend with serious implications for low income, disabled and unbanked citizens. Requiring that all businesses serve customers who use cash is clearly an equity issue.

Cashless businesses have been banned in  Philadelphia, San Francisco, New York City and the states of Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Rhode Island. They are opposed as discriminatory  by both the ACLU and the NAACP.

The sponsor of the New York ordinance stated that “a cashless business model is an expression of institutionalized racism insofar as it disproportionately excludes people of color,” who tend to have less access to credit and debit and therefore have a diminished ability to purchase goods and services in an increasingly cashless marketplace. A cashless business model, however well-intentioned, could have a discriminatory effect on the underbanked and unbanked, on immigrants who have no documentation, on homeless people who have no permanent address, and on communities of color that live in poverty.”

While I appreciate the challenges faced by small businesses, and concerns about theft, there is little evidence that allowing cash transactions will significantly increase security risks. On the other hand, requiring patrons to use electronic payments exposes users to security risks which they should not be forced to accept.

Given Evanston’s stated goals of eliminating institutional racism and promoting racial and social equity, CABG  enthusiastically supports this proposal.

I’m sharing below a statement from New Jersey Citizen Action explaining why the state passed a similar law in 2019. Philadelphia, New York City and San Francisco also ban cashless businesses.

STATEMENT OF BEVERLY BROWN RUGGIA, DIRECTOR, FINANCIAL JUSTICE PROGRAM, NEW JERSEY CITIZEN ACTION

My name is Beverly Brown Ruggia, and I am the financial justice director for New Jersey Citizen Action, a Statewide nonprofit organization which has been working since 1984 for social, racial, and economic justice through advocacy, organizing, and community empowerment programs for low- and moderate-income New Jerseyans.

In 2019, New Jersey passed bipartisan legislation to

protect consumer choice to use cash as payment for most

retail purchases. The legislature acted because denying cash as

a form of payment for goods and services discriminates against

people who cannot afford or are unable to obtain noncash

payment options. Additionally, the practice potentially

subjects consumers to unnecessary costs, violations of privacy,

and to cybersecurity risks.

Cashless payment policies discriminate against communities

of color and low-income customers disproportionately. As has

been cited, the FDIC showed that 7.1 million Americans are

unbanked or live in households where no one has a bank account.

According to the study, almost 15 percent of African-American

households and about 13 percent of Latino households are

unbanked, compared with just 2 to 3 percent of White

households.

Another 24 million households are underbanked, meaning that

at least one household member has a bank account but does not

generally use credit cards or other traditional bank credit

products. Indigenous and working-age disabled households and

households with volatile income are also among the unbanked and underbanked at high rates.

A 2018 Reveal news report demonstrated that redlining

persists in this country and still denies millions of low- and

moderate-income people, especially Black and Brown people,

access to banking services and accounts. Even where possible,

opening a bank account requires documents, which many low-

income and elderly people do not have. People experiencing

homelessness usually cannot provide utility bills or other

proof of address needed to open a bank account.

Online banking services also require, as has been said,

reliable and affordable internet access, which low- and fixed-

income people often cannot afford, and people for whom English

is not their first language are more likely to be unbanked than

native English speakers.

But the main reason cited by 29 percent of the FDIC

survey’s respondents is not having enough money to maintain the minimum balances required to open and maintain a bank account.

Cashless policies specifically penalize individuals and

households who cannot afford a bank account, a credit card, and

the consumer credit products needed to make noncash payments.

The alternatives to credit cards, such as prepaid cards or

mobile devices, are costly. A study by the Financial Health

Network found that in 2018, unbanked and underbanked households spent $180 billion in fees and interest on nonbank financial products.

Cashless payment policies can also pose practical barriers.

One of Citizen Action’s Board Co-Chairs is blind. She cannot

use bank cards because the terminals are not accessible in

design, lacking braille key pads and appropriate PIN security,

for example. In other words, cashless policies exclude the

most-vulnerable individuals and households among us who are not able or cannot afford to use anything but cash.

The second-most popular reason cited in the FDIC survey of

unbanked households was a distrust of the banking system. Bank

card payments are not as private as cash payments. Point of

sale systems give businesses and large companies access to

personal and financial information. Cashless payments also

force customers to expose themselves to potential identity

theft and other forms of cyber fraud.

So, it should be no surprise that another national study

found that cash has been the preferred method for daily

transactions among communities of color, whether they are

banked or unbanked.

Technology in banking and finance must expand financial

equity and inclusion by providing choices and options that make

personal financial management easier, more efficient, and safer

for all consumers. Technology must not limit choices and

perpetuate systemic inequities in our financial system that

exclude and discriminate.

Cashless payment policies amount to discriminatory retail

redlining. Instead of a redline around a neighborhood, there

are millions of redlines around individual customers shopping

on Main Street every day which deny them access to goods and

services despite having perfectly sufficient U.S. legal tender

to spend.

Thank you.