Hysterical over-reaction to Covid helped to KILL CASH forever - 'You just can't use it anymore!'

Money experts have shared their grief at the death of cash as a result of the pandemic which encouraged the use of contactless payment.

Nationwide saw 30.2 million cash withdrawals from its cash machines last year, an increase of 19 per cent from the previous year. But the use of cash is still down.

Bank branch closures have sparked concerns about people’s ability to continue to access cash.

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Various industry initiatives are under way and the Government has said it will legislate to protect the future of cash.

Nationwide has pledged not to leave any town or city in which it is based without a branch until at least 2024.

Recently, the number of cash withdrawals has steadily declined, with a particularly sharp drop seen at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

This is Money’s Simon Lambert explained how he had £50 in his wallet but that it hadn’t been used in over two weeks as he never used cash anymore.

He cited the Nationwide report looking into the decline in the use of cash joking that the reason for the decline was: “obviously, because we’re all going to get Covid from bank notes.”

He continued: “I’d love to see one day, someone do a study that shows whether any person ever managed to catch Covid from a bank note or a coin. That whole catching it from touching stuff panic turned out to be false and overblown.”

This is Money’s pension and investment editor, Tanya Jefferies said: “I do it out of principle to some extent, going to a cashless society would be a very bad thing.

“I don’t think we ever could, people need to pay some things in cash which do not go through cards.

“You don’t have to be a criminal to want to spend some things, to hand over a bit of cash to some people at various points.

“From giving money to homeless people in the streets, to giving a fiver to a young niece…

“I really hate the idea that every single time that I spend, however innocent, will be recorded somewhere by the central bank.

She continued that she could not see the United Kingdom banning cash but said she “wouldn’t put it past them”.