Eventually you are going to have a hard time cashing the cheque I suspect. It seems more and more places wont take a government cheque.

I dont see why you would want to get rid of a bank account anyway, although I would draw the line at paying fees to have one given options like PC financial out there.

good points

As a Canadian senior one benefit is that we generally do not pay bank fees. Government cheques can be cashed at the bank without question, just proof of ID.

Why bank accounts, can some folks do without them, that is my question & I believe I can

I was checking if one can have a safety deposit box without an account at the bank & it seems BNS will do it.

Because I think it far less likely that one day I will come home and find all my money missing from the bank than missing from the cookie jar or under the bed...

Plus there is a certain convenience in making a few clicks on the computer and paying all my bills without having to make a special trip and queue with the great unwashed masses at the bank while worrying about being mugged on the way there with all my cash on me.

good point on the cookie jar, I was thinking cash in the safety deposit box at the bank rather than in our no fee zero interest bank account... safe right?

A few bucks in the house in the cookie jar, enough for a weeks worth of incidentals such as groceries, gas & knowing how much for the utility bills & property taxes when they're due 4x year.

I must be really too old having all bills come to my house which we pay with cash. No on-line banking or direct debit.

As a child in the 50's UK we lived week to week, the rent man came every Friday & collected the rent as did the priest for his sixpence, Mother would go to the Gas showroom to pay the bill, we had an electric meter in the house that we kept feeding.

I'm thinking 50's when almost everything was cash, exchanged or fell off the back of a lorry. If you did not have the money to buy it outright - then it wasn't bought.

Not safe from inflation... and the fees on a safety deposit box are likely more that account fees.

Not that half a percent or whatever my chequing acount pays is doing much to protect against inflation either....

There is a lot to be said for using cash in a jar if you are on a tight budget or overextended. Once you see the jar getting empty and still have another week to survive to the next cheque I guess you learn where you can limit discretionary spending so the basics are covered.

$45/yr for a safety deposit box without an account at the bank - zero fees as a senior with an bank account.

I/we don't have that much money to worry about getting interest to beat inflation and/or paying tax on any interest

Likely some folks pay large account as well as credit card fees for points or other loyalty - whats the point of that anyway?

I think I can see where you can save $45 a year on your tight budget... but you will need to have a bank account...

Hotels and rental companies pre authorise a credit card for charges or damage, they don't actually take the funds, which cannot be done on a pre paid card. Direct deposit paycheques have to go into a bank account, so if your employer pays that way you are hooped, they will not change the way they pay for one or 2 employees.

Cash under the mattress, is asking for uninvited visitors. Not to mention if your pad goes up in flames you've lost the lot or your lose it you're SOL.

Why pay cash or pre pay when you can uses someone else' s money for a while, get cash back, free stuff, purchase protection and zero liability online?

I'm quite liking the touch cards (in UK, not sure about Canada) where you can just touch your Visa onto a card reader and buy low value purchases without the hassle of entering a pin. Don't like using cash.

I just received one of those (a Visa debit card) unsolicited from my bank.

I cut it up.

Luddite

S'pose so. Thing is you can only buy stuff worth less than $50 by tapping the damn thing. I rarely use plastic of any description for those sorts of purposes.

Anyway I've got an perfectly functional debit card and a separate perfectly functional credit card already.

Who needs this shit?

Look into your bank charges before you use that debit card too much.

You are excused. It's mostly aimed at fast food / coffee purchases which I gather is not your scene.

The temptation might be too much, the lure of a ham and deisel oil sandwich is overwhelming at times.